Recovery advice?

Jonny15121983

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping to get some advice from you with regards to giving your body recovery time. I know that when doing weights it is highly advised to alternate rest days for muscle groups, however this is with regards to cardio.

Three weeks ago I really upped my determination, started to eat much healthier and bought a pair of rollerblades. I've been out blading (Vigorous, fast speeds) for 30 to 50 mins a day and walking (3.5mph approx.) for 30 to 90 mins a day.

The problem I am having is that each day my muscles feel weaker, right now my legs feel as tired after 1 minute as they did after half an hour of blading on day 1.

Am I overdoing it and causing more harm than good or is it a good sign to keep them feeling at a higher level of fatigue?

BasicGreatGuy

Sounds like your body is rebelling. It may be due to nothing more than the new load you have placed on it, or it may be due to you overdoing it.

I would try just doing rollerblading 3 - 4 times a week (without walking like you have on the same day) with the other days spent just walking, or some other non high impact cardio. See how that works for you.

trswallow

As a former blader I say take 2 or 3 days off from blading to let your body recover and after that limit yourself to 3 to 5 times a week. If you are blading on consecutive days then alternate hard and easy days. Blading is seen as low impact, but it uses a lot of stabilizing muscles and tendons that are not normally worked so hard so it is important to allow recovery time. Over do it too much you could end up with a groin or ankle injury or some other overuse injury.

The walking is low impact, so it can be done everyday, including days you do other cardio.

cheshirecatastrophe

Well, of course! Rollerblading isn't squatting, to be sure, but you're still giving your legs a heck of a (NEW) workout! A day or too off would probably work wonders.

And moving forward, remember that your heart is a muscle, too, and needs a break every now and then.

999tigger

Listen to your body, hats an instant sign you are overdoing it and not recovered. If you ignore it and push through then it will get worse not better, so proper recovery is an essential part. You will build up some endurance over time.

An alternative is to do some other form of exercise that uses slightly different muscles, if you feel the need to exercise.

Jonny15121983

Thanks so much everyone, I love this community, you are always so helpful.

If all goes to plan then tomorrow should be my first time in an actual gym so I should be able to drop the blading down to alternate days and hopefully find some form of cardio workout I can do there that puts the load on different muscle groups as suggested. Maybe rowing? I know it still uses a lot of leg muscles but I think the main focus will be on different muscles. Any suggestions on that front would of course be appreciated

Alternatively I could just go with strength training which is something I had planned to get back into anyway.

@trswallow Haha yeah it definitely does, I've been saying hello to a few muscles I forgot I had since back in my blading youth.

colors_fade

Rowing is a good exercise.

I know guys who do it in the gym after their lifting workout. It's been said that doing cardio after lifting is a good idea, because after you lift, you've exhausted your glycogen stores, so the cardio helps in burning fat; with your glycogen stores gone, your body needs to pull energy from somewhere.

Out of curiosity, because of what you wrote at the top, what kind of lifting routing are you planning to follow?

Jonny15121983

Great advice there thank-you, I'll definitely give it a try.

At this stage I have absolutely no idea, very little experience outside of home weights. It is something I need to do a lot of research on. I know that I want to focus on strength rather than size, although toning and definition are wanted too (lots of body fat to be lost for that still). As far as I know from the research so far that will mean my focus should be on a few reps of the heaviest I can do rather than lots of reps of lower weight.

Advice is always welcome

trswallow

StrongLifts 5x5 is a good simple program for working on strength. I had good results until I cut back on my strength work when I was training for a marathon. My squats dropped and everything else stopped progressing. Since then I have been making slow progress, but it is mainly because I have been focusing on cardio for a triathlon and averaging only about one strength workout a week.

You start out lifting just the bar at first and you feel like an idiot, but stick with it. Concentrate on your form while the weight is light so that when you get into heavier weight you already know what proper form feels like. It is important to be able to recognize when you are not able to maintain proper form so that you do not push past what your body is currently capable of.

There are several other programs for beginner, but I have not tried any other programs so hopefully someone that has tried some of the other programs will reply.

colors_fade

I'd second StrongLifts 5x5. Great starter program. You will get stronger.

Side Note: "Toning" is a myth. You bring out muscle definition simply by losing fat. That's all there is to it. That "toned" look is just a low body fat percentage. Nothing more.

As for workouts: If you do a lot of research, you're going to inevitably find the "split workouts", where guys go to the gym 6x per week and work *one* bodypart per day. I'm not an advocate of that style of training. I think it's best reserved for advanced bodybuilders who already have a lot of strength and size.

StrongLifts 5x5 falls into the "total body workout" category - where you're lifting all your major muscle groups on the same day, via compound lifts, and resting on days between. You lift 3x per week, and the days between are rest days (or cardio days, if you're losing fat, like me).

I did StrongLifts 5x5 for a little over a year, and then wanted more, and moved to a DUP-style training regimine. I highly recommend such a program, especially if you're in the same camp as I am (and it sounds like it) where you want to cut body fat and get stronger.

Anyway, keep it simple. Calories in/Calories out is how you're going to lose fat. Nothing else matters. Cardio can help widen your daily deficit (I prefer walking in the morning, fasted, before breakfast). Strength training during this time period will help you maintain lean muscle mass, and possibly build some additional muscle (it's difficult, but not impossible to do, provided you fuel your body correctly).

Jonny15121983

That's great, thank-you both. I'll definitely look into the Stronglifts 5x5 and try to suck up the empty bar embarrassment haha Makes a lot of sense about it being an important stage for learning good form.

Makes sense on the toning side of things, I have been doing pretty well on the cardio so far though have a lot of work to do on fueling my body correctly as I've been drastically under for calories a lot of days. Something I'm working on though! I'm planning to do strength 3 times a week with intense cardio on the other 4, then additional walking for gentle cardio each day too.

I really do appreciate you guys taking the time to help me out with this advice

lukegipl

Try amino acids help me a lot

irishdancer214

Definitely try and up your calories...that's going to be a big help. Try adding in carbs before your workout, even a banana or piece of whole grain bread can be good! Don't get too low on calories either...in my experience with an eating disorder, super low calories are really going to inhibit your workouts!!