I walk 12 miles & do 567 pushups every day - is that too much?

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walk&pushups

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I am new here so please forgive any faux pas

I walk 3 times a day ... 4 miles each time @ 3 MPH so each walk takes 1 hour & 20 minutes.

During these walks I do 21 pushups every 10 minutes (every half mile).

This is a total of 9 "sets" of 21 pushups 3 times a day or 27 "sets" total

So I walk 12 miles a day 7 days a week during which I also do 567 pushups, 21 at a time every 10 minutes.

I get 18 hours rest between each day's walks & pushups and though I do feel like I've exerted myself, I don't feel "spent" or "driven to the point of failure/exhaustion" when I'm done.

I keep hearing about "overtraining". Am I pushing too hard? I don't FEEL like I am . . . . but I'd hate to think I'm wasting effort to be doing all this walking and all these pushups and not be getting maximum benefit. I built up slowly starting with "wussups" (pushups against walls, then on 2-3 foot ledges) so I don't feel overtraining symptoms like fatigue, soreness, etc.

Opinions greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
 
It looks great mate, if you have the time to do, cause it looks like you need a lot of time. You can switch to slow jogging and gradually increase the intensity which will dramatically improve your cardiovascular system, something that walking cannot give you. Try to do other exercises as well, not only pushups. Go for abs(have a mat with you), lunges, burpees, star jumps, tuck jumps and you will be consuming double the calories and you'll b working most of your muscle groups this way. Finish off with pull ups when you get home. Make sure that you eat at least 1000 calories more than your BMR and you'll b fine.
 
Seems like you could cut a lot of time and burn as many if not more calories by doing a program which includes stretching, jogging, weight training, swimming and jumping. I mean right now you are walking 4 hours a day, why not jog for 1 hour or sprint for 20 minutes? Walking is fairly light and you may not be happy with your results until you do a more proactive routine combined with good diet.
 
highanddry said:
Seems like you could cut a lot of time and burn as many if not more calories by doing a program which includes stretching, jogging, weight training, swimming and jumping. I mean right now you are walking 4 hours a day, why not jog for 1 hour or sprint for 20 minutes? Walking is fairly light and you may not be happy with your results until you do a more proactive routine combined with good diet.
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Thank you for your comments, highanddry.

I worry about injury and wear & tear with jogging. Also, I'm more of a tortoise than a hare in mindset. I lack the will power to push myself to exhaustion but can tolerate the low & slow burn of 12 miles of brisk walking.

I suppose it's a matter of intent and expectation. I'm 54 years old and for a decade and a half I was morbidly obese; weighing over 300 lbs. I lost 140 lbs in 6 months by walking 4 miles a day and eating 1000 calories or less a day. Now I eat normally and walk and do pushups daily so I don't return to a sedentary lifestyle and regain the weight.

My concern is if 18-20 hours is a suitable interval to give muscles a rest between daily sets of pushups (27 sets of 21 pushups over 4-6 hours time).
 
Research has shown that 48 hours is optimal rest time between bodyparts. That's why you typically don't do a full body split every day.

My boyfriend did 1000 pushups everyday for about a year, and he know has chronic wrist pain (he's only 28) because of the load the pushups placed on the joint. I reccomend investing in a dumbell/barbell set or a gym membership, and doing some real resistance training.

If you're worried about the wear and tear of jogging, how about going for a bike ride. That's easy on the knees. Or swimming.
 
Yes, swimming is great; helps burn calories and has no impact on your joints, you should definitely give it a try. Well done so far, your results speak volumes of your character. 48 hours will give your muscles plenty of time to properly recover.
 
jaim91 said:
Research has shown that 48 hours is optimal rest time between bodyparts. [...] I reccomend investing in a dumbell/barbell set or a gym membership, and doing some real resistance training.

If you're worried about the wear and tear of jogging, how about going for a bike ride. That's easy on the knees. Or swimming.
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Thank you, jaim91, for your information and suggestions . . .
 
It appears to me that doing pushups everyday is not as beneficial as doing pushups every other day . . . . the message I'm getting is that muscles respond to exercise more desirably if they're exercised every other day as opposed to every single day.

While I understand the principle behind the 48 hour rest between exercise sessions, I can't help but intuit that taking every other day off from pushups will only produce half the results . . .
 
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How about incorporating other exercises like squats, lunges, dips, and chinups?'

Or taking some (1-2) days off/week?
 
jaim91 said:
[..] Or taking some (1-2) days off/week?
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That's just what I've done, jaim91. I've stopped doing pushups on Thursdays and Sundays which is three days on - one day off - two days on - one day off. I even tried to refrain from all exercise on Sundays but that just didn't feel right so I'm stilling walking every day.
 
This is an excellent example of real world vs. science. Basically, no matter what scientific answer you can give, the fact remains that you did what you did and lost the weight.

With that said, the meaning of overtraining is vague. It's not so much as what you feel, but rather what you do which later translate to what you feel. Walking 12 miles a day and doing nearly 600 push ups a day is quite a lot to be doing. Time can be spent doing other things and get equally or better results.

It sounds like you have a lot of time on your hand to be doing 12 miles walks and nearly 600 push ups. It seems like perhaps you have a fear that if you're not busy, then you're eating which will then translate into a fear of gaining the weight back.

The thing is that perhaps you're retired or living at home, and time can be spent doing other things than walking 12 miles a day. You can get the same results going on the elliptical for 30 minutes a day which would save time. Maybe if you have a lot of free time on your hands, you should get busy rather than just walking and perhaps having a fear of living sedentary and gaining the weight back. Join a social club, or do something active like join a row boat team, bike club, or a league of some sort. Even more so, you can join part time at a park or something... great exercises and you get to be around people.

Walking 12 miles a day at 300+ pounds burns about over 2000+ calories which is quite a lot per day. With that said, I have a fear that perhaps you lost the weight by excessive energy output with the same input. The thing is obese people don't eat a lot, but they remain where they are only because their body isn't metabolically active. With that said, hopefully instead of doing all these exercises, maybe you should refine your eating habit and perhaps gain an understanding of what you're eating and how much of it you're actually eating. I congratulate you in your success, but I fear that you will rebound once you get tired of all that walking. Remember it's a life style change, and walking 12 miles a day and doing nearly 300+ pushup is not exactly a lifestyle but rather an obsession that can become hurtful in the near future.
 
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