Days Off?

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skinnytwin7
skinnytwin7 Posts: 7 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been working out every day for the past 3 weeks for about an hour to an hour and a half each day. Is a day off necessary? And will working out every day like this without a break slow down weight loss as my body gets too used to it?

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  • kit_katty
    kit_katty Posts: 994 Member
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    I have no idea about the weighloss, though from what I understand, weightloss=calories in-calories burned.

    As for exercising every day, everyone I know suggests that you rest your muscles at least once a week. So, I guess in theory if you run for most days, then do weightlifting one of the other days, your muslces will still rest without you having to actually have a rest day.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    Going every single day without a rest at all is just increasing your chance for injury and ending up with a lot of forced rest days. And I speak from experience. I went through a constant cycle of no rest, injury, out of commission, push hard to get back up to where I was pre-injury, injury, out of commission, and so on.

    Once I got on a program that kept out of a rut of the same thing every day and included a complete rest day, I've been injury free and just getting stronger and becoming a faster runner.

    My schedule is:
    Sun: Long Run (increase mileage by 1/2 mile each week)
    Mon: Strength and stretching
    Tue: 3 mile run
    Wed: Cross (25-45 min depending on the week of bike, elliptical or skating)
    Thu: 2 mile run and strength
    Fri: Rest
    Sat: Cross (45-70 min depending on the week, same mix as above, but a different one than what I did Wed)
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    From what I have learned (mostly from Tom Venuto as well as Chalene Johnson which is whose programs I am following right now) you need to give your muscles groups at least 24 hours rest before working them again in weight training, but that's not necessarily true about cardio training. It could lead to overtraining or injuries on the cardio side, but from what I have learned, as long as you eat adequate calories for your training, get plenty of sleep, drink plenty of water, etc. you should be OK.

    That said, I wouldn't personally want to train 7 days a week. Venuto recommends for my body type that I do cardio 5-7 days a week...and I tend to stay at 5-6 days. I feel that my first cardio workout coming off of that break is more energetic, more intense, and therefore burns more calories anyway.
  • skinnytwin7
    skinnytwin7 Posts: 7 Member
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    Okay thanks! Should my diet be any different on days I don't workout?
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    Okay thanks! Should my diet be any different on days I don't workout?

    Depends on who you ask, lol.

    I personally don't do it differently on my days off, but others do. We both have results. :ohwell:

    If you are following MFP's advice of eating exercise calories back, then the difference would simply be eating less food on rest days. If you are doing something different like sticking to set plan without worrying about exercise cals, then I don't think you should deviate from the plan.

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