Group: General Fitness & Exercise

Created: 2011/12/31, Members: 382, 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.

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overtraining question?

tromeojr2
tromeojr2
Posts: 49
Joined: 2007/02/17
United States
2007/03/04, 12:38 PM
how long should i let my muscles heal before working them again. i dont want to overtrain, but the schedule im on now has me doing each muscle once a week but i dont feel that's enough. I'd like to do certain muscles maybee every four or five days.
bb1fit
bb1fit
Posts: 11,105
Joined: 2001/06/30
United States
2007/03/04, 03:04 PM
Everyone's recovery threshold is a bit different, but as a general rule 48-72 hrs. should be sufficient. give this a go. If you find you are actually decrasing in weight used from workout to workout, good chance you are not getting enough rest. So, 'play' with this timeframe and see what works for you. I personally am a fan of each muscle twice per week if you work the muscle. That is, not train to exhaustion where you tax the CNS. Then recovery is severely comprimised.

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"If it ain't broke, you aren't trying."

tromeojr2
tromeojr2
Posts: 49
Joined: 2007/02/17
United States
2007/03/04, 04:42 PM
thanks bb1, i have read a lot of your responses to other peoples questions and they are all very helpfull thanks for all the good knowledge and wisdom.
k-ok
k-ok
Posts: 163
Joined: 2007/02/24
United States
2007/03/11, 12:45 PM

This is coming from k-ok.
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Quoting from null:

In the past, I would do try the 3x/wk thing and last about 6-8 weeks before I'd give up, usually due to injury. Last Sep, I started up again with the goal to last 3 mos. I decided to follow the advice I gave my patients and allow enough time to recover even though I preferred to go gung ho all out. This time, I started lifting Mon & Fri. Tues-Thurs were my cardio time and weekends rest. I did a combination of machines and free weights but dropped the free weights when my workout lasted >2 hr.

Well, I made it past 3 mos (about the time I stopped dreading going in to lift). In Jan I felt I was ready to up the program and went to lifting M-W-F, spin M-W, cardio T-Th, and light cardio on weekends.

The important thing is to do what works for you. It took a while to get out of shape and will take time to turn back the clock. Even though I have not achieved all my goals, I can say that I am in better shape than any time in my 20's and at least as good as I was in my 30's (more muscle tho' less speed).

As a PT, I teach my patients there are 2 types of pain: "pain" pain and "exercise" pain. The first one is the friend that tells you you did something you shouldn't have done...stop it. It takes a long time to recover and may require help from a health professional like me. The latter is not as good a friend because it also doesn't feel good but if you push through the discomfort, the friend (discomfort) goes away and you recover fairly quickly. This is the "no pain, no gain" we all should be working in. If you don't allow enough recovery, your "pain" pain friend moves in and stays (injury).

Good luck.


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