Workout/Days off Advice?

horseryder77

Hey guys! I'm in need of a little bit of advice...

I am not sure when to take "days off" because of my schedule.. so maybe you guys could give me a bit of insight?
On Tuesdays/Thursdays, I work at my barn feeding horses. Now, "feeding" is more than just giving them food.. it takes about 3-4 hours. Some of the responsibilities:
-Bringing water buckets to every stall. Each water bucket is about 15-25 lbs, (about 14 quarts?) and there are 42 stalls.
-Picking up and moving hay bales (which I'm sure weigh at least 60 lbs..)
-Bringing in horses by hand. There are about 15 horses to bring in from the back field and into their stalls.. but it's just walking that I normally do. I'm not sure about how far that would be per time I do it..
-Pushing a wheel barrel full of grain about 500 ft each way. 2 times.

So.. This is how my schedule is looking NOW:
Mon- 30DS (Jillian's 30 day shred)
Tues-Feed horses (would I consider this a day off?)
Wed- 30 DS/ ride my horse
Thurs- Feed horses/ ride my horse
Fri- Can vary, either 30 DS, yoga, ride or day off. Depends on schedule.
Sat- 30 DS/ ride my horse
Sun- 30 DS

So... I know how important it is to get days off to let your muscles recuperate. But, I'm not sure if I should count the "feedings" as workouts, and I would have absolutely no idea how to log them. And I don't want to not enough calories, cause I know that can be detrimental to weight loss as well...
I'm also a college student so sometimes the riding my horse days can change depending on homework situations.

Sorry if that was long-winded or confusing! But I don't know what to do at this point as far as food/days off/etc. Thanks! I would appreciate any advice!

NoAdditives

It depends on how you feel. If you feel that making your feedings days your days off gives you enough of a rest, do that. If you find that you're worn out and sore give yourself a chance to recover and take weekends off.

YMTaylor

My thought is if your routine of feedings the horses has been part of your schedule for awhile, like before MFP and you used that as a basis for your overal usual activity then they don't count as a workout. However you are still doing something very physical everyday and may want to consider taking one day off at least to let your body recover. I personally usually take Fridays (due to other things in my schedule) and Sundays off from the gym but try to be active those days just not anything really formal. I hope that makes sense.

cmowat13

My mom was working at her barn and got her friend into it also. When my mom stopped, her friend started going everyday. She was feeding, cleaning stalls, etc. (everything you mentioned). Although, they use golf carts for bringing the hay bales and buckets of food to the stalls because they're far away, they still lift them and transfer them. My point is after a little while of doing this everyday, or almost everyday (she didn't have another job or school), we started seeing a huge difference in her appearance! She had tried losing weight before and had not been very successful, and all of a sudden she was seeing huge differences just from working at the barn so much! I don't know how long you've been doing this or anything, so your body just might be more used to it than hers was, but I do know it's a good workout because she wasn't doing any other type of workout! Now, we are in Florida, and she was doing all of this in extreme heat, but even without the crazy temperature, it's still physically demanding!

I don't know what you should do regarding taking days off, but I did see someone that said it depends on how you feel and I have to agree with that. If you don't feel like you are overworking yourself and you don't feel like it's affecting anything in a negative way, I'd say continue what you're doing. If you are sore, take one day off. Use it to catch up on school work or something. If you feel a little sore, but not TOO sore, maybe do one day of just riding your horse, instead of riding and feeding. It still works your muscles of course, but not in the same way as the days where you're doing all of the other stuff.

Anyway, hope that helped a liiiiittle bit? haha Good luck!

horseryder77

Thanks guys! Yeah this all definitely helping.
I've been riding my horse for about 14 years, so my body is pretty used to that part.. and the feeding I've been doing for about a year and a half now, but there are times when I'll get home and just be so physically exhausted (cause sometimes the horses are farther away, or I have to get them in quicker so I run from barn to barn instead of walk because of weather conditions). So I definitely appreciate the advice on how I'm feeling... I guess I never really thought about that part! lol!

And to the poster who said she saw a difference in her friend-I have seen that before as well! And if I don't feed for a few weeks (it's my job so I can't really take it off when I feel like it... but I do over school breaks) and then come back to it, I am sore for a few days! I also had a friend who started feeding almost every day, and she lost about 10 lbs! She also wasn't very heavy to begin with... and the work is enjoyable if you like being around horses

This is all great advice, I appreciate it!