Exercise Help!!!

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Hi I have been doing Zumba for a week straight non stop for an hour each day. Know my question is do I need to stop and let my body recover or will the pain just go away on its own? I dont want to get an injury for over doing it. My legs are the most sore right now. Thank you so much in advance.

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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    You should at least take one day off. Your body needs rest. In fact, you shouldn't be doing the same exercise daily.


    btw, you should do some weight training too.. This will improve muscle retention.
  • natalie2603
    natalie2603 Posts: 15 Member
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    As long as you are getting enough rest at night you should be fine.
    If this is your first week I would say your body is just not used to the movements. Dancing is a good form of Cardio and I believe that you can do Cardio daily without any problems.
    If you feel any joint soreness I would ease up and go for a walk instead. I personally love when my muscles feel sore.
  • rumplesnat
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    I'd cut back to every other day or even 3 times a week, doing a lower impact cardio in between. If you're miserable and in pain, you're not likely to continue, so don't burn yourself out. A little bit of soreness is to be expected, especially if you're using muscles you don't generally use and it will get better with time, but again, don't burn yourself out.
  • sabgirls5
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    You should always have rest days...If you continue to do the same exercise everyday, your body will become use to it and you will burn less calories eventually....Try and shake it up a little and add other workouts in during the week....Tae Bo and Turbo Fire are great workouts both high energy :)
  • RobynMWilson
    RobynMWilson Posts: 1,540 Member
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    Absolutely at least one rest day per week, if not two! If you overtrain, you're gonna injure yourself or end up exhausted and sick all the time. Happened to me.
  • Katla49
    Katla49 Posts: 10,385 Member
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    I can't answer your questions from a medical point of view and don't know your age or health issues, but your approach could be changed to include more variety and a little rest. I personally divide my exercise between three things, walking, riding a bike, and yoga. I usually do two of those things per day, unless I'm just worn out. Another way to give yourself variety is to do a long workout one day, and a shorter workout the next. Your muscles do need a chance to recover, and you need to give your body the opportunity for some rest.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    As long as you are getting enough rest at night you should be fine.
    If this is your first week I would say your body is just not used to the movements. Dancing is a good form of Cardio and I believe that you can do Cardio daily without any problems.
    If you feel any joint soreness I would ease up and go for a walk instead. I personally love when my muscles feel sore.

    Your leg muscles are no different than any other muscle in your body. You can overtrain any of them.
  • BlackTimber
    BlackTimber Posts: 230 Member
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    You're at the beginning of your journey. I know you just want to get it done, but that is not how it works. You don't need to do Zumba every day. Every other day is probably enough for now. Once you acclimate to that amount of exercise then you could look at adding some sort of strength training.
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
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    Hi I have been doing Zumba for a week straight non stop for an hour each day. Know my question is do I need to stop and let my body recover or will the pain just go away on its own? I dont want to get an injury for over doing it. My legs are the most sore right now. Thank you so much in advance.

    Never train on sore muscles that is your body's way of telling you that you have overdone it and it needs time to recover, do no more than active recovery such as light walking. Take as many days off as you need to recover.
  • Vansy
    Vansy Posts: 419 Member
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    At least take one day of rest a week -- listen to your body, if it's tired/sore take a rest day. Your body needs time to recover....make sure you're eating enough protein too, I've found that that really helps with my muscles recovering quicker.

    Great work though, keep it up.
  • PerlaRubi2013
    PerlaRubi2013 Posts: 110 Member
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    Thank you so much guys for your advices they are great...I will definitely give it a rest for a least a day and I will start to combine my exercises to different things...I know its just the beginning and I want to do it right!! =)