Is it efficient to work out 7 days a week?

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  • bruceinthepit88
    bruceinthepit88 Posts: 136
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    I did the 30 day shred in 30 days straight and a MASSIVE burnout followed. I felt so tired and needed sleep so badly but I just could not physically switch off and fall asleep. When I was lucky enough to drift off, I would wake up, 3-4 times per night feeling all breathless with my heart racing... Almost like a mini panic attack. I heard that this is quite common if your body is seriously overworked. I learnt the hard way that rest is vital, and I always take one rest day per week..whether I want to or not.

    Holy **** ! this is exactly what is happening to me right now. It's almost like I wrote this....
  • a_new_dawn
    a_new_dawn Posts: 517 Member
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    I did the 30 day shred in 30 days straight and a MASSIVE burnout followed. I felt so tired and needed sleep so badly but I just could not physically switch off and fall asleep. When I was lucky enough to drift off, I would wake up, 3-4 times per night feeling all breathless with my heart racing... Almost like a mini panic attack. I heard that this is quite common if your body is seriously overworked. I learnt the hard way that rest is vital, and I always take one rest day per week..whether I want to or not.

    Holy **** ! this is exactly what is happening to me right now. It's almost like I wrote this....

    Scary stuff isn't it :/ I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
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    I been working out every single day for the last 207days with no rest days. Cardio & strength on the same days, & I'm still going strong. I can't have a rest day or I wont get back into it, that's just me. I'm not burnt out at all, in fact I find I want to keep going for more & have to physically stop myself. Nothing wrong with 7 days of it, as long as you know you can handle it.
  • doxielvr
    doxielvr Posts: 7
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    Rest, recovery and flexibility training are extremely important for a healthy lifestyle. You body deserves a day to rest and recover. A day or 2 of flexibility training with prevent damage and injury. Think of it like this, you kidneys are what filters out toxins out of your body. We create toxins when we build muscle. Give your body a day of rest to catch up and cleanse.

    There is also a chance of over-training when we work out every day. The effects can be permanent. I suggest reading up on over-training if you aren't familiar.

    One, or more, rest days will do more for your body than working out everyday.
  • girish_ph
    girish_ph Posts: 148 Member
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    I have just started exercizing less than 15 days ago. This was the question in my mind. You do not want a rest day, else you will lose momentum. From the responses above, I am convinced that I will take 2 days of rest a week.
    Thaks folks
  • Lyssa62
    Lyssa62 Posts: 930 Member
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    I go with at least 1 rest day. I lose more weight and inches by taking at least 1 day a week off. My exercise consists of walking 3 miles at right now about 50 minutes...trying to get it down lower than that but that's where I am right now. I was walking every day and not losing anything and once I started taking the day off..it started dropping...odd as that may sound.
  • Toomestwin
    Toomestwin Posts: 40
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    I alternate my strength training and running workouts to allow my muscles time off between weightlifting days. I do have at least one "rest" day a week. Even so, on that one "rest" day, I'll do a short cardio workout on the elliptical trainer or taking the dog out for a good long walk. I do, however, pay attention to my body and will have a day or even two when I don't do anything at all. This comes from the bad experience of forcing myself to workout when my body was trying to tell me to lay off, and I ended up having sluggish workouts. When I finally learned to pay attention to these clues, I ended up having more effective workouts after giving my body the rest it needed. I find that these sort of happen randomly for me. In other words, designating a certain day as my "rest" day doesn't work for me.
  • Nerdy_Rose
    Nerdy_Rose Posts: 1,277 Member
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    I did the 30 day shred in 30 days straight and a MASSIVE burnout followed. I felt so tired and needed sleep so badly but I just could not physically switch off and fall asleep. When I was lucky enough to drift off, I would wake up, 3-4 times per night feeling all breathless with my heart racing... Almost like a mini panic attack. I heard that this is quite common if your body is seriously overworked. I learnt the hard way that rest is vital, and I always take one rest day per week..whether I want to or not.

    Holy **** ! this is exactly what is happening to me right now. It's almost like I wrote this....


    Scary stuff isn't it :/ I wouldn't wish it on anyone.


    This happens to me when I undereat.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    As someone else suggested, "rest" doesn't have to mean "inactivity". Active rest and recovery can work ok if you want to follow a daily schedule.

    The biggest thing is to be aware of the signs of staleness and overtraining and when they occur, be willing to take a complete break. (I say "when" and not "if" because if you are going to work out 7 days a week, it is almost certain you will go into a state of overtraining at some point).

    You also have to understand the importance and benefit of lower-intensity workouts, cross-training, and how to structure your weekly routine.

    So, it can be done, but you have to know what you are doing or else it will often become counterproductive.
  • Rinflozeu
    Rinflozeu Posts: 9 Member
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    OMG YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

    I love this community and thank you all for all the responses..

    I will take my rest day exactly as many suggested , maybe some light cardio and what not.

    Thank you again.
  • amydworsky15
    amydworsky15 Posts: 1 Member
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    I go on hikes on my rest day. We don't do anything strenuous but it is nice to get out in the world.
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 1,994 Member
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    I weight train my whole body at once 2-3 times a week and do cardio and pushups/pullups on the other days. I have no problem with 7 days a week...it all depends how hard you are going too. I'm not lifting super heavy, but heavy enough to see progress.
  • MichelleMcKeeRN
    MichelleMcKeeRN Posts: 450 Member
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    I think it depends what you are doing. I can go to the gym 3 days a week for strength trading, go snowboarding and go for a few hikes all in the same week. I can’t go to the gym 7 days a week and put in good workouts. I was doing 3 gym days alternating with 1 rest day for a while and that felt pretty intense.
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,449 Member
    edited January 2020
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    Hopefully @Rinflozeu has figured it out in the 8 years since he posted this question.....
  • SchweddyGirl
    SchweddyGirl Posts: 244 Member
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    I do some form of exercise every day. I run 4 times a week and then have "active" rest days where I only walk. I am starting BodyBoss next month as well (just the workouts). and will be adding them on top of my walk days.
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,216 Member
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    OP hasn’t been on for 8 years...
  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
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    I ran every day for over 18months and only stopped my streak because I had a funeral to go to.
    Along with that I trained 6 days a week (in various classes/solo workouts and PT sessions)

    I still do something every day, but for 6days a week it's multiple training sessions/exercise classes where I am training hard, plus running.

    Then one day a week is my active rest, where I run with a friend who is a new runner and runs 4-5min/mile slower than me plus I do a 30min yoga stretch
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
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    It depends on what you mean by efficient and on how trained you are.
    If you are relatively untrained, there isn't much to suggest you'll build muscle any faster lifting more frequently than hitting a body part once per week - for an untrained person, you could be gaining muscle with as little as 1 workout a week hitting full body. Note this is for hypertrophy (muscle growth), strength might benefit from higher frequency because of just the amount of time spent practicing lifts from training more frequently - strength has a skill component to it.

    For advanced lifters, that darn unpublished Norwegian powerlifting study suggested training everyday could be beneficial.

    Yes, technically muscles grow during the non-lifting time. However, when and how long recovery takes is different depending on training age / level. It also is not correct that hypertrophy is a result of causing micro-trauma that leads to tissue growing back larger in response - that's a model that came from thinking muscles work like bones, when they don't.
    Weird this was bumped from 8 years ago.

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