Over-training? The balance between cardio and strenth.

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Eats_With_A_Fist
Eats_With_A_Fist Posts: 181
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm not the type to get all my advice from any one source because I'm a big believer that the same thing doesn't work for everyone. While I'm a fan of the Primal lifestyle, I know that there's not usually any one magic solution. So I've done a lot of research and I've been building my routine over the last few months and I'm looking for opinions from both experienced cardio junkies and body builders as well.

I have gotten hooked on exercise to a degree, I really like to stay active and so my normal routine is between 5 and 10 hours of moderate cardio each week (depending on how much time I have), at least 1 day with a 20- 30 minute intense interval workout, 2 days of either body weight exercises or light weight/high rep weights (30-45 minutes), and then usually I try to spend about 10-20 minutes each day working on my arms.

I eat high fat, moderate protein and low carb. Lots of vegetables, eggs, meat (a lot of fish), moderate dairy, very little grain or bread, just a couple servings of fruit. No sugar (that doesn't come from my fruit). I don't stick to this quite as strictly as I could, but that's my guide anyway.

Am I working out too often for my diet, or do you think it's a decent balance? I just don't want to short change myself and sacrifice efficiency. Any advice is hugely appreciated.

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  • SuzMac1981
    SuzMac1981 Posts: 708 Member
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    bumping to see the advice!
  • TK421NotAtPost
    TK421NotAtPost Posts: 512 Member
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    In my experience, I generally have to watch for signs of overtraining when going heavy, i.e., compounds lifts using 5x5 or 4x6 rep schemes. But everyone is different, so that doesn't mean that lots of cardio along with BW or high rep schemes are immune to overtraining, especially if you are maintaining a sizeable calorie deficit.

    Since this is such a highly individual area, I think the best way would be to monitor how you feel. Are you sleeping well at night? How is your resting pulse rate? Are you progressing in strength or at least maintaining? Do you feel energized after working out? Is your weekly weight loss consistent? Those are the kinds of questions you should be asking yourself and monitoring regularly if you are concerned about overtraining.
  • Eats_With_A_Fist
    Eats_With_A_Fist Posts: 181
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    The weight-loss has been odd. I'll go a week without losing anything, and then lose 6 or 7 pounds the next week. I feel great though, BP and HR are excellent. Not sure about progressing in strength really. Only been going a couple of months, so I'm not sure what a realistic increase would be, but I can definitely tell things are getting easier, so I guess that's progression. I just don't have a quantifiable measure yet.
  • surfinbernard
    surfinbernard Posts: 53
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    If you feel good, you're happy with your progress and weight loss, you are enjoying it and don't have any reason not to carry on then I'd stick with it for the while and see how things go. As you say everyone is different so it's about finding something that's working for you. I found that 'over-training' lowered my immunity and stalled my weight loss and progress was meagre on the fitness front, although I was strong, toned and relatively fit I had hit a brick wall and couldn't get any better. We are not all built the same.

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