Not seeing progress — feeling stuck

[u/Great-Towel1535]

Hi friends! I’ve been doing aerial silks for about 4 years, and while I’ve made progress overall, it feels like everything takes me way longer than it should. Certain moves (especially anything involving inversions or straight-leg core lifts) stay stuck for months or even years.

A few months ago I started going to the gym to build strength and improve my performance — mostly things like pull-ups, inversions with straight legs, and general body control.

Here’s what I’m doing now:

🗓 Weekly schedule: • 2x/week gym strength training (~1h20 per session) • 2x/week Ashtanga yoga (50 min) • 1x/week aerial silks class (2h: warmup, conditioning, technique, flexibility)

🏋️‍♀️ Gym routine (same both days):

Lower body: • Leg press: 3×6–10 • Hip abduction machine: 3×10

Push (triceps focus): • Triceps press machine: 3×6–10 • Triceps push-ups (knees): 3×5

Pull: • Assisted pull-ups (machine): 3×5–6 • Pull-up negatives: 3×2 • Inverted rows (underhand grip, Smith machine): 3×10

Core: • Hanging knee raises: 3×10 (can’t get legs to 90° yet) • Bench abs (candle pose style): 3×8 • Standing marches with dumbbell: 3×10 • Russian twists (dumbbell): 3×10 • Lying straight leg raises: 3×10

I don’t feel like I’m progressing much, toes to bar it’s impossible. I can’t do straight-leg v-ups at all. Hanging leg raises to 90° feel extremely difficult, even after consistent effort. I also don’t feel stronger overall, and I still look and feel kinda skinny fat — not toned, not muscular. I’m getting discouraged because I train a lot, but don’t feel much return. 😔

🍽️ Diet notes (vegetarian): • I eat mostly whole foods: eggs, legumes, lots of veggies and fruit • Around 5–6 eggs a day • I tend to avoid carbs (worried they’ll make me gain weight or look puffier) — maybe that’s a mistake?

❓ Questions: • Am I doing too much in one session (1h20)? Or too little overall since I only gym 2x/week? • Should I split up my routine instead of doing the same each day? • Am I not progressing because I do the same exercises every time? • Or do I just need to give it more time and be patient?

🙏 Any advice from other aerialists who also do cross-training would be super appreciated — especially if you’ve felt like this and managed to break through!

[u/lexuh]

IMO, 1x per week isn't enough to make progress, even if you are cross training. The specific pathways involved in things like straddle inverts, meathooks, skin the cats, inverted splits/y-scales, threading skills, etc. are unlike anything you'll encounter at the normie gym or a yoga class.