Cardio days off?
- Thread starter Tropez
- Start date
You will feel like crap if you DON"t end up taking a day off. Overtraining is serious business. It can be characterized by loss of lean mass, loss of appetite, loss of sleep, decreased desire to train, decrease in immunity, and risk of overuse injuries. You should be taking a week off every 6-8 weeks of trainining.
Ditto. You have to let your body recover or you are going backwards. I have hit the gym every weekday for the past 3 weeks. Excpet today. I recognized last night that I was drained and need the rest. I took today off, may go in tomorrow but will for sure take off again friday and through the weekend.
NOT taking a day off is setting yourself up for injury. Been there, done that.
It doesn’t mean lay around and eat potato chips, though. You can still walk or do yoga/pilates.
It doesn’t mean lay around and eat potato chips, though. You can still walk or do yoga/pilates.
It's really hard to say Tropez. It all comes down to what your goals are, how your feeling, etc...Tropez said:
If you feel that the cardio may be haulting your progess with the weights, and may be contributing to muscle loss, then yes, I would cut back a bit or re-visit your diet.
If your body is fine with the current cardio your doing, and you are continuing to make progress, well then there is no need to change whats working.
Everyone is different, but a year ago I mostly did cardio everyday, mostly running and I burned myself out I lost alot of weight but eventually cardio everyday can hurt you you don't have to not work out, do something relaxing like yoga/ pilates or take it slow at least 1 or 2 days, play some basketball or bike ride thats not too rough, thats how I would do it, but like I said we are all different 
It is not hurting you to take weekends off unless you take it off from eating clean also. Keep your diet in order and give yourself some rest and you will end up with better results.
Tropez i posted what you should do in your intro post. cardio will help fat loss but not as much as your diet. 3 times a week for 40 mins in your fat burning zone will be enough mate. weight train 2-3 times a week and rest for 2 but you MUST eat, i know its hard to take in but i've been here before. You must increase your healthy calorie intake to suit your training or you will feel fatigue'd ,discouraged, and tired regularly .Keep saturated fats to a minimum and eat when your hungry but not too much, thats the key. cardio is secondary. I'd much sooner miss a training day than a meal. As for feeling guilty if you dont train, dont let desperation to lose weight get a hold of you, it nearly drove me round the bend. Think rationally and take things one step at a time. the weight will come off eventually if you stick to a healthy well balanced diet and exercise, its just a waiting game my friend, slow down and chill, its even ok to slip a pizza in once in a while, I used to have my off days but i stuck at it and lost 21lbs of bodyfat, and you WILL too just stay focused
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Ed Gasket said:Tropez i posted what you should do in your intro post. cardio will help fat loss but not as much as your diet. 3 times a week for 40 mins in your fat burning zone will be enough mate. weight train 2-3 times a week and rest for 2 but you MUST eat, i know its hard to take in but i've been here before. You must increase your healthy calorie intake to suit your training or you will feel fatigue'd ,discouraged, and tired regularly .Keep saturated fats to a minimum and eat when your hungry but not too much, thats the key. cardio is secondary. I'd much sooner miss a training day than a meal. As for feeling guilty if you dont train, dont let desperation to lose weight get a hold of you, it nearly drove me round the bend. Think rationally and take things one step at a time. the weight will come off eventually if you stick to a healthy well balanced diet and exercise, its just a waiting game my friend, slow down and chill, its even ok to slip a pizza in once in a while, I used to have my off days but i stuck at it and lost 21lbs of bodyfat, and you WILL too just stay focused
Thanks brother.
I am doing cardio more than three times per week because I enjoy doing it. It's my escape and relaxation after work. I used to plop in front of my PC and game all night now I just go do some cardio for 30min-1hour and use that as my fun. That's okay don't you think?
I have been trying to keep my calories up and watch where they are coming from. I have been doing 5-6 meals per day without eating large portions. I usually can tell if I am not eating enough. When I first started this journey I was tired all the time. Then after working out a bit, eating often and getting a good nights sleep my energy has been fine. I also had the tendency even before this journey to get irritable if my body was really hungry. Usually this was after work when it had been 7.5 or so hours since my last meal. I have been keeping those feelings in check by noticing as soon as they start to creep in it's usually because I had not eatin when I was supposed to (like around the 4 hour marker on a few days). So I think overall I have gotten much much better at all of this with everyones help and I am sure it will only get better.
Thanks for all the advice. I really do appreciate it.
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