What do you do on your days off?

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toristreats
toristreats Posts: 10 Member
What do you do on the days you don't strong lift? Before strong lifts I was doing mostly bodyweight intervals and hiit training. These workouts were short (15-20 minutes) but intense and I would do them 5-6 days a week. Would it be detrimental to do this type of workout on my off days? I do try to do some yoga on my off days, but still worry I'm not doing enough.

Also, I know many people encourage others to eat more calories to lose weight. How do you get over the mind set that less calories will help you lose weight? I've upped my calories ( not quite to where my tdee should be ) and have been doing strong lift for eight weeks now. My weight is almost up 10 pounds. Should I just keep doing what I am doing and hope things will adjust. My clothes aren't feeling tight so maybe it's just muscle.

Replies

  • dixoncrew
    dixoncrew Posts: 186 Member
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    I typically run on my non-lifting days. Not a lot, a mile or two. I don't think HIIT is going to hurt on your off days. Yoga is good too.

    Just give the calorie adjustment time, your body will get used to the extra calories and things will even out. :)
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
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    Not a damn thing. Rest days are meant for resting.
  • lizafava2
    lizafava2 Posts: 185
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    I run. I've been running for a long time and at this point a long slow run is like a walk - it clears my head, gives me alone time and maintains my fitness. Before starting stronglifts I was doing shorter runs with fast intervals and whatnot. I stopped that and just cruise for 30-60 minutes instead.
  • LadyDeadlift
    LadyDeadlift Posts: 136 Member
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    I rest. When I started SL - I personally feel like progressing through the lower weights were more of a conditioning phase.

    About three weeks ago I hit what I feel like are more strength training workouts - I'm working very hard on all sets and have general fatigue and mild soreness afterwards.

    I was tempted to add workouts when I was in that 'conditioning' mode, but now that each SL is hard work for me - I take the rest day as REST.
  • hananah89
    hananah89 Posts: 692 Member
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    I try and fit one actually rest day in a week, but on days I don't do SL, I run (sometimes cross train with other stuff). I'm training for a 10k next month and use running to get those high burns. I'll probably shoot for a half in the fall, but I don't typically get tired from this schedule unless I don't have my protein/eating under control (which it hasn't been lately....ugh)
  • toristreats
    toristreats Posts: 10 Member
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    Thank you guys. It's nice to a have community of like minded individuals to help me when I need it. I'm so used to pushing hard all the time this lifting will take some getting used to. I'm also finding that listening to your body is important. The are days after lifting I am wiped out but there are also some days where I feel I need to just move (I love those days).
  • jstout365
    jstout365 Posts: 1,686 Member
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    Right now I'm doing SL twice a week and then take a boxing class 3x/week. This past week we didn't have class so I lifted 3x and did boxing drills 2x. I still only did 2 SL workouts and then did a day of accessory lifts day. I take 2 rest days a week, usually over the weekend. Doing activity on non lifting days is a personal choice and different for everyone.

    As for the weight, if you are trying to lose, eating close to TDEE should not cause you to gain weight, but maintain it. It sounds like there may be a small level of error in those calculations and you are eating more than you are burning at this point. After 6 weeks or so, the initial influx of water/glycogen weight should level out, but you seem to be continually gaining. There could be some recomposition going on, but it most likely isn't all muscle weight. What are your goals? If you want to lose weight, you need to pick a % under TDEE and create a deficit. At this point, you are probably eating at a surplus. It is easy to do when you are eating at TDEE because your TDEE calculation could be overestimated and you can easily underestimate your food intake. You may want to play around with different calorie levels to see where your TDEE is based on results versus calculators.
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
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    On non-lifting days I either do Cardio and/or Abs or actually rest!
  • toristreats
    toristreats Posts: 10 Member
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    According to the Scooby calculator on my least active days my tdee is 1660. On my most active days it says my tdee is around 2100. That's at a 10% fat loss. I average 1500-1700 calories. I don't think I'm eating too much. I eat a pretty good whole foods diet, but I'm sure I could still tweak some things. Do I need to eat more?
  • jstout365
    jstout365 Posts: 1,686 Member
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    If your goal is to lose weight, then no, you don't need to eat more since you indicated that you are gaining. Some gain in the first 4-6 weeks is normal when adding weights, but at 1500-1700 cals/day, if you continue to gain over the next 2-4 weeks, I would look to see if there are areas in your logging that can be tightened up. Do you weigh all your food on a food scale and only measure liquids with cups? It sounds silly, but underestimating how much you are eating is one of the most common issues when a person is gaining or staying the same while they are eating at a deficit.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I do HIIT on Tu/Thurs...it's a 23min semi cardio semi bodyweight session...it has no burpees so I like it.

    On the weekends.....nothing ...well except clean the house, do the laundry, get the groceries, carry them in, put them away, fold the cloths etc...

    so I guess not "nothing" but no purposeful exercise...