Philtron

I do 30 mins of cardio and switch upper body and lower every other day for 30 mins. my roomate tells me that doing this everyday is bad for me. I feel fine, i have good sleep, i don't break my diet and generally very happy. This is my 9th day of working out like this, im a little sore but not enough to quit i feel. bottom line is when should I stop? Do i need a break?

supernu

Do it 5 times a week only, rest for two days.

You won't build muscle while you exercise, you will build it on your rest day.

REST is as important as EXERCISE.

Philtron

Do you days off have to be side by side or can i work out 3 days rest one work out 2 days rest one.

supernu

That's up to you, really.

I exercise 5 days a week, 2 hours a day (weather pending), and Monday/Tuesday are my rest days.

Alphaeater

Hi Philtron,

As long as your body is telling you that things are going well, I think it is perfectly fine for you to work out 1 hour every day. As Supernu correctly pointed out, the time that you are resting is the time your body is getting stronger, but if you alternate body parts (I would suggest not doing upper on one day and lower the next. Instead I would recommend, perhaps, core work one day and upper body the next, or upper body pushing muscles plus core work one day and upper body pulling muscles plus core work the next), you should be fine. One additional suggestion: alternate the type of cardio you do every day. If you are a member of a gym, for example, perhaps you could do one day of walking, one day of biking, one day on the elliptical, one day in an aerobics class--the idea is to force your body to adapt to the new challenges you are presenting it with. If you are not at a gym and you only have your own two feet, walk at a steady pace one day, alternate 30 seconds of jogging with 30 seconds of walking another day, go up and down a hill on another day. Make every day different. This is called "muscle confusion."

Corte

You can switch up your workouts for better result, but you really should take some time to rest instead of over doing. You might not feel it now but eventually you'll get worn down and you won't develop muscle properly.

bella8933

I work out every day as well .. though I have 1 day off and sometimes 2 days off.

What do I do?
- 20 or 45 minutes on the Crosstrainer
or/and 45 minutes dancing (disco)
or/and I bike or walk 45 minutes
or/and Weight training with light/medium hand weights and basic floor work

I also try to stretch a lot. It seems that if I don't do a good strecthing session evrery day - maybe 15 minutes or so .. the next day is miserable on my joints. I am getting old.

Big question. I watch THE BIGGEST LOSER on online TV and those people workout about 4 hours a day. They do much more strenuous work out for those 12 weeks and yes, they drop these huge numbers.

I would like to have my own boot camp for about 6 weeks .. working out 4 hours a day. To me this seems feasible because for the last 3 months I have been doing the above.

I need to drop this weight! What do you guys think?

Becky