working out every day? Am I doing more harm than good?

I personally think over training is a myth. If done correctly, your body is an amazing instrument and can do a lot.

With that said, there is scientific evidence that shows that muscles tear down when you weight lift, and only get bigger when you rest them. So...you may want to switch things up a bit.

For me, I do WL in the mornings 3 days on, 1 day off. And cardio in the evenings, 4 days a week. On days where I don't have WL in the morning, I go for a brisk walk in the park. Likewise, if I don't have cardio in the evenings, I go for a brisk walk.

I've never had a problem health wise. I'm sitting at about 10% BF. So, my recommendations is you are fine, but change it up.

Yeah I'm with you! I work out 6-7 days per week (and I at least take a long walk with the dog or something on the "rest" day if I take one) and the main reason is so that I can sleep well. I have a hard time falling asleep if I don't exercise. So far it's been fine. I know that if I start to feel pain (different from soreness), I will ease off of it and get it checked out. I got a stress fracture on my foot when I started running because I did too much, too soon. After it healed, I alternated running and cross-training and haven't had an issue since. As long as you're feeling good and not working out with injuries, I think it's fine!

You have said that you normally take Sat and Sun off so I would have thought that 2 rest days are adequate. I do something most days, usually have 1 day off after 5 or 6 consecutive days training, but at my age (61) I have found that I need the rest day otherwise I overdo it and don't recover properly.

I also agree with the other posters. As long as you switch things up to give certain muscle groups a rest, you should be fine.

I'm a big proponent of "listen to your body." If your body is too sore to work out, it will let you know.

Taking a day off to completely rest is never a bad thing as long as you know it's only one day. It's when you start taking multiple days off, the trouble begins.

And, of course, I'm talking about soreness v injury.

Confusion. You say you usually take off Sat/Sun so they are your rest days.

Confusion. You say you usually take off Sat/Sun so they are your rest days.

She said he tries, not that she does.

I've noticed a change in my muscles for the better since I started resting days. I walk on resting days or do stability ball

Do you really need a rest day if you feel ok and are not tired?

Largely it depends on what training you're doing, and to what intensity.

Personally I run 4-5 times per week, cycle once o twice and do two days of resistance training. In essence no rest days but I'm doing different things, so the key systems are getting an opportunity to recover.

It's entirely possible, for example, to run every day if it's only a short distance of 2-3 miles or so, but more than that the muscle and connective tissue doesn't get an opportunity to recover, so it becomes a steady degradation over time.

this is a good answer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining

I've seen it happen more than once. It's real, and it's nasty.

That being said, it's only a big deal if you really push yourself when you exercise, or exercise for long periods of time. If you, say, go for a walk with your dog as your exercise one day, as long as you're not jogging/running/sprinting, that not enough to be classified as strong exercise (unless you're out of shape). If you take it easy once/twice every week, you should be fine. I wouldn't worry about it.

Edit to add:

I once read a great article on the difference between how professional athletes train and how amateur athletes train: Professionals know how to take it easy. When they're taking a rest day, which they do frequently, they literally do NOTHING. they just veg all day. It's tough, but it's the best thing you can do to make yourself perform better. Also, when you're take it easy, like say a cyclist, they're just going on a leisurely cruise down the road. No high efforts at all. Then, when they're actually training, they give it the beans and really, really push themselves.

Amateurs tend to push themselves all the time. Not as much as a pro (partially because they don't recover as well), and they don't give themselves adequate time to recover.

That all being said, it is a generalization. YMMV. I'm also not suggesting you're an athlete or that you want to be. It's just food for thought.

By cardio do you mean hamster wheeling on some generic torture device indoors, or something more interesting?

i use to workout everyday just recently stoped some days ago decided to give myself 2 rest days from now on i never hit a plateau so far ... also i think its fine .. but when you feel like you need to rest . rest. *~!

cardio - running or elliptical.


I knew better than to ask for advice on here. I know most disagree with my workouts but it's been working for me. thanks.

You got a lot of good advice. I don't see anyone being rude to you...

OVER TRAINING IS NOT A MYTH! http://suppversity.blogspot.de/2012/05/overtraining-inflammation-insufficient.html

You have to take some time off in between workouts best thing in my opinion is to train five days a week alternating between cardio and strength depending on your goals. Then take the weekend off to let your body repair itself and to rid itself of all the inflammation.