Fairly new to cardio - should I take a rest day or power through?

EatingAndKnitting
EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I bought a stationary bike two weeks ago and have been riding for thirty minutes at a time daily for 8 days. Today when I was riding, about 10 minutes in I got really tired. Like needed to slow down from 12 (I assume MPH) to about to 10 MPH. The past few days I've been steady at just at/above 12.8/13.3 MPH, but my legs were just so tired. I quit about 14 minutes into my planned 30 minutes, and plan to go back and finish my last 16 minutes this afternoon.

Since I'm new to this and have been doing this every day, should I take a couple days to rest and recover? Or should I keep going to build endurance? It's been pretty easy so far, but maybe it's taking more of a toll on my body than I think it has been?

Replies

  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
    You have to listen to your body, if you don't you may get injured. However, from a recovery standpoint you are better off doing a low effort than doing nothing. A slow cycle will stimulate circulation to the impacted area and promote healing/recovery. One recovery day should be sufficient, then you should be back up to normal the following day.

    Also, you should evaluate your diet and make sure you are getting adequate calories and protein to support your activity level.
  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
    Cutaway_Collar wrote: »
    Keep doing 15 to 20. Making a habit is key. After a month you ramp up to 30, then 45. Put the bike before a television because bikes are boring.

    I have been walking up to three miles at a time, two times a week (the walking depends on my knee and how much it hurts, thus the bike because it doesn't hurt my knee). That's why I've been doing 30 minutes, to build a habit. It's worked until today!

    The bike is in front of my TV, but I've been listening to Zombies, Run! on my phone, because I can't run or walk much but I love that app. It's not the way it's supposed to be used, but the app doesn't know that. ;)

    I'll take the rest of the day off and do at least 15 minutes tomorrow, if the same thing happens tomorrow I'll drop my target time down to 15 minutes a day for a month, like you suggest. I do plan on upping to 45 minutes, then to an hour once I'm stronger.

    I am also challenging myself to ride for 100 days, just to get a habit going, unless I get sick or my knee is seriously hurting. A rest day if needed counts a sick day.

    Thanks!
    tcunbeliever wrote: »
    You have to listen to your body, if you don't you may get injured. However, from a recovery standpoint you are better off doing a low effort than doing nothing. A slow cycle will stimulate circulation to the impacted area and promote healing/recovery. One recovery day should be sufficient, then you should be back up to normal the following day.

    Also, you should evaluate your diet and make sure you are getting adequate calories and protein to support your activity level.

    I think I'm getting enough calories. I'm trying to eat back my exercise calories, I don't always eat all of them, but I come pretty close. I'll keep a better watch on them though.

    I've started a new medication that reduces my appetite, so I've skipped lunch a couple days, but I have eaten an extra meal in the evening to make up for that, and set up several reminders in my phone and on my computer to remind me to eat lunch every day. My weekly calories are right on target, but I don't know if weekly calories in the nutrition menu include exercise calories or not.

    I'm almost hitting my protein goals, and have added a protein shake to my days, because I don't eat a lot of meat or get quite enough protein out of my food every day.

    I think I'll take the rest of the day off, and see how I feel tomorrow. I'll take it slow tomorrow, and aim for at least 15 minutes then, if I feel fine then I'll do my whole 30 minutes and then keep going the next day.

    Thanks!
  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    Take a rest day. I'm saying this as a 3,000+ mile a year cyclist. Your very unlikely to initiate yourself by over doing it on an indoor bike, but you're feeling tired and sluggish which isn't going to get much better until you get some recover, and it's preventing you from killing it on the bike. Take a day off, user it to go for an easy walk.

    I take days off the bike.

    3,000+ miles a year. I can't even imagine that many miles, but I'd like to aspire to that someday, even if I never graduate to a real bike because of my knee problems (I don't need to fall and injure my knee again).

    Thanks for the advice!
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    A day off here or there (especially when first starting) wouldn't hurt. You probably won't really need it once you get more acclimated to the exercises but listen to your body for now.

    Here's something else to think about...unless you're training with a specific goal in mind, you don't actually need to 'kill it' during any of your cardio sessions. A nice easy pace is more than sufficient just for burning calories and even for building an aerobic base. And when I say easy pace, I do mean easy...if you get the thought that you need to stop because the workout is tough, then you're simply working too hard.

    For most of us just trying to burn calories, working out longer and more at an easy pace can be better than working out at a much higher effort level for a much shorter period of time or fewer times per week.

    Once you grasp the concept of working out easy, then you can start to use different 'gears' for each of your workouts. Some can be fast, some can be slow, etc. and you might even find that in lieu of a rest day you'd rather do a very easy paced 'recovery' workout instead.

    I'm not training with a goal in mind. Just riding for cardio improvement and a few more calories to eat, although I have enough calories to eat most days as it is. I do find it hard to keep myself going at a slower pace, I fiddle on my phone while I'm riding, and I have to consciously check my speed and remind myself to keep it under 12 MPH. 12.8/13 is what feels natural and normal to me right now. I will work on going slower and longer though, and stop trying to just power through and get as far as I can in my time.

    Thanks!
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    Here's something else to think about...unless you're training with a specific goal in mind, you don't actually need to 'kill it' during any of your cardio sessions. A nice easy pace is more than sufficient just for burning calories and even for building an aerobic base. And when I say easy pace, I do mean easy...if you get the thought that you need to stop because the workout is tough, then you're simply working too hard.

    I agree with everything you said. But people want to feel like they're "killing it" and you can only do that when your sufficiently recovered. It's a cycle: exercise stresses your body, you get fitter during rest. If you don't get enough recovery you aren't getting the full benefit of you work, and you also can't work as hard as you might like to.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    jesslla wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    Take a rest day. I'm saying this as a 3,000+ mile a year cyclist. Your very unlikely to initiate yourself by over doing it on an indoor bike, but you're feeling tired and sluggish which isn't going to get much better until you get some recover, and it's preventing you from killing it on the bike. Take a day off, user it to go for an easy walk.

    I take days off the bike.

    3,000+ miles a year. I can't even imagine that many miles, but I'd like to aspire to that someday, even if I never graduate to a real bike because of my knee problems (I don't need to fall and injure my knee again).

    Thanks for the advice!
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    A day off here or there (especially when first starting) wouldn't hurt. You probably won't really need it once you get more acclimated to the exercises but listen to your body for now.

    Here's something else to think about...unless you're training with a specific goal in mind, you don't actually need to 'kill it' during any of your cardio sessions. A nice easy pace is more than sufficient just for burning calories and even for building an aerobic base. And when I say easy pace, I do mean easy...if you get the thought that you need to stop because the workout is tough, then you're simply working too hard.

    For most of us just trying to burn calories, working out longer and more at an easy pace can be better than working out at a much higher effort level for a much shorter period of time or fewer times per week.

    Once you grasp the concept of working out easy, then you can start to use different 'gears' for each of your workouts. Some can be fast, some can be slow, etc. and you might even find that in lieu of a rest day you'd rather do a very easy paced 'recovery' workout instead.

    I'm not training with a goal in mind. Just riding for cardio improvement and a few more calories to eat, although I have enough calories to eat most days as it is. I do find it hard to keep myself going at a slower pace, I fiddle on my phone while I'm riding, and I have to consciously check my speed and remind myself to keep it under 12 MPH. 12.8/13 is what feels natural and normal to me right now. I will work on going slower and longer though, and stop trying to just power through and get as far as I can in my time.

    Thanks!

    Road bikes are fun, and make the miles fly by. :smile:

    Check out the Dead Horse thread.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    Here's something else to think about...unless you're training with a specific goal in mind, you don't actually need to 'kill it' during any of your cardio sessions. A nice easy pace is more than sufficient just for burning calories and even for building an aerobic base. And when I say easy pace, I do mean easy...if you get the thought that you need to stop because the workout is tough, then you're simply working too hard.

    I agree with everything you said. But people want to feel like they're "killing it" and you can only do that when your sufficiently recovered. It's a cycle: exercise stresses your body, you get fitter during rest. If you don't get enough recovery you aren't getting the full benefit of you work, and you also can't work as hard as you might like to.

    Absolutely...my comment was more aimed towards those people who sometimes don't work out (or stop working out) because they believe that exercise has to equal suffering.
  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    jesslla wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    Take a rest day. I'm saying this as a 3,000+ mile a year cyclist. Your very unlikely to initiate yourself by over doing it on an indoor bike, but you're feeling tired and sluggish which isn't going to get much better until you get some recover, and it's preventing you from killing it on the bike. Take a day off, user it to go for an easy walk.

    I take days off the bike.

    3,000+ miles a year. I can't even imagine that many miles, but I'd like to aspire to that someday, even if I never graduate to a real bike because of my knee problems (I don't need to fall and injure my knee again).

    Thanks for the advice!
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    A day off here or there (especially when first starting) wouldn't hurt. You probably won't really need it once you get more acclimated to the exercises but listen to your body for now.

    Here's something else to think about...unless you're training with a specific goal in mind, you don't actually need to 'kill it' during any of your cardio sessions. A nice easy pace is more than sufficient just for burning calories and even for building an aerobic base. And when I say easy pace, I do mean easy...if you get the thought that you need to stop because the workout is tough, then you're simply working too hard.

    For most of us just trying to burn calories, working out longer and more at an easy pace can be better than working out at a much higher effort level for a much shorter period of time or fewer times per week.

    Once you grasp the concept of working out easy, then you can start to use different 'gears' for each of your workouts. Some can be fast, some can be slow, etc. and you might even find that in lieu of a rest day you'd rather do a very easy paced 'recovery' workout instead.

    I'm not training with a goal in mind. Just riding for cardio improvement and a few more calories to eat, although I have enough calories to eat most days as it is. I do find it hard to keep myself going at a slower pace, I fiddle on my phone while I'm riding, and I have to consciously check my speed and remind myself to keep it under 12 MPH. 12.8/13 is what feels natural and normal to me right now. I will work on going slower and longer though, and stop trying to just power through and get as far as I can in my time.

    Thanks!

    Road bikes are fun, and make the miles fly by. :smile:

    Check out the Dead Horse thread.

    I'll check it out. Right now I can't ride a road bike, I have terrible balance, and I'm very overweight. I'm much more likely to fall off right now. I had a major knee surgery four years ago, and I'm afraid (possibly irrationally) that if I do fall off that I'll injure my knee and need surgery again. I'd like to avoid that if possible. ;)

    My goal is to ride my stationary bike until it falls apart. Then, I should be much thinner and in much better shape. Perhaps then I'll be able to start riding my real bike. It's nothing special, just a cheap bike from Walmart, but it's good enough for a new hobbyist who doesn't ride much. I can upgrade if I get serious, which since my knee keeps me from walking much or running, biking will probably be my cardio of choice.

    I am getting hot feet from my bike riding, probably because I'm such a newb, so I'm looking into the idea of getting bike shoes, even though I ride indoors on a recumbent bike. I've been riding in my Docs, because they have a much stiffer sole than my running shoes that I was getting hot foot in. They help, but I think I need a bigger toe box, because there's tingling when I take my shoes off and the toe box isn't very big.
  • gearhead426hemi
    gearhead426hemi Posts: 919 Member
    You definitely want to listen to your body and take rest days. Your body grows and recovers when you sleep and on rest days so you definitely want to get plenty of both. Best of luck!
  • YosemiteSlamAK
    YosemiteSlamAK Posts: 1,230 Member
    If you find you are consistently exceeding your desired speed, try bumping up the tension on your bike, if you realize it is too hard dial it down again. I don't know what kind of bike you use, but in my spin class I tell students to add a quarter and if they lose their cadence or feel it in their thighs/knees, dial back an 8th. For you it might be pushing the up or down button or turning a knob?
    Other things to think about if you are having knee pain-
    How is my form? Are you keeping your joints in line to minimize risk of injury?
    Are you cheating on your pedal stroke? Lifting up with your other foot instead of pushing down through the pedal? buckling in your knees or allowing them to flex out? Standing up slightly to push down on pedal strokes?
    Is my tension too high? Does it feel like you are riding through sand or peanut butter?
    Is my tension too low? Does it feel like you are riding on a flat tire? Do you feel like you're on Ozzy's Crazy Train (going off the rails)?
  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
    Azdak wrote: »
    When you start with a new program, things often feel great at first and then you hit a wall. Often that’s because residual fatigue builds up to the point where it becomes an issue, or that the body hasn’t had a chance to fully adapt to the new stresses you are placing on it.

    Someone better conditioned/more experienced can sometimes work through it. For newbies, in my experience, it’s better to take a day off.

    Some of the best workouts you do are the ones you quit after 5 min. It’s often better to take a day off and come back even stronger, then to muddle around in a puddle of mediocrity trying to maintain a streak.

    THAT is very good to know, and I bet what is happening.

    Also, for those of you who told me to check my calories, you were right, and I was wrong. I think I am underfueling my exercise.

    When I checked the weekly nutrition a couple days I was on target. But I apparently had one day that I really went over my calories and that was skewing the results.

    That has since dropped out of the last seven days and I am able to get a better view of my results for the past week, the same past week that I was exercising.

    My calorie goal is 1900 calories, at 260 pounds, and I'm only netting 1500. I'm eating more nutrient dense foods most days, so I'm not hungry in the evenings. I plan on adding in a spoon of peanut butter or a measured handful of nuts in the evenings when I ride my bike and eat my exercise calories back and see how that affects things.

    I'm taking today off entirely. It won't hurt, and might help.

    I think I need to up my calories anyway, one of my medications causes me to fidget almost constantly. I'm always twitching/tapping my toes/feet, or my fingers, from the time I wake up, until the time I fall asleep. I don't even notice that I'm doing it anymore, but I bet over the course of a day that a burns a hundred/two hundred calories (I may be a bit high, but I am just guessing). I am losing more than a pound a week though, which is what I'm set to. So I figure eating all my exercise calories back will probably put me right where I need to be.

  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
    YosemiteSlamAK wrote: »
    If you find you are consistently exceeding your desired speed, try bumping up the tension on your bike, if you realize it is too hard dial it down again. I don't know what kind of bike you use, but in my spin class I tell students to add a quarter and if they lose their cadence or feel it in their thighs/knees, dial back an 8th. For you it might be pushing the up or down button or turning a knob?

    Other things to think about if you are having knee pain-

    How is my form? Are you keeping your joints in line to minimize risk of injury?

    Are you cheating on your pedal stroke? Lifting up with your other foot instead of pushing down through the pedal? buckling in your knees or allowing them to flex out? Standing up slightly to push down on pedal strokes?

    Is my tension too high? Does it feel like you are riding through sand or peanut butter?

    Is my tension too low? Does it feel like you are riding on a flat tire? Do you feel like you're on Ozzy's Crazy Train (going off the rails)?

    Thanks for this, this helps a lot.

    I only have knee pain when I walk, which is why I bought the bike. The only knee problem I have when I ride is the knee I had surgery on makes a clicking sound. It's harmless, doesn't hurt, and I can't do anything about it. Riding with it in proper alignment helps, but not a lot, it still clicks (it clicks less on the bike than it did on the elliptical they had me using in PT after my surgery four years ago). It may always click, because my knee is mechanically abnormal.

    The tension feels right, it's not sand like, and it's not super easy. I'll try increasing it and seeing how it feels. I think it's just a button I push. It's a cheap Gold's Gym electronic magnetic gear recumbent bike from Walmart.

    I'll double check my pedal strokes, because I probably am cheating, but I didn't know that. Fixing my form in my pedal strokes might also help the hot foot, because I won't be pressing down all the time.
  • xvolution
    xvolution Posts: 721 Member
    Biking and walking may work the legs, but they tend to focus more of the working force on different muscle groups (walking more the upper leg to lift and propel you forward, cycling more the lower leg to press the pedals forward) so being a good walker doesn't mean you'll be good at cycling from day one. Your body is telling you to slow down a bit. You should have at least one rest day between exercises working the same muscle groups to give them a chance to recover. It would also help to start a bit slower, but push yourself a bit more next time in some way (either by increasing time or resistance). Eventually you'll build up to being able to cycle for 30 minutes without tiring yourself out.

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