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Am I exercising too much?
xxzenabxx
Posts: 948 Member
Here’s my exercise routine
Monday- 1 hour Aerobics/cardio class + 10000 steps
Tuesday- Upper body workout + 1 hour walk (10000 steps) + kickboxing class in the evening
Wednesday- Yoga + 10000 steps
Thursday- Lower body + abs workout + 1 hour walk (10000 steps)
Friday- Upper body workout + 1 hour walk (10000 steps)
Saturday- Lower body workout + abs + 1 hour walk (10000 steps)
Sunday- Yoga/Pilates + 10000 steps
The reason that I’m asking is because I’ve been doing this routine for a few months consistently but all of a sudden felt fatigued yesterday and I crashed and I haven’t been able to get out of bed and workout. Is it PMS? Why am I so fatigued? Doctors usually won’t help me in this sort of situation. My blood work came out fine recently. I’m eating 2000 calories as a weekly average and my TDEE is 2350. I really want to lose weight in a healthy way this time because last year I was undereating. I only have 9/10 kilos to lose. What do you guys think? Am I doing too much?
Monday- 1 hour Aerobics/cardio class + 10000 steps
Tuesday- Upper body workout + 1 hour walk (10000 steps) + kickboxing class in the evening
Wednesday- Yoga + 10000 steps
Thursday- Lower body + abs workout + 1 hour walk (10000 steps)
Friday- Upper body workout + 1 hour walk (10000 steps)
Saturday- Lower body workout + abs + 1 hour walk (10000 steps)
Sunday- Yoga/Pilates + 10000 steps
The reason that I’m asking is because I’ve been doing this routine for a few months consistently but all of a sudden felt fatigued yesterday and I crashed and I haven’t been able to get out of bed and workout. Is it PMS? Why am I so fatigued? Doctors usually won’t help me in this sort of situation. My blood work came out fine recently. I’m eating 2000 calories as a weekly average and my TDEE is 2350. I really want to lose weight in a healthy way this time because last year I was undereating. I only have 9/10 kilos to lose. What do you guys think? Am I doing too much?
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Replies
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Rest/recovery days are kind of an important part of a good fitness regimen.10
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Your TDEE sounds low for that much exercise?5
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Your body needs time to recover from activity. There is no room for that in the routine you posted above. Of course you are fatigued.4
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Rest/recovery days are kind of an important part of a good fitness regimen.
How many rest days should I include? I’m confused 🤷🏽♀️ I though you should exercise 5/6 days a week?0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Rest/recovery days are kind of an important part of a good fitness regimen.
How many rest days should I include? I’m confused 🤷🏽♀️ I though you should exercise 5/6 days a week?
From your schedule it sounds like you are exercising 7 days a week and resting 0. And really doing 2 workouts a day on most days.3 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Rest/recovery days are kind of an important part of a good fitness regimen.
How many rest days should I include? I’m confused 🤷🏽♀️ I though you should exercise 5/6 days a week?
Take off the steps on Wednesday and Sunday and see if that helps.
And eat more1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »Your TDEE sounds low for that much exercise?
What do you think my TDEE is? I’m 5’ 4’ aged 25 and female so the calculators tell me my TDEE is around 2200/2300?0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »Your TDEE sounds low for that much exercise?
What do you think my TDEE is? I’m 5’ 4’ aged 25 and female so the calculators tell me my TDEE is around 2200/2300?
Based on all that exercise?
How much do you weigh?1 -
I'm not necessarily going to jump on the train that you are doing too much. This really depends on your level of fitness and the level of intensity of the workouts you are doing. Active rest days are ok as long as you are doing them right. Have you noticed a decline in your workouts? Is this fatigue very sudden? You mention doctors won't help you in this kind of condition. Has this happened to you before? If you have noticed a decline in the quality of your workouts to the point that you crashed, then I would say yes you are likely doing too much. If it was very sudden that you noticed the fatigue, then it sounds like something else is going on if you have had the same workout routine for a few months with no issues. Do you have a fever? Any other symptoms other than fatigue?0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Rest/recovery days are kind of an important part of a good fitness regimen.
How many rest days should I include? I’m confused 🤷🏽♀️ I though you should exercise 5/6 days a week?
Depends on your level of fitness. If you're more or less starting out, doing what you're doing is going to be too much. You also have days with multiple bouts of exercise...Tuesday for example, you essentially have 3 bouts of exercise.
It also depends on what you're doing and how intense the workouts are. Higher intensity exercise is going to require more recovery. I can exercise 7 days per week if my exercise is for the most part light to moderate which is what I'm doing right now.
My lifting sessions take me around 30 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and I follow that up with an easy spin on a stationary bike for about 15 minutes. I road ride on Tuesday and Friday after work...usually about 45 minutes at a conversational pace. I usually do a 1.5 to 2 hour ride on Saturday at an endurance, conversational pace and Sunday is a free day...I might go for a ride or go rock climbing or hiking or I might not do anything depending on how I feel.
I've been exercising regularly for more than 6-7 years so this isn't something particularly burdensome on my body. When I'm actively training for a cycling event, I take more rest days because my training is more intensive and I'm spending a lot more time in the saddle.
Ultimately, listening to what your body is telling you is what is important...your body is telling you that it's fatigued...take a day off and rest.1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Your TDEE sounds low for that much exercise?
What do you think my TDEE is? I’m 5’ 4’ aged 25 and female so the calculators tell me my TDEE is around 2200/2300?
Based on all that exercise?
How much do you weigh?
I weigh 152 lbs0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Your TDEE sounds low for that much exercise?
What do you think my TDEE is? I’m 5’ 4’ aged 25 and female so the calculators tell me my TDEE is around 2200/2300?
Based on all that exercise?
How much do you weigh?
I weigh 152 lbs
I guessed at 150, and Scooby gives you a TDEE of over 2800.3 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Rest/recovery days are kind of an important part of a good fitness regimen.
How many rest days should I include? I’m confused 🤷🏽♀️ I though you should exercise 5/6 days a week?
Depends on your level of fitness. If you're more or less starting out, doing what you're doing is going to be too much. You also have days with multiple bouts of exercise...Tuesday for example, you essentially have 3 bouts of exercise.
It also depends on what you're doing and how intense the workouts are. Higher intensity exercise is going to require more recovery. I can exercise 7 days per week if my exercise is for the most part light to moderate which is what I'm doing right now.
My lifting sessions take me around 30 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and I follow that up with an easy spin on a stationary bike for about 15 minutes. I road ride on Tuesday and Friday after work...usually about 45 minutes at a conversational pace. I usually do a 1.5 to 2 hour ride on Saturday at an endurance, conversational pace and Sunday is a free day...I might go for a ride or go rock climbing or hiking or I might not do anything depending on how I feel.
I've been exercising regularly for more than 6-7 years so this isn't something particularly burdensome on my body. When I'm actively training for a cycling event, I take more rest days because my training is more intensive and I'm spending a lot more time in the saddle.
Ultimately, listening to what your body is telling you is what is important...your body is telling you that it's fatigued...take a day off and rest.
My weight lifting sessions are about 60-90 minutes long! How do you make them so short? I don’t like lifting for so long 4 times a week.0 -
Cassandraw3 wrote: »I'm not necessarily going to jump on the train that you are doing too much. This really depends on your level of fitness and the level of intensity of the workouts you are doing. Active rest days are ok as long as you are doing them right. Have you noticed a decline in your workouts? Is this fatigue very sudden? You mention doctors won't help you in this kind of condition. Has this happened to you before? If you have noticed a decline in the quality of your workouts to the point that you crashed, then I would say yes you are likely doing too much. If it was very sudden that you noticed the fatigue, then it sounds like something else is going on if you have had the same workout routine for a few months with no issues. Do you have a fever? Any other symptoms other than fatigue?
Well my workouts do feel declined and I’ve felt this like this before. Last year I was eating 1500 calories and struggling to do the routine above. Then I watched Christine Salus and Natacha Oceane on YouTube who recommended to increase calories and don’t drop them too low. So I essentially went on a diet break in December and increased my calories to 2300. I felt MUCH better. I’m also trying to do 10000 steps a day every day which is new to me. Before I was doing 7000 steps a day. But now I feel like I’m tired and worn down and I just want to sleep and my right knee is starting to hurt. Now I’m eating 2000 calories and it still doesn’t feel like enough!0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »Your TDEE sounds low for that much exercise?
What do you think my TDEE is? I’m 5’ 4’ aged 25 and female so the calculators tell me my TDEE is around 2200/2300?
If it helps for comparison I am 5’4.5” and 137lbs. That much exercise would have me around an average TDEE of about 2600-2700 from my Fitbit. That’s if I am understanding correctly and the 10,000 steps doesn’t include steps taken during the workout. If it does than still probably about 2500 at least. I can tell you that some of those days I would definitely be seeing around 3000 calories burned.
That said you should take a rest day. Also how long have you been averaging 2000 calories (are you 100% sure that’s your average or are you guessing about what it is?) and how much weight have you lost? Those are the true keys to figuring out your TDEE.0 -
shadow2soul wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Your TDEE sounds low for that much exercise?
What do you think my TDEE is? I’m 5’ 4’ aged 25 and female so the calculators tell me my TDEE is around 2200/2300?
If it helps for comparison I am 5’4.5” and 137lbs. That much exercise would have me around an average TDEE of about 2600-2700 from my Fitbit. That’s if I am understanding correctly and the 10,000 steps doesn’t include steps taken during the workout. If it does than still probably about 2500.
That said you should take a rest day. Also how long have you been averaging 2000 calories (are you 100% sure that’s your average or are you guessing about what it is?) and how much weight have you lost? Those are the true keys to figuring out your TDEE.
Well I’m still new to figuring out my TDEE. I spent 2 weeks trying to figure it out in December before Christmas holidays. I ate 2300 calories. Like I said last year I did a lot of wrong things to my body by undereating. Okay 2500? I’ve never tried that before, maybe that’s what I need to do.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Rest/recovery days are kind of an important part of a good fitness regimen.
How many rest days should I include? I’m confused 🤷🏽♀️ I though you should exercise 5/6 days a week?
Depends on your level of fitness. If you're more or less starting out, doing what you're doing is going to be too much. You also have days with multiple bouts of exercise...Tuesday for example, you essentially have 3 bouts of exercise.
It also depends on what you're doing and how intense the workouts are. Higher intensity exercise is going to require more recovery. I can exercise 7 days per week if my exercise is for the most part light to moderate which is what I'm doing right now.
My lifting sessions take me around 30 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and I follow that up with an easy spin on a stationary bike for about 15 minutes. I road ride on Tuesday and Friday after work...usually about 45 minutes at a conversational pace. I usually do a 1.5 to 2 hour ride on Saturday at an endurance, conversational pace and Sunday is a free day...I might go for a ride or go rock climbing or hiking or I might not do anything depending on how I feel.
I've been exercising regularly for more than 6-7 years so this isn't something particularly burdensome on my body. When I'm actively training for a cycling event, I take more rest days because my training is more intensive and I'm spending a lot more time in the saddle.
Ultimately, listening to what your body is telling you is what is important...your body is telling you that it's fatigued...take a day off and rest.
My weight lifting sessions are about 60-90 minutes long! How do you make them so short? I don’t like lifting for so long 4 times a week.
You're doing an upper lower split and likely doing a bunch of accessory work too which would be common in a body building split.
I do a push/pull split and focus primarily on compound movements and don't do a bunch of accessory work. I would prefer doing a full body workout 3x per week but my schedule requires that I do back to back sessions on Wed and Thurs so that won't work.
If you're going to do a body building split, it's going to be high volume with a lot of accessory work like you're doing. Personally...I'm not a body builder and have no need to do all that stuff so I prefer full body programs that primarily have you doing compound movements with a tiny bit of accessory work. I'm just trying to maintain my existing muscle mass and a reasonably decent physique for a middle aged man and I lift during my lunch hour, so I don't have all day to spend in the gym. I'm not looking to body build or squat a gazillion pounds or anything like that.
Are you running a structured program? That will help. There are tons of beginner programs out there and most are full body 3x per week and really shouldn't take any more than 45 minutes or so...maybe 60 depending on your rest between sets or if you do any milling about talking and whatnot. I've been in and out of gyms most of my life and I've never spent more than an hour.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Rest/recovery days are kind of an important part of a good fitness regimen.
How many rest days should I include? I’m confused 🤷🏽♀️ I though you should exercise 5/6 days a week?
Depends on your level of fitness. If you're more or less starting out, doing what you're doing is going to be too much. You also have days with multiple bouts of exercise...Tuesday for example, you essentially have 3 bouts of exercise.
It also depends on what you're doing and how intense the workouts are. Higher intensity exercise is going to require more recovery. I can exercise 7 days per week if my exercise is for the most part light to moderate which is what I'm doing right now.
My lifting sessions take me around 30 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and I follow that up with an easy spin on a stationary bike for about 15 minutes. I road ride on Tuesday and Friday after work...usually about 45 minutes at a conversational pace. I usually do a 1.5 to 2 hour ride on Saturday at an endurance, conversational pace and Sunday is a free day...I might go for a ride or go rock climbing or hiking or I might not do anything depending on how I feel.
I've been exercising regularly for more than 6-7 years so this isn't something particularly burdensome on my body. When I'm actively training for a cycling event, I take more rest days because my training is more intensive and I'm spending a lot more time in the saddle.
Ultimately, listening to what your body is telling you is what is important...your body is telling you that it's fatigued...take a day off and rest.
My weight lifting sessions are about 60-90 minutes long! How do you make them so short? I don’t like lifting for so long 4 times a week.
You're doing an upper lower split and likely doing a bunch of accessory work too which would be common in a body building split.
I do a push/pull split and focus primarily on compound movements and don't do a bunch of accessory work. I would prefer doing a full body workout 3x per week but my schedule requires that I do back to back sessions on Wed and Thurs so that won't work.
If you're going to do a body building split, it's going to be high volume with a lot of accessory work like you're doing. Personally...I'm not a body builder and have no need to do all that stuff so I prefer full body programs that primarily have you doing compound movements with a tiny bit of accessory work. I'm just trying to maintain my existing muscle mass and a reasonably decent physique for a middle aged man and I lift during my lunch hour, so I don't have all day to spend in the gym. I'm not looking to body build or squat a gazillion pounds or anything like that.
Are you running a structured program? That will help. There are tons of beginner programs out there and most are full body 3x per week and really shouldn't take any more than 45 minutes or so...maybe 60 depending on your rest between sets or if you do any milling about talking and whatnot. I've been in and out of gyms most of my life and I've never spent more than an hour.
I’m not looking to be a body builder either! Just want to maintain my muscle during my deficit. I think I’m going to shorten my workouts somehow.0 -
10,000 steps is a completely arbitrary number come up with by an Asian doctor because 10,000 is a lucky number in Asia. There's no science supporting that number of steps as necessary in any way, it just happened to get picked up by the media and blown way out of proportion. If your knee is hurting, back off on the steps for a while.
Whether or not you are doing too much depends a lot on how active your yoga and Pilates are. If those are basically active rest days, that can be fine. If they are more energetic, you need at least one rest day in there somewhere.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Rest/recovery days are kind of an important part of a good fitness regimen.
How many rest days should I include? I’m confused 🤷🏽♀️ I though you should exercise 5/6 days a week?
Depends on your level of fitness. If you're more or less starting out, doing what you're doing is going to be too much. You also have days with multiple bouts of exercise...Tuesday for example, you essentially have 3 bouts of exercise.
It also depends on what you're doing and how intense the workouts are. Higher intensity exercise is going to require more recovery. I can exercise 7 days per week if my exercise is for the most part light to moderate which is what I'm doing right now.
My lifting sessions take me around 30 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and I follow that up with an easy spin on a stationary bike for about 15 minutes. I road ride on Tuesday and Friday after work...usually about 45 minutes at a conversational pace. I usually do a 1.5 to 2 hour ride on Saturday at an endurance, conversational pace and Sunday is a free day...I might go for a ride or go rock climbing or hiking or I might not do anything depending on how I feel.
I've been exercising regularly for more than 6-7 years so this isn't something particularly burdensome on my body. When I'm actively training for a cycling event, I take more rest days because my training is more intensive and I'm spending a lot more time in the saddle.
Ultimately, listening to what your body is telling you is what is important...your body is telling you that it's fatigued...take a day off and rest.
My weight lifting sessions are about 60-90 minutes long! How do you make them so short? I don’t like lifting for so long 4 times a week.
You're doing an upper lower split and likely doing a bunch of accessory work too which would be common in a body building split.
I do a push/pull split and focus primarily on compound movements and don't do a bunch of accessory work. I would prefer doing a full body workout 3x per week but my schedule requires that I do back to back sessions on Wed and Thurs so that won't work.
If you're going to do a body building split, it's going to be high volume with a lot of accessory work like you're doing. Personally...I'm not a body builder and have no need to do all that stuff so I prefer full body programs that primarily have you doing compound movements with a tiny bit of accessory work. I'm just trying to maintain my existing muscle mass and a reasonably decent physique for a middle aged man and I lift during my lunch hour, so I don't have all day to spend in the gym. I'm not looking to body build or squat a gazillion pounds or anything like that.
Are you running a structured program? That will help. There are tons of beginner programs out there and most are full body 3x per week and really shouldn't take any more than 45 minutes or so...maybe 60 depending on your rest between sets or if you do any milling about talking and whatnot. I've been in and out of gyms most of my life and I've never spent more than an hour.
I’m not looking to be a body builder either! Just want to maintain my muscle during my deficit. I think I’m going to shorten my workouts somehow.
Your training needs to be structured in a way that is sustainable and fits in with your other life obligations and goings on. With fitness, you also have to take the long view...like this isn't something that is temporary...this should be part of your life forever and a bunch of exercise and spending hours in the gym, etc will ultimately burn you out and then you just won't go anymore. You don't have to spend hours everyday exercising to be healthy and fit.
I also agree with others that with this level of exercise, your TDEE well exceeds 2350.4 -
How long have you been doing this routine, eating 2000 and how much weight have you lost in that time?
I think your TDEE is likely higher than 2350. But how much weight you’re actually losing will tell us best.
If you’re feeling drained and sluggish, workouts are suffering, etc-then you’re doing too much and/or not eating enough.
Rest days are important. Fueling appropriately is important.
3 -
I'm just going to reinforce the need for recovery. Remember that you don't get stronger when you exercise (muscle stress/damage) - you get stronger when you rest (repair of said damage). So consider rest and recovery as an essential part of the training.3
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Duck_Puddle wrote: »How long have you been doing this routine, eating 2000 and how much weight have you lost in that time?
I think your TDEE is likely higher than 2350. But how much weight you’re actually losing will tell us best.
If you’re feeling drained and sluggish, workouts are suffering, etc-then you’re doing too much and/or not eating enough.
Rest days are important. Fueling appropriately is important.
I’ve only been doing the eating 2000 calories for 2.5 weeks so far. Haven’t lost any weight as it hasn’t been long enough.0 -
garystrickland357 wrote: »I'm just going to reinforce the need for recovery. Remember that you don't get stronger when you exercise (muscle stress/damage) - you get stronger when you rest (repair of said damage). So consider rest and recovery as an essential part of the training.
Thanks I’m going to take 2 entire days off in the week and see how I feel.1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Your TDEE sounds low for that much exercise?
What do you think my TDEE is? I’m 5’ 4’ aged 25 and female so the calculators tell me my TDEE is around 2200/2300?
Based on all that exercise?
How much do you weigh?
I weigh 152 lbs
I guessed at 150, and Scooby gives you a TDEE of over 2800.
Wow I had no idea. I think i was miscalculating my TDEE.0 -
I don't know.
You might not realize until you've injured yourself. Then it's too late.0 -
Rest and recover is import some time when you work out that much you can just go through the motions. Or eat bit more? see what works for you.0
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That looks like a very reasonable exercise regimen. If you were doing a of of HIIT training then I could see fatigue being an issue, but there is a lot of active recovery in your plan. Excluding any medical condition, if I were to take an uneducated guess I would suggest looking at the types of food you are eating, specifically healthy carbs. Carbs naturally have a bad name but they are an essential energy source for activity. Also, if you don't have a good recovery meal that's also an important part of ensuring you are replenishing yourself after a hard workout. My go to smoothie is a whey or vegan protein powder with frozen fruit (pineapple for inflammation, wild blueberries for anti-oxidants) plus a handful of spinach or other greens. Relative to low energy, you might also consider taking a B-12 supplement. I use ZippFizz which is available at Costco or online. I find it to be a good alternative to coffee as a pick-me-up.2
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Even pro athletes have at least 1-2 complete recovery days a week.1
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Rest/recovery days are kind of an important part of a good fitness regimen.
How many rest days should I include? I’m confused 🤷🏽♀️ I though you should exercise 5/6 days a week?
You can exercise 7 days a week, but it is a good idea to mix it up. Have a day where you walk 1.5 hours ... but then another day where you only walk 30 minutes and do nothing else.
And if you feel tired, rest! Probably about once a month, I don't do any exercise.0
This discussion has been closed.
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