Is there such a thing as too much exercise?

onikonor
onikonor Posts: 473 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I was just wondering what people's thoughts are on this.

I'm currently doing 5-7 days a week high intensity internal training and weight lifting for 60 minutes daily (combined). I see some people at my gym are there for 3 hours a day, 5-6 days a week.

How much do you exercise - intensity, and for how long? How many rest days do you take a week? Do you split your workouts morning and afternoon (and are there benefits to doing this?)

How do you know if you are overexercising and/or need a rest day?

EDIT: interval/high intensity training is only about 20 minutes of the 60 the rest is weights and stretching/warmup.

Replies

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    A simple observation is that there are many "I am eating xxxx calories and working out like crazy but not losing anything" postings.

    Does the crazy workout help ?
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
    Yes, there is, and that will vary based on the person. Rest days are important. The highest performing athletes take rest days and so should you.

    It's also important to note that after a certain point, while you may not necessarily be overtraining, the amount of time you spend at the gym gives you a low return on investment. A person who spends 3 hours a day at the gym 6 days a week is probably wasting a lot of that time. It's not efficient but some people feel better about themselves doing it, I suppose.

    High intensity training for 30 minutes 5-6 days a week is more efficient than spending 3 hours pretending to lift weights or reading a book on an elliptical set to 0 resistance.

    Me personally, I like to run 3 days a week for 30 minutes to an hour. When I was doing HIIT it was 2 days a week, lifting heavy 3 days a week. There is no difference in splitting workouts except perhaps in your energy level.
  • jkeeling39
    jkeeling39 Posts: 30
    My current routine:

    MWF - High intensity elliptical (20 minutes), whole body circuit training (40 minutes), once I get to my goal weight I will transition to muscle building instead of circuit training
    TTh - Running and ab strengthening (60 minutes combined)
    Saturday/Sunday - Sometimes I will run and do ab strengthening on Saturday again sometimes I will take a day off. Sunday I usually go hiking for a couple of hours.

    Throughout the week I go on frequent walks to stay active during the day.

    As far as overtraining I think that is a highly individualized question. Keep in mind some professional athletes train for multiple hours everyday. Regardless, I think your body will tell you. You may have some pain but you will definitely have decreased performance and increased fatigue. Listen to your body.

    I do not think you are doing too much based on your routine.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,988 Member
    If you're tired, getting bored, not seeing results after long exercise bouts, starting to hate exercise, then it's probably TOO much.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • onikonor
    onikonor Posts: 473 Member
    I was just curious, I think what I am doing right now is working but I couldn't understand how people could train for 3 hours a day. I suppose if they are really fit they need to work out more. If I did that I would just fall over on the floor lol.

    I do warmup (some light to medium cardio) and stretching usually 15-20 minutes, then some weight lifting for 15-20 min then interval or other high intensity exercise for another 15-20, then more stretching.

    Sometimes I skip the weights and just do warmup then interval with stretching.
  • toysbigkid
    toysbigkid Posts: 545 Member
    bumping
  • enchanted777
    enchanted777 Posts: 8
    I say, workout every other day. You should allow your muscle to recover after intense workout for better results and to prevent fatigue/burnout. Good luck.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Yes,

    1. If you are lifting don't work the same muscles on back to back days
    2. For any type of workout, if you are not eating enough, even a small amount of working out can be too much. You have to fuel your body properly.
    3. Not getting enough sleep

    Assuming you are eating exercise calories back and not working the same muscles on back to back days, it is very difficult to over train.

    To answer your question, I workout 5 days/week. 4 days lifting, 30 minutes each day, and one day cardio for 2 minutes.
  • onikonor
    onikonor Posts: 473 Member
    Yes, there is, and that will vary based on the person. Rest days are important. The highest performing athletes take rest days and so should you.

    It's also important to note that after a certain point, while you may not necessarily be overtraining, the amount of time you spend at the gym gives you a low return on investment. A person who spends 3 hours a day at the gym 6 days a week is probably wasting a lot of that time. It's not efficient but some people feel better about themselves doing it, I suppose.

    High intensity training for 30 minutes 5-6 days a week is more efficient than spending 3 hours pretending to lift weights or reading a book on an elliptical set to 0 resistance.

    Me personally, I like to run 3 days a week for 30 minutes to an hour. When I was doing HIIT it was 2 days a week, lifting heavy 3 days a week. There is no difference in splitting workouts except perhaps in your energy level.

    I wish I could get into running, I always get so winded running.
  • fhsjewfro
    fhsjewfro Posts: 101 Member
    I was just wondering what people's thoughts are on this.

    I'm currently doing 5-7 days a week high intensity internal training and weight lifting for 60 minutes daily (combined). I see some people at my gym are there for 3 hours a day, 5-6 days a week.

    How much do you exercise - intensity, and for how long? How many rest days do you take a week? Do you split your workouts morning and afternoon (and are there benefits to doing this?)

    How do you know if you are overexercising and/or need a rest day?

    just gonna go ahead and say that sounds like way too much, hiit is taxing as it is and you are doing it a lot during the week

    you know you are over training when you burn out of doing the workouts, aka you no longer feel nearly as motivated to go workout and you also are very very fatigued. if your diet isnt on point then you will burnout a whole lot quicker as well. food to your body is like gas in your car.

    cardio is not necessary to lose weight, it just allows you to eat more food for that day

    edit* i would also make note that high performing athletes are in a league of there own, meaning they have been doing it for prolly 5+ years, there nutrition is prolly spot on, and they take extra measures to recover that the normal gym goer does not do. Example - ice baths, sauna/steam room sessions multiple times a day, deep tissue massages several times a week, special rehab doctors etc.
  • onikonor
    onikonor Posts: 473 Member
    Yes,

    1. If you are lifting don't work the same muscles on back to back days
    2. For any type of workout, if you are not eating enough, even a small amount of working out can be too much. You have to fuel your body properly.

    Assuming you are eating exercise calories back and not working the same muscles on back to back days, it is very difficult to over train.

    I go to the gym where they come up with different weight training (work out of the day) daily so I am not working the same muscle groups every day. I set my base calories to BMR and eat back exercise calories which puts me at about 15%-20% cut.
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
    I was just wondering what people's thoughts are on this.

    I'm currently doing 5-7 days a week high intensity internal training and weight lifting for 60 minutes daily (combined). I see some people at my gym are there for 3 hours a day, 5-6 days a week.

    How much do you exercise - intensity, and for how long? How many rest days do you take a week? Do you split your workouts morning and afternoon (and are there benefits to doing this?)

    How do you know if you are overexercising and/or need a rest day?

    There is "a such a thing" as too much anything.
  • onikonor
    onikonor Posts: 473 Member
    I went to a class that did moderate exercise for an hour and I find that high intensity exercise for a shorter time (i.e. 30 min or so) gives me more results/quicker improvement.

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