am i doing too much?

E

Elan

0
I have just started working out again after 2 years off and i would like some advice.

I spent a month doing a 30min full body weight workout 4times a week before i joined. this was just to get my muscles back in to the swing of things.

Now I have started exercising i seem to have become quite addicted. I currently work fri, sat and sunday, and have the rest of the week off.
So the last few weeks i have been doing weight training almost every day and swimming every evening, plus cycling fast to the gym and back (1mile).

I'm doing a push pull split workout doing my core when every 2 or 3 days. I know I should work my legs, but cycling is my only form of trasport and my legs would die if I started squatting!

So, my question is... Is a muscle group ready to be worked again if they have stopped aching?

Should I be doing my big compound exercises, and have 2 days rest... or should I also blitz my muscles with isolation work as well and i'll need more rest?

My goal is to loose fat, but I primarily want to build some good muscle mass first to raise my metabolism.

Also, does it matter that I am swimming for an hour in the evenings as well as going to the gym in the morning?

thank you for any help. sorry i dragge don again!
 
On the legs: try to squat heavy for low reps (like 5-6 reps/set), and don't overdo the total sets. you really should work them, and they can be worked in a way that won't leave you so stiff and tight you cannot cycle. Get the best of both worlds.

If you're not feeling worn out, I think you're not overdoing it. You seemed to ramp up to it properly so the body probably adapted well.

As far as when its time to work again, as long as when you say "achy muscles" you just mean they are a little tight/stiff...then yes when that stiffness is gone after a day or so, you can work the muscle group again.

If you feel painfully sore, that means you're doing a little too much for what the body can handle. Someday that amount of volume will be ok, but in the earlier stages of training too-much too-soon is not good and takes too long to recover.

You should be able to get in 3 full body workouts per week. More than that and you're likely overtraining.
 
Thank you.

I did work out for quite a few years b4 I had 2 years off and i'm falling in to it again nicely.

I'll start working my legs on pushing days untill I'm using enough weight to justify having their own day.

Would you suggest a standard squat? I've not done anything other than static lunges, standard squats, overhead squats and (please forgive my ignorance but...) the one where you keep your gets straight and dip over to work the hams and lower back.
 
As for the swimming and cycling, they are great forms of cardio. 1 mile cycling won't give you a sufficiently long cardio workout, but 1 hour of swimming will.

Be careful that you don't overwork your rotator cuff. Bench presses and swimming both aggravate my rotator cuffs so I don't do both on the same day and sometimes have to take a day off with neither swimming or bench press if my shoulders are aching. If your shoulders don't hurt, don't worry about your rotator cuff tendons.
 
cool, thank you.
i dont swim too fast. i use it as more of a breathing exercise and light work out.
Tho my triceps kill if i swim on the sam day as pushing exercises, so i may switch to the following.

Day one,
Pull workout - swimming
day 2
cv only Xtrainer or swimming
day 3
push workout and squats - rowing


I might start a 3 day split next week and have a push day, pull day, and a seperate leg and core day, squats, woodchoppers, russian twists etc.
 
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