Too Much exercise???

[beckybooiloveu]

I was jsut wondering if it is possible to do too much exercise...

I am probably doing about 3-4 hours a day...
i go for a 1.5 hour run in the morning... and then at night i do 30 mins on the bike, 30mins on the cross trainer, 20mins on the ergo (rowing machine), 30mins on the tredmill and 30mins of weight work...
It seems to give me energy... but im being told that i am doing too much...
I am quite over weight and am tryhing to tone up... it always seems impossible for me to tone up... grr...

but yeh... wat is too much... if there is such thing?

 

[Trinitylove]

oh honey-yes, you are doing wayyyyy too much!
that much cardio will NOT help you "tone up". do you want to workout harder or smarter?
my guess is smarter, right?
i'm sorry that you are overweight and struggling to get off the weight. but, your strategy is backfiring.
some cardio is great, but that much will catabolize your muscle. that means that it will start to eat the muscle you have to sustain the amount of energy your body requires-especially if you're not eating enough!
no amount of cardio can "tone" you. if you want to build some muscle mass to spark your metablism, you need to do weightlifting.
hope you get things figured out.

 

[TySJI]

oh honey-yes, you are doing wayyyyy too much!
that much cardio will NOT help you "tone up". do you want to workout harder or smarter?
my guess is smarter, right?
i'm sorry that you are overweight and struggling to get off the weight. but, your strategy is backfiring.
some cardio is great, but that much will catabolize your muscle. that means that it will start to eat the muscle you have to sustain the amount of energy your body requires-especially if you're not eating enough!
no amount of cardio can "tone" you. if you want to build some muscle mass to spark your metablism, you need to do weightlifting. NOT 3 hours of weightlifting either. 30-45 minutes 3 times a week is a good start.
hope you get things figured out.

Weightlifting is far from the only way to gain muscle. Cardio (especially hard cardio) could, theoretically (as in, especially for females, if you didn't have a serious calorie deficit) put on muscle.

I'd be concerned about muscle metabolism too though. Taking in a good amount of protein might help stall the rate you lose it though.

 

[Onesiphorus]

There are very few, if any, athletes that can benefit from doing 3-4 hours of exercise each day. As has been mentioned, you need to work out more efficiently... not more. A very general rule is that you should exercise no more than 60 minutes for any given session (some say 90 minutes). If you are exercising for tone and not an elite athlete, then I'd say you are exercising way too much.

Weight reduction is simply a matter of math: burn more calories than consumed. Toning can be another matter altogether. Aside from some very minor advancement, you can not tone without resistance training ("weights"). If you need help, there are plenty of people on this site to assist in a program.

If the girl in your photo is you, I could hardly consider you "quite over weight."

 

[fitmom]

Yes, you are overtraininng, and not allowing the recovery period needed for muscle and bone to grow. Also, after that many hours of cardio, your workouts must not be very efficient due to muscle fatigue. You are at great risk of injury as well. You must need to drink about 6 L of water for that? How long have you been doing this?
A well balanced eating plan and fitness program will benefit you much more. One that includes cardio, resisitance training, stretching and rest. One hour/day with 2 rest days is LOTS! J

Here is a good link, with good info. >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_bulimia

 

[Kristos]

Holy smokes - are training for the Ironman???

Rest is as important as work when it comes to training.

 

[beckybooiloveu]

thanks for all the responses... i guess i am kinda addicted to it... :S

i have been doing it for about 2 months...

i eat healthily, definately do not over eat... if anything i under eat...

and yes, i probably do drink about 6 L of water a day... im a big water drinker...

I just always feel lazy if i have a day off with no exercise... i hate that feeling... i feel like im slacking off...

 

[brokenbananas]

Becky,

Let me save you the heartache and briefly share my story with you.

Mine began when I was 18 yrs old. I got into exercise and became addicted to it. At the time I was overweight and had some excess fat, but not too much. I did not overeat, in fact, I underate often, as I thought the greater the calorie deficit, the more weight I would lose.

I loved the feeling of the endorphins and got such a high from it. I was disciplined and controlled in my calorie intake and eating healthy foods.

HOWEVER, I was very sleep deprived on a constant basis and lived a super high stress lifestyle. So, undereating, overexercising, high stress, sleep deprivation has lead to hormonal imbalances, the bodyfat instead of going down, has gone up and after doing this for 17 yrs -- abusing my body in this manner, we discovered I had a heart problem due to over exercising.

We experimented for about 2 yrs before we figured out why my heart problem came about. It turned out the excessive weights I was lifting and exercising well above my anaerobic threshold all the time caused undue stress on my heart. Knowing this, my trainers designed a weightlifting and cardio program where it would put my heart back to normal, and it did.

I'm learning how to be more balanced in my exercise. Although I'm training for a triathlon which is next week, I typically try not to do more than 1 hr of cardio in a row. I do exercise often 2 times a day, but I integrate things like yoga, tai chi, pilates into my exercise regiment to offset the other stuff I'm doing. Only 1 day a week do I go over my 60 min. timeframe for cardio.

In order to lose, you have to provide your body with the nutrients and recovery time (sleep/rest) it needs for your activities. And, you also need to eat regularly. I found the times when I lose is when I'm eating 6-7 meals a day (small meals that contain protein, fat, and carbs like that in high fibrous veggies).

I cannot allow my caloric intake to go too low or I will start to gain. My body has been accustomed to me "starving" it all these years, that that is what it's naturally used to.

I would suggest hiring a good nutritionist and personal trainer where they can work together to help you achieve your goals.

Also, now with all my workouts, I wear a heartrate monitor and exercise within Zone 3 typically, though, I do have a variety of various types of cardio training to raise my anaerobic threshold (AT). Oh, when you exercise above your AT, you're burning primarily sugars. You want to be burning mainly fat, NOT sugar and to burn fat, you must be below your AT.

If you have any questions, you can PM me. It would be nice to save you the heartache and frustrations I've had.

Blessings,
Doris

 

[beckybooiloveu]

I would love to hire a nuitritionist and trainer... but i am on a student budget and have no money... so that isnt really an option...

wen i exercise i try to base my intensity on my heart rate... keeping it at around 160...

 

[Kristos]

160 is probably way too high if you interested in weight loss and base aerobic training. Without know your max and LT HR it's hard to say, but I think 130-140 would be much better for you.

Don't burn yourself out. If you fall into overtraining, it can take MONTHS to recover.

 

[brokenbananas]

I would agree that probably 160 bpm is too high. Just because you can do it, does not necessarily mean it's good. I would usually exercise in the 160-190 bpm range and physically felt great. However, when I did a VO2 Max test that measured my anaerobic threshold (AT), it showed I was at 124 bpm.

My body never developed a good aerobic base, so though I could tolerate it (I felt), my body did not like me exercising at that rate.

Becky, why don't you try keeping your heartrate (starting maybe in the 120-130 bpm range) and gradually work up from there.

In 6-7 months timeframe and diligently controlling my exercise through a disciplined program, I went from 124 bpm AT to 136 bpm to 144 bpm.

It's better to go at a lower heartrate than higher.

Yes, it does take discipline when you're addicted to exercise to back off. Keep your heart rate down.

BTW, my excessive exercise, if it didn't change, would've given me a heart attack or some type of heart failure most likely before 40. Not a good thing. Just because you exercise, doesn't make it good for you if you go to the extreme.

 

[fitmom]

I would agree that probably 160 bpm is too high. Just because you can do it, does not necessarily mean it's good. I would usually exercise in the 160-190 bpm range and physically felt great. However, when I did a VO2 Max test that measured my anaerobic threshold (AT), it showed I was at 124 bpm.

My body never developed a good aerobic base, so though I could tolerate it (I felt), my body did not like me exercising at that rate.

Becky, why don't you try keeping your heartrate (starting maybe in the 120-130 bpm range) and gradually work up from there.

In 6-7 months timeframe and diligently controlling my exercise through a disciplined program, I went from 124 bpm AT to 136 bpm to 144 bpm.

It's better to go at a lower heartrate than higher.

Yes, it does take discipline when you're addicted to exercise to back off. Keep your heart rate down.

BTW, my excessive exercise, if it didn't change, would've given me a heart attack or some type of heart failure most likely before 40. Not a good thing. Just because you exercise, doesn't make it good for you if you go to the extreme.

Yes, good post. Check out this link~

http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/library/activity/thr.htm

I use HRR as mentioned in the link with my clients, as well as Borgs scale and the talk test.
Also, remember, the 'fitter' you are, the lower your max heart rate will be. I am 42, and very fit, and 75% max heart rate for me is 148 bpm. My resting heart rate is 58ish. I do not enjoy spending a lot of time above this. I am very comfortable at 136 bpm, this is the heart rate I will maintain for 5k and longer runs.

Good post and point mdolls. Exercise addiction is hard to deal with, and usually is only a symptom of a more serious underlying problem, usually and eating disorder. On a daily basis I see quite a lot of exercise bulimia, here is a paragraph from an article:

~Exercise Bulimia, the new eating disorder
Though many of us worry about getting enough exercise, there is such a thing as too much exercise. Regular exercise is a good thing, but more is not always better and in some cases, compulsive exercise can be just as dangerous as eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Compulsive exercise is just another tool some people use to purge their body of calories, much like a bulimic who binges and purges. In fact, there's even a name for it: Exercise Bulimia.~

I am going to bed, I exercised a lot and my body needs to rest. Even as a fitness instructor, I have to pace myself and have rest days. Tomorrow, Wednesday, is 2 yoga classes ( great for recovery) and personal training. My body is telling me to let it recover. I also consumed enough calories to support the demands, good calories, about 2600! Good night guys, rest and let your muscles and bones grow!

 

[beckybooiloveu]

thanks for all your support and advice everyone...

i think i have ALOT of changes to make in my life...

i am consuming a max of 500 calories a day... and probably burning about 1600-1800...

i will definately try to bring my heart rate down... i think i was going at around there because my mum asked her gym instructor where a 17 yr olds heart rate should be around... and he said 120-160... so i automatically went for the 160... i think...

 

[brokenbananas]

No matter where you're at, 500 calories is ABSOLUTELY too low. Your body needs a minimum of calories to sustain itself and for most people, it's in the 1000-1800 calorie range, depending upon the amount of lean body mass (muscle) you have & activity rate.

When you drop below this level, your body thinks it's in starvation mode because you're not giving it what it needs to function properly.

Body By God by Dr. Ben Lerner has a good eating program that is sensible for people, no dieting. Paul Chek (google him) also has some good stuff on exercise and eating for health.

The things you do when you're young DO matter as they will impact you as you get older.

I forgot to add, when I was 35 and pregnant with my 2nd baby, my exercise addiction and lack of eating was so out of control that it nearly caused the death of my unborn baby, and nearly mine, too. They ended up hospitalizing me for this for awhile on 2 occasions during my pregnancy, and I was constantly being watched by hospital staff and others to make sure I gave my body the rest it needed as well as provide my unborn baby with the nutrients & rest he needed to survive.

It was a HUGE wakeup call at that time how extreme I had gotten with my thinking. I did require professional psychotherapy to help me get over my addictions.

You can also go to Polar and they have some information that may be helpful to you: http://www.polarusa.com/default.asp

 

[IndyEllis]

I was jsut wondering if it is possible to do too much exercise...

I am probably doing about 3-4 hours a day...
i go for a 1.5 hour run in the morning... and then at night i do 30 mins on the bike, 30mins on the cross trainer, 20mins on the ergo (rowing machine), 30mins on the tredmill and 30mins of weight work...
It seems to give me energy... but im being told that i am doing too much...
I am quite over weight and am tryhing to tone up... it always seems impossible for me to tone up... grr...

but yeh... wat is too much... if there is such thing?

"Too much exercise" usually has to do with too much of an increase in exercise over too short of a period of time.

You wouldn't believe what endurance athletes do. But they have incrementally worked up to that level of performance and endurance, often over years.

Given you indicate yourself to be overweight, I would think you probably are training too hard.

As for the 160 bpm HR, I would be concerned about that at the age that you are ate from a dangerous perspective. I'm 40 yo myself and still have a max HR of 186 bpm and in fact do hit close to it once every week or two in interval training. However, there is a separate issue of effectiveness. Perhaps you can look into some days being longer duration at a lower intensity (being about calorie burn for that workout) and other days being shorter duration at higher intensity (being about metabolic improvement and thus extended round-the-clock calorie burn).

Also I greatly suspect your calorie counting abilities. I personally often burn 500 calories in 30 minutes of exercise. I workout hard and (though being an age 40 male) consume 3,300 calories per day, having been at this target weight for more than a couple years.

Best of luck in your training.

 

[2Bhumble]

Yes, you really are doing too much. The cardio you're doing should be spread out over a week - not a day! Run OR bike - treadmill OR rowing - just not all of it in one day. Plus 500 calories per day is simply not giving your body enough nutrients. Your body is trying to cope with the extra calorie burning and not enough food. The way it copes is it holds on to every little morsel you eat as if you were starving yourself. The weight will actually not come off as fast (if at all) because of this imbalance. Not to scare you but this could lead to other health problems. The heart and brain etc. need nutrition too. Forget about getting muscle tone at this pace. Muscles need good nutritious food and rest to grow after they are worked. Your body is a wonderful fat burning machine. Yes it needs activity but it also needs fuel and rest to work correctly.

OK, sorry to lecture but staying fit/lean doesn't have to be this tough or take so much work. God bless.

 

[beckybooiloveu]

thanks so much everyone... wat you have all said has really helped... thank you

 

[BushidoTexan]

I am not going to lie, a lot of the stuff that people suggested here I scoffed at. The training she is doing is all different and if her body hasn't shut down from it yet after more than a month of it, I honestly think that she should be fine. As far as the heart rate, with the amounts of exercise she is putting in, if she were at her anaerobic rate, She would feel real burnt out. When I do my long runs (80-90 min) I hold my heart rate at 165-170 and am under my aerobic threshold. Every person is different, and telling her she should drop it down into the fat burning section is a little extreme I think. Another factor that one person mentioned was rest days, there was never an indication of how much that was occuring. As far as the calories, 500 is destroying your body. With that kind of exercise, you should be putting down 3-4 solid meals and essentially, as it has been described earlier, the more you eat the more you lose.

 

[blankgirl]

huh? u arent even overweight!!! u look perfect in ur photo. i dont get u. seriously. dont kill urself. i struggle with an addiction to exercise myself. so i do understand how its like. do u hav a healthy body image?

 

[rosewithoutathorn]

I'll be honest - when I was in the worst part of my battle with anorexia and bulimia I didn't damage myself as much as you are damaging yourself now.

You need 2000 calories a day just for your body to function properly. Yes, some people who are trying to lose weight eat less than that, but this is unwise. You won't even realise how unwise it is until a few years down the line when your body pays you back for all the harm you've done to it (bone problems, teeth problems, nails/hair falling out, injuries, constant illness, depression, anxiety, menstrual/fertility problems, etc). You are going to make yourself age prematurely by doing what you're doing now. When you're thirty you'll look fifty. I think you need to stop thinking about "now" and start thinking about the future.

A good amount of exercise is half an hour to an hour three to five times a week. To change your body shape and add muscle you need to weight train, not overdo the cardio (and never weight train for more than 45 mins at a time). You don't need to do all the cardio you're doing. Quality over quantity!

I am really concerned for your health, so I'm sorry if I've come across a bit harsh.