I’m currently trying to get back into a regular weightlifting routine for fat loss and muscle growth. A couple of years ago, I was weight training consistently and was a lot leaner, benefiting from “noob gains” at the time. After focusing heavily on running for two years, I have gained some weight and lost a fair amount of muscle mass due to all the cardio.
I enjoy my lifting sessions and find the weights challenging without sacrificing form. However, I struggle with how I feel after my workouts. I think I have become too accustomed to the runner’s high/exhaustion, because after lifting, especially on upper body or full-body days (I train 3x a week), I leave feeling flat, like I did not work out hard enough, even though I’m pushing to failure with proper form. I am not getting much of a muscle pump, and I’m not seeing the benefits of weight training yet.
Is this a normal experience? Anything I can do to change it up? I know this sounds very focused on aesthetics, but honestly, that’s a big part of why I am there.
I make it a point to stretch after every lifting session with a dedicated routine and timed holds, and it’s honestly my favorite part of the workout. If I skip stretching, I feel awful. But when I do it, I feel more coordinated, loose, and refreshed.
I used to be a synchronized swimmer, so it’s something I have kept from those days. I also mix in some yoga poses. I do multiple 30-second holds of various deep lunges and hamstring stretches, hold splits on each side, then finish with supine spinal twists, and a wide-leg forward fold (which I usually do while cleaning my mat!). The entire routine takes about 10 minutes.
I totally understand where you are coming from. After switching from cardio to weightlifting, I also felt a bit flat at first. The key for me was focusing on how my body felt over time, rather than the immediate post-workout feeling
If you are doing a lower/upper/full split, it could be that on upper body days, you’re not fatiguing the muscles as much. For example, on leg day, doing 5 exercises targeting the glutes, hamstrings, and quads means more volume per muscle group compared to doing one exercise each for the back, chest, shoulders, biceps, and triceps on upper days. Even if you’re hitting failure on each exercise, the total volume per muscle is lower. This might explain why you are more exhausted after leg day.
There is plenty of great advice in the responses already, but I’ll add that running can negatively impact muscle gains, and studies are backing this up. Generally, running while on a hypertrophy program is fine, but logging a lot of miles each week could hinder your progress. At best, you might maintain your current muscle mass. If you are interested in the research, it’s referred to as concurrent training.
I get that, finding the balance between running and lifting can be tough. Your current split of 3 days of weights and 2 days of running sounds like a solid approach to accommodate both interests. It’s all about finding what works best for you and tweaking things as you go. The satisfaction from running is for sure something that can be hard to give up, especially when it feels so rewarding!
I am not sure how often you’re running, but if just twice a week, it likely isn’t impacting your muscle gains much. Muscle building is a slow process, and I never really felt lighter from it. Generally, lifting weights tends to make you feel bigger, which is what a pump is all about.
I want to add a quick note for anyone skimming through: this does not automatically mean that running will ruin your gains. It’s entirely possible to see progress with a hybrid program that includes both running and weightlifting, as long as you balance workout timing, diet, exercise load, and other factors effectively.
Absolutely, your point is spot on and relevant to OP’s situation. I just wanted to add this note for anyone who might not dig deeper and might think, “Oh no, my 15-minute run is ruining my gains.”
Are you getting enough volume with your lifting? On my back days, I feel completely exhausted after my workout. I do just 3 exercises: lat pulldowns, horizontal rows, and either T-bar rows or kettlebell gorilla rows, with 3 sets of 8-12 reps each. I also incorporate skills training, practicing push-ups, pistol squats, or doing core exercises.
I usually do about 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps. Since I’m working with lighter weights due to my current upper body strength, I end up feeling quite fatigued, which affects my motivation. It feels discouraging to be making such slow progress with relatively light weights.
I’m not the person you are responding to, but I don’t enjoy low weight/high rep sessions either. They tend to feel annoying and leave me with a flat sensation. I prefer doing 5 sets of 5 reps, which gives me a satisfying, exhausted “high". I use progressive overload, increasing the weight each week for three weeks, followed by a deload week where I lift at 70% of my previous max. During my max week, I experience “neural jitters” and shake after my final set, but during the deload week, I feel great and can power through each set. I also include a 10-minute stretching session after every workout, which helps maintain that positive feeling.
I believe you can achieve a significant “high”, and it often comes from the “Big 3” lifts squats, bench presses, and deadlifts. These major, demanding exercises challenge your entire body and put considerable stress on your nervous system. I do experience an adrenaline rush afterwards, and at times, I have felt something almost “orgasmic” from the gym. I am not sure if other women have felt this, but I’ve had sensations similar to an orgasm from lifting.
It probably varies from person to person. Cycling through your lifts more quickly might also help, as it combines cardio with your strength training.
I’m also in the camp that experiences an orgasmic feeling after lifting, and there is some scientific backing for it. Just adding a bit of extra validation.
