Over 2 hours of exercise, Internet says No.
Replies
-
KirstenAFerreira wrote: »So...is over 2 hours bad?
No.
I'm an ultra-distance cyclist. 2 hour rides are considered short jaunts.
But .... listen to your body. If you feel tired or sore, take a day off and rest.
0 -
KirstenAFerreira wrote: »KirstenAFerreira wrote: »KirstenAFerreira wrote: »The short answer is no, it isn't bad so long as you give your body sufficient time to recover, tone back the intensity if needs be and eat adequately.
The reason that long bouts of cardio in particular (any session over 90 mins usually) is said to be bad according to the internet is that it is not optimal for maximising muscle growth or retention. This might be bad if your focus is body building or so on but if your goals are more general then I wouldn't worry.
Are you sure?
Basically I want to tighten up, some ab definition would be wonderful and all, you know that typical bikini body everyone longs for..
But if I'm slowing the progress down, then I do need to make changes..
But I love what I'm doing and couldn't possibly figure out which exercise to drop
Yes, I am sure. I know female runners / triathletes who have a much higher training volume and load who have figures that by many people's definitions are too die for. However their bodies are secondary to their primary goal of being good at their sport.
Which brings me back to what is optimal to achieve a certain goal. Is your routine optimal if your primary goal is to get the "beach body" look? Probably not as you are devoting more time than is necessary to exercising, particularly cardio, than needed. Will it actively hamper that goal? Possibly at a minor level. It really depends on whether the trade off of reducing your exercise level (you seem to enjoy your current routine a great deal and it adds to your happiness and quality of life) is worth the shorter time frame it will take to achieve your goal with a more efficient routine.
Thank you for your advice!
My goals are mainly body transformation that I can maintain forever, as well as fitness and strength.
What would you say is a more efficient routine if I may ask?
As I say I'm really not super knowledgeable at all this.. I just know circuit training is something I enjoy, strength training is awesome and a morning run energises me somewhat
Well the most important aspect of your body transformation goal is your diet which you will need to keep a close eye on to include eating sufficient amounts of protein, fat and carbs and calories to support your training but still low enough to create a calorie deficit.
Then something like this could work given the time you have available:
Mon: weights (am) & HIIT (pm)
Tues: low intensity cardio (45-60 mins) or yoga or pilates or mobility*
Wed: weights (am) & HIIT (pm)
Thurs:low intensity cardio (45-60 mins) or yoga or pilates or mobility *
Friday: weights
Sat: low intensity cardio (45-60 mins) or yoga or pilates or mobility*
Sun: complete rest
*keep the intensity low in whatever session you choose to do and also these sessions are optional - if you want to skip them you can
With the HIIT be careful not to over do it
Yoga with my terrible flexibility and balance, aaah!
I'll look into it, thank you
The toughest part will be adjusting to so much free time, my house will end up super clean
if you have so much free time why not join a club, get a hobby, volunteer, get a job?0 -
KirstenAFerreira wrote: »MeanderingMammal wrote: »KirstenAFerreira wrote: »So...is over 2 hours bad?
Depends what you're trying to achieve. I'm comfortable with a continuous run of up to three hours at the moment, or a continuous ride of 3-4 hours, but they have a specific purpose. Making up 2 hours of random stuff that doesn't appear to hang together to deliver a clear objective seems a bit pointless to me.
I hope to burn fat, and tone/tighten up, build some muscle etc, doing one single form of exercise bores me somewhat. So 30-40 mins jogging, 60 mins circuit training, 60 mins strength training and 40-50 mins brisk walking, I love it, I look forward to every day, but if it slows down by progress than obviously I must make changes
As your objectives are pretty generic then it's difficult to say whether it's bad or not. You do risk an overtraining injury, and if you're not fuelling yourself properly then you could do some longer term damage to your health. I'd agree with the point above that 2000cals per day isn't much for the volume, so that would concern me.
What I'm not seeing in there is much in the way of resistance training, all the videos you talk about are predominantly cardiovascular in nature with a very limited strength component.
What I would suggest is getting some structure to your activity, identify some measurable objectives and work towards them. As you're randomly doing stuff then you don't know whether you're progressing or not.
So if you want to build some muscle, then you need to be working a progressive resistance programme, and to be eating in surplus. If you want to improve your bodyfat percentage, then you need to be eating in deficit, and using some form of resistance training. The cardiovascular work helps build endurance and clearly burns more calories, helping you to deliver your deficit.0 -
Quality over quanity all the time.0
-
TavistockToad wrote: »KirstenAFerreira wrote: »KirstenAFerreira wrote: »KirstenAFerreira wrote: »The short answer is no, it isn't bad so long as you give your body sufficient time to recover, tone back the intensity if needs be and eat adequately.
The reason that long bouts of cardio in particular (any session over 90 mins usually) is said to be bad according to the internet is that it is not optimal for maximising muscle growth or retention. This might be bad if your focus is body building or so on but if your goals are more general then I wouldn't worry.
Are you sure?
Basically I want to tighten up, some ab definition would be wonderful and all, you know that typical bikini body everyone longs for..
But if I'm slowing the progress down, then I do need to make changes..
But I love what I'm doing and couldn't possibly figure out which exercise to drop
Yes, I am sure. I know female runners / triathletes who have a much higher training volume and load who have figures that by many people's definitions are too die for. However their bodies are secondary to their primary goal of being good at their sport.
Which brings me back to what is optimal to achieve a certain goal. Is your routine optimal if your primary goal is to get the "beach body" look? Probably not as you are devoting more time than is necessary to exercising, particularly cardio, than needed. Will it actively hamper that goal? Possibly at a minor level. It really depends on whether the trade off of reducing your exercise level (you seem to enjoy your current routine a great deal and it adds to your happiness and quality of life) is worth the shorter time frame it will take to achieve your goal with a more efficient routine.
Thank you for your advice!
My goals are mainly body transformation that I can maintain forever, as well as fitness and strength.
What would you say is a more efficient routine if I may ask?
As I say I'm really not super knowledgeable at all this.. I just know circuit training is something I enjoy, strength training is awesome and a morning run energises me somewhat
Well the most important aspect of your body transformation goal is your diet which you will need to keep a close eye on to include eating sufficient amounts of protein, fat and carbs and calories to support your training but still low enough to create a calorie deficit.
Then something like this could work given the time you have available:
Mon: weights (am) & HIIT (pm)
Tues: low intensity cardio (45-60 mins) or yoga or pilates or mobility*
Wed: weights (am) & HIIT (pm)
Thurs:low intensity cardio (45-60 mins) or yoga or pilates or mobility *
Friday: weights
Sat: low intensity cardio (45-60 mins) or yoga or pilates or mobility*
Sun: complete rest
*keep the intensity low in whatever session you choose to do and also these sessions are optional - if you want to skip them you can
With the HIIT be careful not to over do it
Yoga with my terrible flexibility and balance, aaah!
I'll look into it, thank you
The toughest part will be adjusting to so much free time, my house will end up super clean
if you have so much free time why not join a club, get a hobby, volunteer, get a job?
I've been job hunting for a very long time, in my country ones skin colour kind of dictates whether you are successful or not, I look everyday with no success, plus I'm already set to begin tattooing in the next few months with my husband who'll start training me.
Hobbies include exercise (obviously), art, gaming, cleaning, cooking and baking - Can't spend all day making food
Volunteering, I milk myself like a cow every 1-2 hours to donate breastmilk.
We aren't a wealthy family so I don't have a car of my own to drive around and do all these things
And I have no friends because something about being married with a child, tattooed with bright blue hair and a person who won't drink and party puts people off
0 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »KirstenAFerreira wrote: »MeanderingMammal wrote: »KirstenAFerreira wrote: »So...is over 2 hours bad?
Depends what you're trying to achieve. I'm comfortable with a continuous run of up to three hours at the moment, or a continuous ride of 3-4 hours, but they have a specific purpose. Making up 2 hours of random stuff that doesn't appear to hang together to deliver a clear objective seems a bit pointless to me.
I hope to burn fat, and tone/tighten up, build some muscle etc, doing one single form of exercise bores me somewhat. So 30-40 mins jogging, 60 mins circuit training, 60 mins strength training and 40-50 mins brisk walking, I love it, I look forward to every day, but if it slows down by progress than obviously I must make changes
As your objectives are pretty generic then it's difficult to say whether it's bad or not. You do risk an overtraining injury, and if you're not fuelling yourself properly then you could do some longer term damage to your health. I'd agree with the point above that 2000cals per day isn't much for the volume, so that would concern me.
What I'm not seeing in there is much in the way of resistance training, all the videos you talk about are predominantly cardiovascular in nature with a very limited strength component.
What I would suggest is getting some structure to your activity, identify some measurable objectives and work towards them. As you're randomly doing stuff then you don't know whether you're progressing or not.
So if you want to build some muscle, then you need to be working a progressive resistance programme, and to be eating in surplus. If you want to improve your bodyfat percentage, then you need to be eating in deficit, and using some form of resistance training. The cardiovascular work helps build endurance and clearly burns more calories, helping you to deliver your deficit.
The problem is that I am very limited, the home workout videos are great because home workout and I have seen wonderful results from them as well as me genuinely enjoying them.
We have a home gym and weights which is great also, but limited!
My eating, unfortunately I struggle to feed myself as much as others say I should.
So the best thing is naturally to drop some exercise.
As I said I'm in no way intelligent when it comes to the topic, I've just been doing what I enjoy
0 -
I used to run about 30 minutes in the morning, do strength training for about an hour and walk for another 30 minutes in the evening... plus I was walking all over for classes and other things around campus... I had amazing results and I loved it. Honestly, I think some people can handle more than others, plus it really depends on WHAT you're doing. Strength training (for me at least) doesn't "wear me out" as much, it kills my muscles, and I definitely want to shower afterword, but lifting is more of a stress-reliever than a stress-inducer for me, so even though I did an hour I only really counted it as half that. Currently I often go for walks as a form of exercise, which obviously isn't a super-strenuous thing, and I could probably do that for several hours (as long as it's not too hot out), plus I work as a zip line guide, which means I'm hiking and carrying equipment for at least 2.5-3 hours on days that I work. I don't think time is a very good gauge of working out. It's about quality, not quantity.
Unless it causes you problems, you're perfectly fine. Just think of it this way: if, for some reason, you can't work out or complete all your work outs, every once in a while you're covered because you work out so much any other time.0 -
There's nothing wrong with 2 hours per se but it will catch up with you eventually. I did the same thing for about 18 months and didn't listen to my trainer when he was telling me I'd burn out and then I did. I was also eating a lot more than you. I felt amazing getting in as many workouts as I could and thought I was invincible but it did catch up with me. Fortunately all of his lecturing paid off and I recognised the signs before I got too far down the road of overtraining and he now has me on a reduced workout schedule which is really hard to deal with but needed to happen.
I hope you can come up with a solution that works for you.0 -
KirstenAFerreira wrote: »MeanderingMammal wrote: »KirstenAFerreira wrote: »MeanderingMammal wrote: »KirstenAFerreira wrote: »So...is over 2 hours bad?
Depends what you're trying to achieve. I'm comfortable with a continuous run of up to three hours at the moment, or a continuous ride of 3-4 hours, but they have a specific purpose. Making up 2 hours of random stuff that doesn't appear to hang together to deliver a clear objective seems a bit pointless to me.
I hope to burn fat, and tone/tighten up, build some muscle etc, doing one single form of exercise bores me somewhat. So 30-40 mins jogging, 60 mins circuit training, 60 mins strength training and 40-50 mins brisk walking, I love it, I look forward to every day, but if it slows down by progress than obviously I must make changes
As your objectives are pretty generic then it's difficult to say whether it's bad or not. You do risk an overtraining injury, and if you're not fuelling yourself properly then you could do some longer term damage to your health. I'd agree with the point above that 2000cals per day isn't much for the volume, so that would concern me.
What I'm not seeing in there is much in the way of resistance training, all the videos you talk about are predominantly cardiovascular in nature with a very limited strength component.
What I would suggest is getting some structure to your activity, identify some measurable objectives and work towards them. As you're randomly doing stuff then you don't know whether you're progressing or not.
So if you want to build some muscle, then you need to be working a progressive resistance programme, and to be eating in surplus. If you want to improve your bodyfat percentage, then you need to be eating in deficit, and using some form of resistance training. The cardiovascular work helps build endurance and clearly burns more calories, helping you to deliver your deficit.
The problem is that I am very limited, the home workout videos are great because home workout and I have seen wonderful results from them as well as me genuinely enjoying them.
We have a home gym and weights which is great also, but limited!
My eating, unfortunately I struggle to feed myself as much as others say I should.
So the best thing is naturally to drop some exercise.
As I said I'm in no way intelligent when it comes to the topic, I've just been doing what I enjoy
Psst. I'll let you in on a secret. A lot of people are advised to do the same (what they enjoy)
0 -
It sounds like you simply love to exercise, nothing wrong with that. I would simply be on guard against taking things to far. Most peoplebon here have experience with taking something they love to far... But that something is usually food!
I understand completely, I used to exercise at a high volume too. I used to do the 300 push-up 300crunch 300 everything else routine daily. I came from a generation raised on the "no pain no gain" mantra and I equated the burn to success.
But that didn't last into my 30s and I stopped working out that much.
What seems to be working best for me now after many failed attempts to re-adopt my old routine has been the methods touted on this forum. Calorybcontrol, and basic heavy lifting interspersed with some athletic training for variety. It's far more efficient and I'm on my way to the best physique of my adult life.
I would recommend trying this way out for a while, but if your like me it'll take time and a bit of thought to overcome the feeling of not having done the work. Essentially replacing duration with intensity, you will probably find the waiting between sets and the recovery days to be the hardest to adhere to.
I exercise an hour or so at a time 3-4 days a week with some other activities thrown in "off the clock" just because.0 -
I'm a college instructor and my classes are every other day, so on the days off, I might do two hours of varied activity. For instance, yesterday I did an hour strength training/fitness class, 30 minutes on the treadmill, and an hour walk. However, on days that I work, a 1/2 hour walk might be all I can manage. I see the alternate days as ways to "make up" for the lower activity on the other days.0
-
I completely get you! I do a 1 hr training session with a trainer 4 days a week at work. Then I do 60-90 mins of MMA training four days a week and I have 1-3 soccer games that I play a week. Most days are at least two hours of fitness a day. I absolutely did run into issues! I would drop a few pounds but when the trainer did his measuring, it came out that I was actually dropping more muscle than fat which is the opposite of what I want. He got me on here and while I do watch my calories, my main goal is hitting my protein intake goals and maintaining the balance between carbs/fat/protein every day. It has been a total overhaul this week because I am so focused on getting the right foods in every day to maintain my balance and get enough protein to sustain my muscles. Fingers crossed, first week tracking and so far so good!! I love my sports and wouldn't give them up!!0
-
How about you up the intensity?
I get tired from reading all you do,but I'm like wow!! stamina!!!
And I'm thinking if you added serious weight on the strength training or like, more reps or a wider,is wider the word I want? range of motion of the exercises, then you could go for mm 60-70 minutes of serious kick *kitten*?
I don't really do cardio,only 3 days a week,like 25 minutes but I try to lift heavy, and it works for me, so in short, try to do less time but much more intense? you may find out that's best for ya or not. we are all so different :P0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 426 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions