Define - Over Exercise

I'm curious about this too.

I used to say that working out twice a day fit that definition...however, I do have two days a week that I do cardio in the morning, and then lift with a friend in the evening...I think everyone should define their own limit. I also think you have to listen to your body...if you truly need a day off, TAKE IT!

I think it really depends on "why" someone is exercising? Is it for weight loss? Is it to build endurance? Is it to build muscle? If it was strictly referencing weight loss, it is my belief that many people overdo it. They do some form of exercise every day with little to no rest days. Many may combine strength training and cardio in the same workout session instead of alternating days, etc. Many leave little time for muscle groups to rest and heal. Strictly in the case of weight loss, I believe that the 80/20 rule yields the best results. This is 80% control over the food intake (controlled diet) and 20% exercise. I am one of those people who had it turned around and was exercising to the point of exhaustion and not really watching what I was eating. I still ate healthy meals and controlled my calories, but I did not watch nutrients such as sodium, sugar, carbs, etc. Once I turned that around, I dropped weight quickly. Just my opinion. Other's may view it differently.

I have read in many post on here about not over exercising. So, what is the definition of over exercise?

I would classify over training as:
1. Exercising without giving your muscles time to recoup
2. Not fueling your workouts, this can end up burning lean muscle off
3. You actually get worse overtime (instead of being able to lift more, or run faster you lift less and run slower) this is more of a symptom of over training.

How much time are you supposed to give your muscles to recoup? I had been trying to maintain doing 50 pushups (in intervals of 10 of them 5 times per day) and 50 situps (2 sets of 25 throughout the day...maybe the whimpy way to do it, but you have to start somewhere!) for a couple of weeks and then I got to feeling like I was getting worse, so I took this past weekend off and this morning did them better than I had been able to. Should I just do every other day or just take weekends off? What's best? I want to improve posture, mostly, and hopefully put some defintion (not bulk) into my muscles if I ever lose the weight for them to be visible.

put simply, you should not work the same muscle group withing 48 hours of doing that muscle group (strength training) for cardio, just make sure you feel energized again. For strength training if you work your chest Monday morning the earliest you would want to do it again would be Wednesday (I typically wait 72 hours for the most part)