Daily Strength Training

[BigSkye]

Hello,

I have recently stepped up my exercise program. I have moved from 30 minutes cardio a few times a week to 60 minutes cardio daily. I feel absolutely great for it.
My question is to do with strength training. I have a multi-gym and I love doing it. I use it and do approximately 12 different exercise with the gym and free-weights everyday. My bestfriend is a personal trainer and she has made it clear that I don't need to do it that often, but I am really an all or nothing type of person. Either I am really into something and doing it everyday or it just falls by the wayside.
She has said as long as I wait 24 hours in between workouts and I keep my reps at 20 (with the last rep being hard to do) then I am ok to do this. I was wondering what some of the other trainers thought about this?
Will I still get the benefits by doing my workouts like this? I am not trying to bulk up, just to be fit and toned.
So as of now, I am doing 30 minutes rowing machine, strength training in the morning and 30 minutes exercise bike with floor work (i.e. crunches, leg lifts, pushups, etc at night) I welcome any advice. Thank you, Skye

p.s. I just read the before posting thread and realized I didn't include all of my stats.
-Stats (Age 33, Height 5.7, Weight 204, Body fat 31%)

 

[KissMyHuman]

All the advice I've heard, and you may want to talk to your personal trainer friend about this, is that for weight loss your main goal is conservation of lean mass and that means high intensity resistance training with large muscle group exercises. That means higher weights, lower reps.

 

[sirant]

Overtraining is a problem.....

Sometimes it just seems that if 2-3 times a week is good, then 7 would be better, but in fact nothing could be further from the truth. I am sure some of the pros here on the group will be able to give it to you in a much more straight forward manner, but you wont reach your goals if you hurt yourself to the point you can't train anymore. I know, been there, done that....

However, if that all or nothing attitude is what truly drives you to keep going, you may want to look at breaking up your workouts into target areas. For example, maybe one day you would do arms and chest, another day back and legs, and so on. You would still be working out everyday, but you would be giving the individual muscle groups some time to recover in between workouts. If you have a trainer friend willing to help you you are already ahead of the game!

I have a skinny buddy here who was depserate to gain massive muscles over night and figured he would just work out in the gym 3-4 hours a day everyday, hitting those same muscle groups over and over. He did not give himself breaks and he did not look at proper nutrition. After a couple months of 3 hours everyday 3 things happened. He got bored, he got sore and he did not see any results. And based on that he stopped working out all together and essentially gave up on himself as a lost cause. Had he done as the trainer he hired (but didn't listen to) recommended and broken the workouts up and given himself time to rest properly and feed his body correctly, he might have been a manly looking monster of a man now. Instead he is still a bone rack and his self esteem is in the toilet.

Sometimes it seems we need to push as hard as possible every second of every day to reach our goals, but everybody needs proper rest in order for the body to heal and reccuperate enough to make those efforts worth while.

Good luck with your journey and I am sure if you use that "go gettum" attitude in the best way you will quickly reach your goals!

sirant

 

[ToothlessFerret]

I'm an all or nothing sort of person myself, so I do know how you feel. However, If its exercising for the sake of exercising, and not for improved fitness and results, then you know where its going to end - with nothing. Boredom will set in.

Personally I don't believe in running every day. For optimum fitness, I don't think that you are going to beat two to four runs per week with rest days in between. Same goes with strength training. Unless you are some serious body builder working 5 - 6 days per week on separate body parts, then you really are best off with around 3 sessions per week - working core compound exercises on the major muscle groups, no more than an hour per workout, and with a rest day in between.

Set up practices that you can keep up longer term, allow enough time to enjoy life, and that enhanced fitness. Getting plenty of fresh air, some quality time, a little head time and relaxation is just as important as exercising. The problem with us 'all or nothing' types is that we become obsessive and then burn out. I also like to vary my exercise regime. I have been concentrating on strength training recently, but this week I'm having a serious R & R time. Next week, I'll be concentrating on running, and then after that, I plan on returning to the strength training programme. A little variety like that makes it all more fun, and hopefully, I'll keep it up for longer.

Good luck Skye, and keep that new lifestyle burning!

 

[BigSkye]

Thanks everyone

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I think I really should take everyones advice and skip days on the strength training. I skipped yesterday and I don't feel as sore today as I have been recently. I am still doing my cardio daily though. The problem I am having with my morning workout is having to eat before doing it. I like to just wake up and jump onto the rower. I don't really like to eat until I have been up for about an hour. I have read the thread here about this issue and my friend has told me it is not recommended that I exercise on an empty stomach! ARGH! So I am waiting for the fruit to settle and I am going to do some rowing. Hope everybody is doing good. Skye

 

[sirant]

We have a similar problem...

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I think I really should take everyones advice and skip days on the strength training. I skipped yesterday and I don't feel as sore today as I have been recently. I am still doing my cardio daily though. The problem I am having with my morning workout is having to eat before doing it. I like to just wake up and jump onto the rower. I don't really like to eat until I have been up for about an hour. I have read the thread here about this issue and my friend has told me it is not recommended that I exercise on an empty stomach! ARGH! So I am waiting for the fruit to settle and I am going to do some rowing. Hope everybody is doing good. Skye

I too cant just wake up and eat. Not sure why, but I always seem to need to be awake for an hour before I can consume anything but water. I know I am theoretically supposed to work out with something in the belly, but instead I have been doing my daily little 20 minute yoga workouts first thing. They are only 20 minutes, but excellent little strength builders and get me fired up in the morning. Plus I love stretching out the sleepy feeling. I could see the necessity of eating before a good cardio or weight workout, but I think I am ok with yoga in the morning. Cant see the harm really.

Maybe you could find an exercise in the morning to wake you up that isnt too energy intensive requiring you to have food in you....

Just a thought. Good luck in any case.

Glad to hear you are taking some rest. It does make a difference. Yesterday I took a day off my regular program and I felt guilty as hell. Instead of my normal 2 hours of evening exercise I went to the sauna and soaked for 3 hours. Felt decadent and wonderful and I knew my body truly appreciated it, but in the back of my head was that nasty little voice calling myself a lazy jerk for not doing regular exercises that day. I guess it is just something I need to get over. I did do my afternoon walk, but it just didnt seem the same. But I must say, today I feel like a million bucks and I know I can blast out my normal routine even harder tonight!

Keep up the good work!
sirant

 

[BigSkye]

Those nasty voices are bad things. From what Paul Mckenna(the TV self-help hypnosis guru) says you are supposed to take the voice and what it's saying and make it sound ridiculis in your head. Like Mickey Mouse on helium or a bad kung fu movie. It works! It takes the validity out of what you are saying to yourself. I know it is good to have a conscience, but it's not good to beat ourselves up about it. Try it!! LOL Have a great day! Skye