Can you do too much?

cokefloat1
cokefloat1 Posts: 86 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I joined up with a tennis club in July and have been loving playing regularly since (I used to play a lot through my childhood and teenage years).

I'm getting in roughly 6 to 8 hours a week mixing probably 70/30 doubles and singles now that I'm not feeling the muscular strain so much and have just got back to playing competitively but have been reading that you can potentially do too much exercise.

I play in 2 to 3 hour sessions three times a week which I find gives enough time for recuperation and don't feel like I'm over doing anything. Could I be doing myself any damage?

Replies

  • cokefloat1
    cokefloat1 Posts: 86 Member
    I should probably add that I don't feel bad or like I'm straining myself too much and am keen just to increase fitness so I can play more. I wonder if I'm addicted!
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,824 Member
    You can do too much ... but too much is a lot.

    Think about it, people have physically active jobs where they "workout" 8 hours a day (my husband is one of those).

    Just listen to your body ... if you start experiencing a great deal of fatigue or a nagging pain that won't go away, it might be time for a break.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    edited October 2015
    You should be fine. Just make sure you get enough nutrition. And if you feeling any strain or potential injury, take some time off to recover.
  • Working2BLean
    Working2BLean Posts: 386 Member
    If you build your exercise volume slowly and steadily, that same activity is less work for you too

    Yes you can overtrain. Google it and read up.

    You will get wildly varied answers on here that are on the very of paranoia.

    The body is a highly adaptive thing. If you don't start out too fast and injore yourself, you ca do great amounts of structured exercise

    Possibly a plan would help

    You may not be a runner or triathlete but there are training programs to be Iron Fit or Half Marathon Fit.

    You can borrow pieces of those that work into your level of fitness and maybe try the easier parts. Overall cardio endurance is across the board.

    Tennis is demanding. You sound like you are pretty fit already!

    I am so terrible at tennis it is more of a go find the stupid ball exercise. Like hit it over the back fence and find it in the parking lot terrible....
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    edited October 2015
    There are two possible scenarios here:

    injuring yourself because you surpass your current capabilities
    over training due to an accumulation of stress over time which you are unable to recover from

    The first scenario can be dealt with by suitable progression - it seems like you have a handle on that
    The second can be dealt with by suitable periodisation - in other words take some rest days / weeks / reduce overall volume of training for a week or so at suitable points in time

    While your volume of training doesn't seem anywhere near enough for over training keep a look out for it as individual susceptibility varies.
  • hamlet1222
    hamlet1222 Posts: 459 Member
    you can do too much exercise, but the symptoms are noticeable and you haven't described that you're getting any:

    tiredness (obvious)
    high heart-rate at rest
    more frequent colds/infections

    So you should be fine with what you're doing.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    you can do too much...particularly if you're underfeeding for your activity...which given my three plus years on MFP seems to be par for the course...
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    you can do too much...particularly if you're underfeeding for your activity...which given my three plus years on MFP seems to be par for the course...

    Nope.. never happens.



    Lol
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