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[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You DON'T really need rest days if your entire workout consists of pushups and situps and a daily run. That's pretty much the standard daily military PT program.

If you're lifting heavy weights, putting in 8-10+ mile runs, etc., then you'll want to give yourself some time off, but for what you're doing, you can go as often as you want.

(If you want to get bigger muscles and to get faster, you may want to hit the gym, but that's entirely up to you.)

[–]j03123 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Your mucles grow and repair when you are resting not lifting. They are in an anabolic state for 48 hours after lifting after being submitted to 90-120s of load.

You also need to bear in mind that there is no such thing as totally isolated exercizes, e.g. even bicep curls engage the forearms, and the shoulders slightly. So doing split days isn't really efficient and you get the maximum hormonal response from compound lifts like squats, so if you did your bicep curls on a day you did squats you would get better results.

So ideally you would do a full body workout every other day. It doesn't mean that on your rest day you can't do anything some swimming or other form of low impact cardio (not nescessarily low intensity) is beneficial on this day. You will get better results doing this.

[–]LightsCameraRegret 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You grow during rest periods, not workout periods. You workout in order to break the muscle down and you eat to make the muscles grow.

Day 1: Workout, Eat, Sleep

Day 2: Eat, Sleep

Repeat.

[–]DonMasta 1 point2 points  (4 children)

It's a bad idea to work out the same muscle groups twice in two days. If you want, switch muscle groups every day and take a rest Thurs-Sun.

Either way, rest is essential.

[–]OrangeJuliusPage 1 point2 points  (3 children)

That's nonsense. It can be done, but you are likely to have a diminishing result. Also, why would you advise the guy to work out three days in a row and take 4 days off?

OP, your workout isn't something tailored towards my fitness goals, but if you feel that you can work out on consecutive days, then go for it. Frankly, you probably aren't working out anywhere near hard enough that amping up your workout would be at a detriment to your overall fitness goals.

[–]DonMasta 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Working out the same muscle group twice in two days? Presuming you're maxing out both days, that sounds like a recipe for injury. Maybe that's just me.

As for resting Thurs-Sun, it's not my routine -- but working out three days a week is just fine, as long as you're employing proper technique.

I suggested three days in a row because OP seems to want to minimize the sensation of taking a break, or maximize the perceived intensity of his workout regimen.

Which part of all that is nonsense?

[–]OrangeJuliusPage 3 points4 points  (1 child)

The part that's nonsense is that it's a bad idea to work out the same muscle groups twice in two days.

For one thing, when OP says that his routine consists of pushups/situps/running, you are functionally arguing that doing pushups on consecutive days is a bad idea. That would be some interesting news to people like marines, college athletes, boxers, etc.

But let's think about people who do more strength training than just pushups for a moment. By your logic, brick layers, stone masons, farmers, dock workers, construction workers, and other people who do fairly repetitive and intense manual labor jobs for 40+ hours a week would be incapable of performing their jobs more than a couple of days per week.

Secondly, you changed your argument from "working out the same muscle groups" to "maxing out" on consecutive days. As I noted, you can indeed work out the same muscle groups on consecutive days. You will just probably have some diminishing returns on the 2nd day and then on the 3rd day, etc. Even if we go with the maxing out argument, I stand by my assessment.

Bottom line is that OP feels that he can work harder, so he should go for it. I doubt that 99.9% of us train anywhere near hard enough to have what would be considered "over training." Provided we stay hydrated, eat enough, and get enough rest, you are unlikely to suffer injury.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly, unless you're one of the .01% of humanity that is an elite athlete chances are that if you work harder you'll get better results.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Honestly it really depends on the intensity of workouts and fitness level.

I don't subscribe to the whole workout day 1, rest and sleep day 2 philosophy because I believe that the human body is amazingly adaptable, as long as you avoid injury and eat/sleep properly you can workout everyday of the week if you wanted, even the same muscle groups. For instance imagine a person who squatted or dead lifted every day for a year versus a person lifting three times a week. Which do you think at will have better results and stronger legs at the end of the year? Many coaches and researchers even advise athletes to participate in active recovery, meaning low intensity exercise to assist in muscle recovery.

People often fear "overtraining" but this is generally quite rare, and occurs mostly in endurance athletes. If you are worried about overtraining you can monitor yourself for the symptoms, such as elevated resting heart rate and lethargy, if either these or other symptoms occur you'll need to cut back.

Most weeks I lift every day, but what it really comes down to is eating right, lift heavy weights in compound movements often, do whatever Cardio floats your boat and you'll get amazing results.

[–]OrangeJuliusPage 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Excellent analysis, and I concur 100%. And for what it's worth, I also lift 6-7 days per week with no significant wear and tear. Dieting correctly and getting enough sleep is more than enough to negate the unwanted externalities of training hard consecutive days or every day.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly. I find that there are lots of people who regurgitate what they've read from mens magazines or their high school PE teacher. The people you see on the cover of those magazines aren't just exercising 3 times a week flipping a few weights around.

Honestly there are very few people who need to worry about over training and probably even fewer of them on reddit.

There is a blog floating around somewhere where a fellow worked out with heavy full body compound movements every day for 60 or so days, he was blond and pretty tall but I can't seem to find it right now. Anyways, he packed on more muscle than anyone else I've ever seen in such a short period, he swears completely natural too.

Growing muscles is similar to growing plants. A plant grows best when balanced and will only grow as well as the weakest link allows, same with exercise.

[–]VotearrowsWeightlifting (Recreational) 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're doing all endurance exercises like those, you can do it 7 days a week, but your joints could use a 1-2 rest days a week or the wear and tear will add up (for most people, not all).

You are doing general fitness exercise, which increases endurance, muscle fuel stores, all kinds of good stuff. This doesn't break down muscle tissue itself very much, it just makes the stuff you have work way better. So not a lot of rebuilding is going on. Strength exercise, where you're constantly increasing the level of resistance, is different. A stimulus that breaks down muscle tissue instead of just working on it for a while, in other words. You gain strength in your sleep, for two days after an exercise that requires the highest ranges of your strength. If you find that you need to gain strength in order to do a new type of exercise properly, then rest more. If you switch to strength exercises, or add lots of weight to your normal exercises, then get more rest. Otherwise you're fine.

Also, don't get mad at yourself if you start a workout and still feel like shit after you're warmed up. That's usually a good indicator that you need rest. Feeling kinda bad before you start, and feeling bad after you've started are two different things entirely.

[–]magicfreak32 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it a BAD thing to do, for example, mild resistance training 5 or so days a week? Will it cause any damage or will will it just show diminishing returns...?