Rest days...

baybeejulia

Can I do Les Mills body pump on my rest days? Or will that somehow hinder my stronglifts development? It's a high rep, light weights group fitness class.

I used to do it 3 times a week prior to starting stronglifts and I love it, don't want to completely stop.

DawnEmbers

You don't need to do nothing at all on rests days but you will want to make sure you get a day of rest so that you don't burn yourself out.

I have done Grit Strength (also Les Mills) on a rest day and I've done it the same day as lifting and both worked fine but I rarely get to any classes due to my work schedule.

In the beginning, it might be easier to do both, but you could find it more taxing once the weights get heavier. Then you can decide on what you want to prioritize and put your schedule together based on those decisions. But really, it's all up to you.

baybeejulia

DawnEmbers wrote: »

You don't need to do nothing at all on rests days but you will want to make sure you get a day of rest so that you don't burn yourself out.

I have done Grit Strength (also Les Mills) on a rest day and I've done it the same day as lifting and both worked fine but I rarely get to any classes due to my work schedule.

In the beginning, it might be easier to do both, but you could find it more taxing once the weights get heavier. Then you can decide on what you want to prioritize and put your schedule together based on those decisions. But really, it's all up to you.

I know stronglifts is enough and I don't need to do anything more, but I actually want to.

So you're saying I can do both for now, until I feel overworked or exhausted? I don't HAVE to give my muscles a rest?

DawnEmbers

Not quite. You do need some rest but the extent of the rest can vary. Part of it is listening to your body and knowing when you need to slow down and on what. You might drop a body pump class in the future or you could drop one SL day and just accept the strength gains will be a little slower. There are different variables along with personal taste that affect the decisions. Body pump and such are more like cardio with weights (as described in the lighter weights and higher reps), so they will be a little different than doing two full lifting sessions back to back, but it certainly doesn't hurt to take rest days either.

The main point is, yes you can do more than SL if you want, but you have to make sure to rest some too. It may not need to be 4 days but at least one or two, depending on how you feel and how things are progressing.

baybeejulia

Thanks, I appreciate your responses.

I am trying to lose fat and I have to create a caloric deficit, because my TDEE is so low and I don't want to eat below 1200 calories. So I need to do some exercise on rest days.

I do love pump, so I thought I could I do that on rest days, given that it's essentially cardio, I could just go lighter on the weights than I usually would. That way I'm still doing pump, still getting the burn but not working my muscles too much.

arabianhorselover

Walking is great on rest days.