Circuit training breaks???

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copswife4148
copswife4148 Posts: 59
in Fitness and Exercise
I have the Biggest Loser Workout book and it says that the exercises they have listed are all considered circuit training (crunches, lunges, step-ups, chest flies, etc). Well they also state that it should be done 3 times a week with a break of at least a day in between sessions. Why is that? Am I going to be doing a bad thing if I don't give myself a one day break? My workout usually lasts about 30mins (it'll be longer now that I am going to be doing 2 sets of each exercise). I love these exercises and am wanting to do them 5 times a week. Is that going to be a bad idea? Any help/answer is much appreciated!

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  • Tujitsu56
    Tujitsu56 Posts: 392 Member
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    I don't think it'll be a bad idea. I cannot imagine this workout being much harder than insanity and the max phase is 60mins and 5days a week. Technically 6days, but 1 is a recovery. Just be sure to probably eat, hydrate, and stretch.
  • timmymon
    timmymon Posts: 304 Member
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    Yes! You need to give your muscles time to recover! I like to work in days that I do cardio workouts (Running, elliptical, etc) in between the days that I do my circuit training. Doing this allows you to work out more than three times a week and also gives your muscles plenty of time to recover.
  • chele76
    chele76 Posts: 28 Member
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    Correct, it is not good to exercise the same muscle groups day after day without a rest when it comes to strength training. If you want to work out every day, add cardio on the "off" days. Or break out the workout so that you are going arms / chest one day, legs and back the next. Then you can workout everyday without rest.

    Muscle recovery time is just as important as the workout itself.
  • hollyk57
    hollyk57 Posts: 520 Member
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    That's kind of funny... I was just posting almost the same thing to my MFP friends. I have been working out at the gym just about every day - sometimes twice a day, as well as walking at lunch and hiking on the weekend. I'm being more active than I have ever been in my life. I felt good about it, however, I noticed the scale has actually gone up! 2-3 pounds actually. Could be muscle weight but anyway, my husband thinks I'm overdoing it - he said muscle breaks down and doesn't have a chance to recover when you go that often. Then this morning, I felt horrible, overtired and weak - just felt completely drained and out of it. He thinks it's the working out - he may be right. If the book suggests it, there must be a reason. Sometimes it's better to workout like every other day, and just go for a light walk or something on the off days - still getting some excercise in, but not pushing yourself. Honestly, after how I feel today, and the gaining weight - I have to agree with cutting back. Good luck to you! *hugs*
  • chele76
    chele76 Posts: 28 Member
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    programs like P90X or insanity do have you workout every day, but you are changing up what you are doing day to day. You are not working the same muscles every day over and over so active recovery is built into those programs.
  • applebobbrush
    applebobbrush Posts: 235 Member
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    I don't know for sure, but my trainer in my boot camp class tells us that we should let whatever muscle group we exercise that night rest for 24 hours to heal up and strengthen. She said it's basically like you are making little tears in your muscles that your body starts repairing after your workouts. You want your body to have the time to do it's work to rebuild that muscle to make it stronger before you use it again.

    I do arms one day, legs one day, cardio and then repeat with a day off somewhere in there.
  • tandroes
    tandroes Posts: 163 Member
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    Yes! You need to give your muscles time to recover! I like to work in days that I do cardio workouts (Running, elliptical, etc) in between the days that I do my circuit training. Doing this allows you to work out more than three times a week and also gives your muscles plenty of time to recover.
    i do the same... 3 days of cardio in between 3 of circuit training with one rest day...but i also dont think it's a bad idea because there are plenty of programs that encourage you to do them almost every day (30 day shred, ripped in 30, insanity etc)

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