Sanity Check - Taking on too much exercise? (adding Martial Arts?)

4thDegreeKnight

For those who have been at the exercise thing a while, I need to do a sanity check. Bear with me, I am giving more background that normal so you can assess and advise.

Background:

• 41 Yr Old Father of 3
• 8lbs lost over 6 weeks, at 237lbs
• Calorie intake 1990 base + Exercise Calories (I calculate at 25% less than MFP suggests to eat) and I do eat my exercise calories.

I found going to the gym is tough for me, although I loved it for years. Schedule just doesn't mesh when I am married and have 3 kids. So I started...

• Two weeks of just counting calories
• At 3 weeks I started walking 2 mi 3x a week
• At 4 weeks I started walking 3 mi 2-3 times a week
• Past two weeks I have either walked 3mi or Biked 10mi roughly 4-5x a week. This is my new routine.
• I am active on weekends, but nothing like the routine above - Mowing Lawn, chasing Kids, Projects around house....

I introduced cycling to break the boredom of a 75-90min walk. It kicks my *kitten*, but I enjoy it and its low impact on my knees.

Here is the thing, I'm feeling it. I'm constantly sore. I'm getting too old for this <bleep> but I am determined to stay active at least an hour a day where my heart rate is up. I'm not sure if this is going to be a permanent, "you are getting old, get used to feeling tight and sore all the time". Or if this will pass as my body gets used to it.

The next step in my mind was to introduce some sort of resistance training or strength training - be it rubber bands or weights at home or slapping weights on my ankles when I walk. But then this happened.

Here is the question...

My middle daughter (7yr old) and I visited a local Tae Kwon Do school and she is very about doing it. The school is N I C E and even piqued my interest. They offer parents to come in at like 20% of the cost because they want parent involvement. My daughter is all about this. I would actually go to class with her.

Would I be pushing it too hard if I was doing my normal routine in the morning for 1-1.5 hours an then do Tae Kwan Do for an hour 2-3x a week?

I have no interest in starving my body and I will eat the calories as long as I am at that 1lb a week loss. But I am wondering if I am just beating up my body too much.

Thoughts?

ninerbuff

Lol, I wish I was 41 again. At 52 I train 30-45 min weight lifting and 30-60 minutes cardio a day, along with moving weights around (for clients) 4-5 hours a day and also holding pads for kickboxing. That doesn't include any kickboxing I do on my own and activities I do on the weekend.
As long as you're giving yourself enough time to recover and supplanting enough calories to cover the activities, you should be fine.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

4thDegreeKnight

Define recovery time? I would be doing my routine in morning and martial arts that evening, so say 8 hours between each. Weekends off. Then about every 90 days I would take a week off altogether to let my body recover. What do you to recover?

And you get an extra man card for being 52 and kickin' it. I am humbled now that I hit 40 and can't drop weight at the loss of a hat anymore. Carrying this extra weight is making it tough, but as it sheds and I stay at it things should get easier.

mreichard

I think it will definitely get easier as you lose weight. I'm 49 and lift or run every day, plus walking my dog an average of 3 miles a day. The main thing that I've noticed with age is that I need to warm up more. Once I'm warmed up, I'm good to go.

The other day, my 14 year old son wanted to play all-dunk one-on-one basketball at a local elementary school's 9 foot rim. The first time I jumped, I could only hit about halfway up the net. After a couple of jumps, I could do nice 2 hand dunks on the 9' basket.

Lizarking

The human body is easily capable of that kind of workload. I wouldn't worry about it. Might have a week of soreness.

lorrpb

All you can do is to try it and see how it goes. Everyone responds differently!

4thDegreeKnight

mreichard wrote: »

The main thing that I've noticed with age is that I need to warm up more. Once I'm warmed up, I'm good to go.

I think you nailed it right there. I'm noticing I need to stretch MUCH more.