gym everyday? rest days?

LL1894

Is it bad to go to the gym everyday? Recently joined the gym and for the past week I've worked out for an hour and burned roughly 500 calories and then I swim for an hour. Is it bad to continue to do this everyday? How important are rest days? Interested in knowing what you guys do

ami5000psu

2 hours of exercise a day is a lot. You'll likely get burned out on that very quickly if you don't take rest days.

spetermann190

I go 5-6 days/ week and have been able to maintain for almost 2 years now ... but I will admit that there are times I feel (know) I am overdoing it ... I would recommend a couple of rest days each week ... but then I struggle to practice what I preach ... loves me the gym!

spetermann190

Ohhhh ... and I getting knees MRI'd tomorrow ... you should prolly take some rest days

scott091501

Just remember you grow/shrink outside the gym. Proper recovery is a MUST.

crazybookworm

Atleast 1 day a week for rest is recommended. You don't wont to overtrain your muscles and risk injury that will put you out down the road. A rest day doesn't have to mean a day spent being a couch potato. You can take an active rest day. Instead of a vigorous workout at the gym, try a light hike, or a walk, a leisurely swim. Or even some yoga or pilates. You are still giving your muscles time to recover, but still moving.

Good luck!

csuhar

It's not necessarily bad to go to the gym every day, but it might be bad for you, specifically.

Much of it will depend on how experienced you are. If you're relatively new to exercising, you'll want the rest days. When you're more experienced, you can do more. For example, I run five days a week, but I've been running since 2003, so hitting the trails for 2 or 3 miles isn't much of a strain. Still, even experienced individuals will often alternate their workouts in order to give specific muscle groups the necessary rest (that's why you'll hear people talking about chest, core, or leg days).

My general approach is that I work out every day Monday through Friday, running every day and cycling which muscle groups I'm working out through the week, but then the weekend is "off" and I don't do any serious workouts.

dettiot

Most of the time I don't have rest days--but I certainly have days when I do a lot and days when I do less. For example, my light days usually involve 35 minutes on the elliptical, where a heavy day might include ten minutes of elliptical, half hour of strength training, and a half hour run, or an hour-long run.

I would agree that two hours every day is a lot, right out of the gate. Also, I think it's important to switch up your workouts to give your joints time to rest and recover. So I'd do a workout (what I'm assuming is cardio) one day, then swim the next day, and only occasionally do both in the same day.

Good luck!

cwolfman13

Even world class athletes take rest days...and working out 2 hours per day is completely unnecessary and pretty much unsustainable long term....and I highly doubt that you know what you're doing in RE to fueling that activity either.

You do realize that you do not need to utilize exercise to create a calorie deficit don't you? With MFP, your weight loss deficit is built into your diet and is net of exercise...meaning you're supposed to eat back your exercise calories because that activity is unaccounted for. That's what I mean when I say that I doubt you know how to fuel this properly...ultimately, you will do yourself more harm than good doing this and not properly fueling that activity.

As for myself....

Mon/Wed/Fri are run day...usually interval work on Monday, 3 miles on Wed, and I just go for a full hour on Fridays. My running season is about to come to an end though and I'll start cycling a lot more...probably keep one maintenance run day in there.

Tues/Thurs/Saturdays are my lifting sessions in the evening...45-60 minutes. Also on Saturday, I either row or swim for 30 minutes after my lifting session.

Sunday = rest day...but I'm still recreationally active...right now that means nice recreational bike rides with my family.

Saturday is my longest workout of the week...usually 90 minutes...my runs are usually 40 minutes including 5 minutes warm up and 5 cool down and my lifting is only 45-60 minutes. You don't need to kill yourself with all kinds of hours in the gym.

I'd also suggest setting independent fitness goals to work towards. It tends to help you dial in your training...doing actual training programs help you dial things in as well...and when you follow them, it prevents you from over-training.

amy_kee

I've been going to the gym for a while now and I really enjoy getting at least 2 hours of activity in Monday through Saturday. So, I don't see it as unnecessary. On Sunday, I either take it off, or exercise for an hour. My body is used to this and it feels good. In my past, I ran track, cross country, ran much longer distances on a team & on my own, & played basketball. I learned by some very knowledgeable and educated people how to train properly. Later in life, I was injured on some jobs and under a Dr's supervision, I learned about the great benefits of swimming. I know enough to know that there is lots out there that I don't know

I think it is wrong of anyone here on this site to claim to be so "know it all," and tell someone what they should be doing all the time. We are not professionals with degrees in this area, nor do any of us know everything.

On this post, we were asked about time at the gym and possible rest time. That's all. This wasn't meant as a place to lecture the person who asked these questions. They asked for opinions, and that's all any of us have.