Many thanks for the replies guys…Humungo, yes probably something is not quite right, I can feel it, I do not think however that dr’s are the way to go, could be my personal prejudices, but I think that the majority of them a pretty much incompetent and take a “throw a whole bunch of shit at the wall and see what sticks” approach. I can do that myself and save a lot of money, time and misdirection in the process…but that’s me.
So, I am going to dial it back even further as per Flats suggestion, progress really slowly in the beginning and take it from there…
First post so you can shoot me down. For conditioning I tend to do the things I enjoy, fortunately I enjoy all outdoor activities and I get a sick enjoyment from Prowler work but I don’t enjoy indoor bikes or treadmills. In short I’m psyched for conditioning by unfortunately also for cake. I do agree with the others that small steps is the way forward, I’ve over loaded with lifting and running which lead to injury.
Reading your posts I was wondering if you where under stress as it does sound like you’ve got a lot going on? The reason for the personal question is that stress is linked to our fight and flight response which means your body is already fired up and suffering from this long term is known to lead to depression. Basically you get worn down. It’s sounds like you are making very positive choices and moving in the right direction just thought I should highlight it.
Hi Tails, many thanks for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it, as well as the positive tone of your post.
Your take on the state of “my life” is pretty much spot on, I / we have a lot going on…but I do think that there might be an underlying pathology going on as well, as it seems that I burn through any energy reserves that I do have really quickly.
Having said that, I am waiting on my salivary cortisol test results…that was like pulling teeth, trying to explain the reasons for four tests to our “medical profession” would test the patience of even the most serene person…I have the results of my DHEA-S test (that was done along with the saliva tests) and whilst it came in low, it was still in range and does not bother me too much, as I am on TRT and my understanding is that if on TRT, the suppression of the HPA would / can result in lower DHEA-S scores…
Now I am just waiting on the other results… will post them once I get the results.
Cheers I was worried about jumping in. I know that if I’m busy at work I’ll try and get a work out in for stress relief but the guilt of taking more time from my family leads to a terrible workout and lowers my energy. Thinking errors is an interesting topic and catch me out even though I know about them. It’s that mental health/CNS angle I was coming from. Picking up and putting down metal is more complex than I thought, but I like that.
As mentioned, I’m new to all this and those tests you mentioned I know nothing about, TRT is something I only learnt about this year! You are engaging professionals and exploring the topic yourself so I’m sure you’ll get to the bottom of it.
I’ve been where you are, except I was in my mid 20’s. I eventually got on a stack of 3 antidepressants, which I continue to take to this day (I’m now 56). Twojarslave is right, go to a doctor. Along with the drugs, I’ve throttled back over the years to doing Christian Thibaudeau’s “Best Damn Workout Plan for Natural Lifters”, which seems to be about the right amount of volume for me, taking back-off weeks when I feel I need it. And I think Charles Staley is right, Tip: Consistency Beats Intensity. good luck
I am actually experimenting with starting strength, starting really light. Even though I may have “many” gym sessions under my belt, I don’t think, looking back, that I ever really passed the noob stage with all the stops and starts. My thinking is that my intensity and volume is far too high from the get go. More so that I am headed downhill iro age.
So, reducing weights, sets and days and seeing how I go. Still walking 4 mornings of the week though, covering anything between 1.5 & 2.5 miles / day, depending on how I feel. I even had three “sprints” in on Monday…so, will keep you up to date.
As I write this, I am having a internal battle of note trying to motivate myself to get into the gym…it seems it is that time again…
To recap:
Still walking at around for around 1.5 - 2 miles a day at 3mph, 4 days per week, sometimes with an incline, sometimes not, depending on how I feel. (37 “walks” so far)
Still sticking with Starting Strength 5x5, have managed to double all my poundages, albeit from a light base, and managed to crack all my 1st goals (eg 135lb squat 5x5, 160 lb deadlift) not huge numbers I know, but if you consider where I started at and the problems above, I consider it a win. Instead of 3 days a week, I have been going along at EOD. Keeping a day in the “bank” as it were. ( 13 workouts so far)
Since exercising, and yes, eating for recovery, but it is not as bad as it sounds…I have gained 9lbs, mostly water/glycogen and obviously muscle memory, as legs, traps, arms, chest, lats etc are all noticeably bigger, tighter and stomach measurement has stayed the same…
I have however, in the last week started to “hit a wall” as it were…things were going along swimmingly and I was really enjoying the training and the strength starting to come back and then the dreaded fatigue started to rear its ugly head again.
The only thing that has changed is that, as I was feeling soooo good, is that on the last two Squat / Bench / Row days, I added in EDT in a watered down format, for arms…yes, I am guilty of vanity and curls for girls…the EDT consisted of 3 mins of incline curls (5 right, 5 left, never going to failure, dropping reps as fatigue set in, with 10 lb dumbells) and 3 mins decline tricep extentions, on the same basis as above 3 mins rest and repeat once more.
What I did notice is, that since introducing the “EDT” for arms, the rot set in and muscle pumps in general were not as satisfactory as in the previous workouts. Now, I am not saying that the EDT itself is responsible for the state of how I feel at the moment, but changing from a 3xweek to EOD for the SS and then introducing the EDT for arms, seems to have caught up with me…so, I will rest for a week, continue the LISS walking and then restart on a 3xweek basis as called for in the original plan and see how I go. This is in order to achieve some sort of consistency alluded to in earlier posts…
Hey man, I was hoping you’d pop back in with some good news.
Great job eating better. Have your “bad numbers” from above improved at all?
Stringing together a bunch of workouts is good too. Remember, it’s about getting good workouts in. You don’t “loose all your gainz” if you take a little rest, or wave your weights back down levels that you can handle. Every day doesn’t need to be a new 3 x5 rep max.
Hey Flats, thanks for the reply and the encouragement.
I suspect that I may still have to learn to “tone it down” a bit more…I will admit though that it is difficult to bring all the strands together when you are in a permanent fog / funk…
I have not tested my cortisol for a 2nd time yet…Dr. put me on 20mg HC (10x2) a day…has brought some relief but not much tbh.
I am busy with a basal temp and average daily temp exercise at the moment and can say that whilst the temps are relatively stable, they are on the lowish side so, the HC seems to be working, but T3 might be low as well. (averaging half a degree centigrade to low)
I suspect it may all have to do with insulin resistance / pre diabetes and the resultant inflammation. Trying the exercise / diet route (with curcumin) first though.