Group: General Fitness & Exercise

Created: 2011/12/31, Members: 383, Messages: 54581

Various general exercise related discussions. Find out what it takes to reach your fitness goals through daily effective exercise. With so many options we try to find out what works best.

Join group

Rest breaks

dogboy99nz
dogboy99nz
Posts: 40
Joined: 2003/04/20
New Zealand
2004/01/27, 08:35 PM
Hi

I've been reading a lot here that taking a rest from weight training is generally a good idea after 8-12 weeks (I think). Does this also apply to cardio, ie - do I have to sit on my butt and not get sweaty for a couple of weeks. I'm just not sure I could do that - I'd go nuts!

--------------
Aaron
pimple
pimple
Posts: 490
Joined: 2003/07/08
United States
2004/01/27, 09:04 PM
um... i'm not too sure what you mean by 'after 8-12 weeks'... the ideal would be to work a certain muscle group (with weights) and rest it for at least 3 day, but not much more than that... with cardio, well, what most people do is a 4 day split (in a week), so if you did cardio every other day, you'd be fine... what most people do is cardio one day and weights the other... so when you're resting your muscles from the weights, you could do some cardio and vice-versa...
TRad
TRad
Posts: 94
Joined: 2004/01/03
Canada
2004/01/27, 09:11 PM
He means taking a week off (for example) from training. I can't answer his question specifically, but I do know that it is healthly to take some time off from intense workouts to give your body a chance to rest/heal. I've also heard it helps passing a plateau.
dogboy99nz
dogboy99nz
Posts: 40
Joined: 2003/04/20
New Zealand
2004/01/27, 09:13 PM
What I've been reading (can't remember where but somewhere here) was that after training for 8-12 weeks you should rest for up to a couple of weeks. Maybe that was just for the hardcore body-builders.

--------------
Aaron
TRad
TRad
Posts: 94
Joined: 2004/01/03
Canada
2004/01/27, 09:34 PM
if you're training intensely for a couple months than a week off (at least) is a good idea.

dogboy99nz
dogboy99nz
Posts: 40
Joined: 2003/04/20
New Zealand
2004/01/27, 09:43 PM
And this includes cardio? (sorry to be so dense)

--------------
Aaron
TRad
TRad
Posts: 94
Joined: 2004/01/03
Canada
2004/01/27, 09:54 PM
ahh...I wish I could answer that for you, but I'm not sure. I'd think that cardio would be alright, but I'm still learning myself.
pimple
pimple
Posts: 490
Joined: 2003/07/08
United States
2004/01/27, 10:55 PM
yeah, i'm 99% sure that cardio would be okay to just keep on doing, as long as you don't over do it (by doing it every day)... i mean, the reason why you do cardio is so that you burn calories, and that needs no resting (or at least i don't see how it would)... now, since you damage your muscles when you life weights, you need to rest them so that they'll have time to heal, holla?!
TRad
TRad
Posts: 94
Joined: 2004/01/03
Canada
2004/01/28, 02:06 AM
yeah, what he said.
dogboy99nz
dogboy99nz
Posts: 40
Joined: 2003/04/20
New Zealand
2004/01/28, 03:49 PM
Now that seems logical. Thanks pimple
pimple
pimple
Posts: 490
Joined: 2003/07/08
United States
2004/01/28, 05:07 PM
You're welcome...