How Much Is Too Much?

livlegacy629

livlegacy629

0
Hello All. Two weeks ago I started going to the gym for the first time in about 2 years, and i have been hooked since. Ive probably taken only two days off in two weeks. I just love the feeling of getting back into shape. (I'm 5'1 and weigh 120 pounds. Im not looking to lose any weight, but tone up and get back into shape.)

I typically lift weights everyother day, and pretty intense cardio everyday. on days when i lift weights i am in the gym over 2 hours. Well today when i went I felt completely burned out. I could only lift half the weights i normally do, and could barely do any cardio. Now i know i have burned myself out, and i plan to go easier on myself from now on. but my question is how much should i do?

I have heard on here that its a bad idea not to record how much weights you lift. How do you recommend i do that? like write down the reps, weight, and machines everyday?

Typically i just do what i feel like doing that day. but that seems to not be going very well. Any thoughts of how to make my workouts not burn me out?
(When i say intense i mean intense for me, i am extremely out of shape, for example 5 minutes on the stair stepper, level 5 kills me)
 
Extremely too much.

You're going to burn yourself out, you're going to injure yourself, and you're going to screw your body/metabolism up.

You simply want to maintain your weight and possibly build some muscle.

You training must match your goals. Why do you think the training you are doing is specific to the goals that you have?

You should be strength training with a full body template 2-3 times per week. These workouts shouldn't last much more than an hour at most.

On top of this, intense cardio is not necessary at all.... possibly counterproductive... unless you're training for a specific thing that requires you to handle intense cardio. And if that's the case, you have to adjust your weight training to accommodate the increased stress from cardio.
 
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Hi livlegacy629.

As a suggestion, do write down your daily exercise tasks. As a general statement, try to focus on muscle building sessions one day and cardio build sessions the next day. Thus, allowing some rest time for your muscle groups to recover - from their muscle build sessions. To view my Exercise Diary (if you want to create your own), surf: http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-diary/28328-spike99s-exercise-diary-2.html

For exercise, do target from the tips of your toes to the tips of your fingers. Seriously... Do target every muscle group within your body. For example, raise calfs to strengthen ankles, steps / squats to strenghten knees, large ball and mat exercises for core body, shoulders, neck, arms and even hands. Could even do some shadow boxing with 3 lbs hand weights in each hand. Also do many different cardio exercises as well. From skipping rope, to jogging, to spin bike, to TM to swimming, to roller blading to peddle biking. Or, do some canoe / kayaking - if you are into water sports. Write down your daily exercise routine (daily task & "fun time" sports events) and cross map to a body part. If you are NOT exercising a specific body part, add a specific exercise for it as well. Thus, exercising all muscle groups within your body.

Burn out? That depends on one's age, their exercise intensity, when they perform exercise and why they must perform exercise. If wondering, I have a diabetic body. My body must exercise every day (especially after every meal) or my Blood Glucose numbers go vertical upwards (which is a very bad thing). I must exercise "every day" for minimum 3 hours per day or my body's BG balance goes nuts. For some, 3 hours of exercise a day is definate burn out. But for my age 44 body, its a must. And, its "more healthy" for my body to exercise every day. If a specific muscle or joint area is telling me "too much" (like sore knees), I simply skip that body's exercise area for a few days. Focus on different muscle groups instead. Thus, giving that body area a rest - yet still keeping my daily BG numbers under control.

For me, I also exercise when doing other daily tasks as well. For example, I walk up / down the stairs at work, will purposely park further away from my office (to force myself to walk further), when possible I jog the short distance instead of walking (like to the auto shop the other day), etc. etc. I moved my previous large lazy boy chair and replaced with Glider, TM & stationary bike. When I want to watch TV, I simply hop on a "machine" instead. NO machine, NO TV watching. Thus, able to do some additional daily exercise time as well.

If you are exercising a body part too much, don't worry. It will tell you. For example, pain in that specific area. Like too sore of stomach muscles the day after means too many "sit ups" yesterday. Give that muscle area a few days of rest and reduce your rep count in that area next time. Or, try a different exercise. For example, my knees can only handle jogging up 15-20 flights of stairs every 3 days. If done 2 days in a row, my knees hurt way too much the 3rd day. Thus, my body can only "do the stairs" 1 day out of 4. Or, it will burn my knees out. Thus, I focus more on leg cardio - like skipping rope, short 2 mile distance jogging until my paining knees (from doing the stairs) recover.

For me, I find "fun time" sports keeps my body going as well. Canoeing, kayaking, playing soccer with my kids, 15 mile roller blade run with my middle son, 14 mile peddle bike rides at lunch time, etc. etc. are most fun for me. These are "fun time" sports and being fun, I like doing them on a consistant basis. Especially during spring, summer and fall seasonal months. They say if an exercise is fun, one will keep doing it. With this in mind, do perform a few sport exercises you like doing as well. Thus, get exercise and have fun at the same time. (Giant smiles).


Hope these items and "keep it balanced" ideas help....

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Steve said:
You training must match your goals. Why do you think the training you are doing is specific to the goals that you have?
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My goal for right now is to be able to do this without getting tired.

swim 500 yards in 12.5 minutes or less, followed by a 10-minute rest
do 42 push-ups in under two minutes, followed by a two-minute rest
do 50 sit-ups in under two minutes, followed by a two-minute rest
do six pull-ups, followed by a 10-minute rest
run 1.5 miles in boots and long pants in less than 11.5 minutes

other then that, i just want to be in top physical condition. I dont expect to be able to do this anytime soon, i can only run for about 2 minutes right now on 6.0.

Steve said:
On top of this, intense cardio is not necessary at all.... possibly counterproductive... unless you're training for a specific thing that requires you to handle intense cardio. And if that's the case, you have to adjust your weight training to accommodate the increased stress from cardio.
Click to expand...

Why cant i do intense cardio and weight training at the same time? And how do you suggest i addjust my weight training to accommodate the increased stress from cardio?
 
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My body can currently jog a max up to 7 miles. When my roads are clear, my body does 4 mile jogs every other night. Me, my legs and my MP3 Player. Not bad for a 44 year old body. For others my same age, they cannot even jog 1 mile. They'd be in the hospital with massive chest pains. My sister in law is age 53. She jogs 26 mile jogs every month. To her, a 4 mile jog isn't even a warm up. Her body doesn't warm up until after 10 miles. Yet. My body cannot even jog 10 miles.

How much is too much always depends on one's current body health, what their body is used to, and how much their body can take. Each body is different - regardless if cardio, muscle build or combination of both exercise exposures... Thus, no one can answer your "how much is too much?" question. Only your unique body can answer this question.

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spike99 said:
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My body can currently jog a max up to 7 miles. When my roads are clear, my body does 4 mile jogs every other night. Me, my legs and my MP3 Player. Not bad for a 44 year old body. For others my same age, they cannot even jog 1 mile. They'd be in the hospital with massive chest pains. My sister in law is age 53. She jogs 26 mile jogs every month. To her, a 4 mile jog isn't even a warm up. Her body doesn't warm up until after 10 miles. Yet. My body cannot even jog 10 miles.

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Wow, thats amazing. I'm 16, and im in the same boat with the older people in the hospital with massive chest pains :p

spike99 said:
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How much is too much always depends on one's current body health, what their body is used to, and how much their body can take. Each body is different - regardless if cardio, muscle build or combination of both exercise exposures... Thus, no one can answer your "how much is too much?" question. Only your unique body can answer this question.

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Click to expand...

I suppose you are right. But the hard part is learning to listen to your body...
 
I didnt' know you were 16. I ordinarily don't offer advice to minors. Suffice it to say I've worked with a lot of athletes, including myself, and what you are doing is extremely suboptimal.

I liken it to driving the the grocery store and going down every single side street on the way. Eventually you'll arrive at your destination but you'll use a lot of gas and put a lot of wear and tear on the vehicle.

You could just as easily driven straight there and outcomes would've been the same.

Less is more quite often when it comes to training.
 
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