Working Out: How long?

IamBorg

Last Friday and Saturday I actually paid attention to the clock when I was at the gym, and realized that my workouts are taking quite a lot of time. Saturday I walked 4 miles on the indoor track (steady 3mph so 80min), about 20 min in the weight room working upper body, and 15 min shooting hoops. Some days I'd like to spend more time shooting hoops, playing racquetball, or maybe swimming laps but it seems like much of my day is taken up with exercise (takes me 1.5 hrs to get to gym on the bus). I've been averaging 4 days a week at the gym.

On one hand, I'm proud of myself for being able to do this much - this time last year I could barely make it around the block! But then I wonder if spending so much time in the gym is a good idea. I enjoy it, and I think part of why I'm doing so much is that life has become more stressful than usual and the physical activity is helping me manage the stress. Then the downside is that my eating patterns are way off since I have little appetite and occasional nausea (prob a stress thing, but possibly a physical thing, my doctor is thinking on it).

Any suggestions on balancing the workouts with taking care of my body right? Am I overdoing it or is this level of activity healthy?

alexnguyen78665

I think diet is probably 70% of the equation to maintaining good health and losing weight (if needed). I would focus more attention towards that if you feel you have been neglecting this aspect.

I want to get my exercise over quickly if there is no social aspect to it (such as playing a sport), so I try to pound out a DVD workout under 40 minutes or do something similar in length when I am doing circuits at the gym. Just my preference but I would not walk for 80 minutes, even if I still had my dog! (RIP, Ginger.)

But more importantly, it seems that you feel that you out of balance otherwise you wouldn't broach the subject. If so, some small changes just to see if you like it wouldn't hurt.

moondawg14

Last Friday and Saturday I actually paid attention to the clock when I was at the gym, and realized that my workouts are taking quite a lot of time. Saturday I walked 4 miles on the indoor track (steady 3mph so 80min), about 20 min in the weight room working upper body, and 15 min shooting hoops. Some days I'd like to spend more time shooting hoops, playing racquetball, or maybe swimming laps but it seems like much of my day is taken up with exercise (takes me 1.5 hrs to get to gym on the bus). I've been averaging 4 days a week at the gym.

On one hand, I'm proud of myself for being able to do this much - this time last year I could barely make it around the block! But then I wonder if spending so much time in the gym is a good idea. I enjoy it, and I think part of why I'm doing so much is that life has become more stressful than usual and the physical activity is helping me manage the stress. Then the downside is that my eating patterns are way off since I have little appetite and occasional nausea (prob a stress thing, but possibly a physical thing, my doctor is thinking on it).

Any suggestions on balancing the workouts with taking care of my body right? Am I overdoing it or is this level of activity healthy?

If you enjoy it and you're not shirking any of your family or life duties... then I say go for it.

My guess is that you might not be maintaining the right amount of nutrients and/or electrolytes if you're working out that long. You might need to find some sort of food that you can use to fuel these workouts. Triathletes/distance runners generally start thinking about nutrition for races that last longer than 90 minutes. IF you're not already doing so, look into taking an electrolyte drink with you to the gym, or try some of those gel packets, and see if that takes care of some of the nausea. (I assume you're getting the nausea during/after the workouts)

IamBorg

Thanks.

The nausea appears unrelated to the workouts, but I'll start with some electrolyte replacement something this week anyway.