What length of time did you do these in?
You may be trying to do too much in too short a length of time, and thus missing some of the fundamental focusing benefits of gesture drawings: https://line-of-action.com/happens-30-seconds-isnt-enough/
You don't need to produce a perfect or even "readable" sketch when doing a gesture drawing. These are warmups and practice exercises, not fine art you're going to display. Pick one small goal for each little practice window, such as "capture the line of action" or "capture the angle of the head against the angle of the torso using only two lines."
Save perfecting proportions for longer sessions, and aim to really see your reference as a whole, and record what you notice about its "flow" with a few confident strokes.
1