Been overdoing it, now what?

[chirel]

So it's obvious now that I've been overdoing this exercising thing. I've never really even felt like being this active and I have no idea where this love of exercise and being active came from. I've tried to be carefull and kept at least one day for resting per week. I built my weekly routine little by little and my current goal is a maximum of ten hours of some kind of exercise (including gardening and cleaning etc. when they make me sweat and when I feel it in my muscles).

So now I need to cut back. Someone said I should take a week off, but I'm afraid that that'll kill my inspiraton to be active - I don't trust this change of life enough yet to take a complete break from it (but I will, if it's the only choise I have). I feel like I have two options: 1) do less per day or 2) keep more days for resting. But I have no way of evaluating which approach would be better and why.

I would really like to keep doing my daily belly dance exercise (30 min), but then I have my leg exercises (grom a physiotherapist) 2-3 times a week 40 min and yoga (which I don't want to give up). I just can't figure this out on my own, so I need your help.

 

[khanjar]

Okay, from my perspective regards myself and exercise, taking time off exercise is a slippery slope, so for me, I have just to reduce the exercise but keep at it or else I know I will revert back into slob mode all too easily and totally forget the exhilaration at being active. I know me well, how well do you know you ? Let your knowledge of yourself guide you.

 

[da Sage]

If you feel like you are overdoing it on exercise, you probably are. The best thing would be to talk to your primary doctor or perhaps your physiotherapist (if s/he knows your whole medical history). I find it a little worrisome that you are needing to count your "active hours" - you should make an appointment with the doctor sooner, rather than later.

Please also make sure you are eating enough nutritious food (with vitamins, protein, fiber, plenty of carbs for energy, plenty of taste so you enjoy your meals), sleeping enough, and spending time with friends and family. Sometimes it's "too much exercise" only because you are not taking care of yourself in other ways. If your life is stressful right now, maybe it is better to make more opportunities to have coffee with a friend or read trashy novels than to work out so much.

Until you can see the doctor, do cut back on bellydance and/or yoga. You can cut back two ways: time or intensity. Time is self-explanatory...say, instead of drilling bellydance moves for 30 minutes, try drilling for 15 and then improv dancing for 15. Really get into the music, and try slower dancing as well as faster dancing. But no weird backbends or turkish drops! Keep it simple and intuitive. For yoga, don't do the crazy twisty/inverted stuff...go more slowly, spend more time in Child pose or Corpse pose.

Good luck, and take care!

 

[chirel]

Thanks for your insights. Khanjar, that is exactly what I fear right now. This is not yet the second nature to me that I'd like it to be. I love being active, but since I haven't been I fear that taking a complete break at this point would just cause me to stop complitely.

What is there worrisom about counting those hours? I use this site www.heiaheia.com to log in my exercises. What then happens it counts the hours for me. I kind of like it and then decided on a weekly minimum goal and since I did more during couple of weeks I decided it would be my maximum goal I'm not taking the hours seriously or anything. I'm also resting (sleeping more than in ages) and doing fun stuff. Since I'm student and it's summer, I have time for all of this.

My main question still remains and I'd like to have more opinions. Is it better to keep more days for resting or to exercise less each day? Why?

(And the tiredness might actually be a flu, but I'll find that out in a day or two, I suppose.)

 

[Farasha Hanem]

I can't remember what Gold's Gym's recommendationis, but you DO need off-days for your muscles to repair. Eating nutritiously as Khanjar pointed out is very important. I'll do a bit of research on it, but in the meantime, try resting at least two days a week.

My daughter and I do Insanity, but I have to modify the program quite a bit in order to not damage my joints. Listen to your body. More is not always better.

 

[khanjar]

Another thing I have just started to use to improve fitness is a heart rate monitor, which tells me I don't have to work at my maximum to achieve results I seek;

Heart Rate Training Zones

I cycle on a low geared mountain bike shod with off road tyres on the road, which is hard going, but it's the heart rate I am after, not the distance travelled or bike speed. Exercise has got to have a fun component in it too or else exercise becomes a chore, being out in the countryside is the fun part for me.

But what are my goals, that I don't know, but at least to increase my fitness and stamina which is forcing me to eat more and the right stuff, currently protein rich as I am three weeks off smoking now and I know ''feeling full'' I stand more chance of success, because I used to smoke to quell hunger pangs. It is still a struggle, but lack of energy, and lack on body development was hindering my dancing let alone anything else.

But, look into the heart rate monitor method of exercise and you might be pleasantly surprised at what you don't have to do to relaise your goals.

 

[Kashmir]

I agree that taking a week off is a bad idea. Perhaps cut back your belly dance to three times a week. Can you juggle your schedule to get a day off - maybe two - per week?

It is a good idea to mix your training. So on alternative days do different things, use different muscles.

Also, make sure you do a cardio warmup before dancing - and especially before stretching. And cool-down at the end of your training. And as otehr have said - eat well.

 

[da Sage]

Thanks for your insights. Khanjar, that is exactly what I fear right now. This is not yet the second nature to me that I'd like it to be. I love being active, but since I haven't been I fear that taking a complete break at this point would just cause me to stop complitely.

What is there worrisom about counting those hours? I use this site www.heiaheia.com to log in my exercises. What then happens it counts the hours for me. I kind of like it and then decided on a weekly minimum goal and since I did more during couple of weeks I decided it would be my maximum goal I'm not taking the hours seriously or anything. I'm also resting (sleeping more than in ages) and doing fun stuff. Since I'm student and it's summer, I have time for all of this.

My main question still remains and I'd like to have more opinions. Is it better to keep more days for resting or to exercise less each day? Why?

(And the tiredness might actually be a flu, but I'll find that out in a day or two, I suppose.)

The fact that you are still focusing on making your exercise/active hours while "something" is telling you that your 10 hours is too much is worrisome. It is the sort of thing that someone who is experiencing (or recovering from) an eating disorder might say. Also, since you said you are already doing therapy for your legs, it seems that the physiotherapist, doctor, or some other medical professional should be your first source of advice, not the internet.

May I ask what your favorite things are about bellydance and yoga? What makes you so excited about being physically active now, even though you are not feeling well?

 

[chirel]

The fact that you are still focusing on making your exercise/active hours while "something" is telling you that your 10 hours is too much is worrisome. It is the sort of thing that someone who is experiencing (or recovering from) an eating disorder might say. Also, since you said you are already doing therapy for your legs, it seems that the physiotherapist, doctor, or some other medical professional should be your first source of advice, not the internet.

May I ask what your favorite things are about bellydance and yoga? What makes you so excited about being physically active now, even though you are not feeling well?

I understand where you are coming from now. I don't feel like I'm focusing on the hours, but I did need to mention it as I'm talking about how much I excersise. Since I have the data, it's easy to tell exactly how much I've done. I could also give you a detailed acount of what I've been doing, but that would bore you. Using numbers seemed like a quick way to summarize things.

Oh you definitely may ask as I just realised it myself I seem to be looking for a kind of sense of wonder in movement. Sense of wonder is a literary term, but it fits here. In yoga and belly dance there is something very much unbelievable and amaising in the core of it. And then to be able to do even a tiny bit of that gives me a very special feeling. I'm also interested in acrobatics, slacklining, climbing. It's not danger I'm after, it's just to amaize myself I've never felt drawn to things like basketball or cross country skiing - too mundane for me. I only ride the bike because it's functional as I don't have a car.

Kashmir, I have taken a day of, but I suppose I need two days. Also I've been mixing the things I do. I suppose it's the leg exercises that have taxed me so and I need to cut back on them (from three to two times a week). And combined with the beginning of the cycling season (for me, I'm late )I guess it's been too much for my legs and so for my whole body.

Warm up is my weak point, I still haven't learned to automatically start with it, but I've managed to learn to strech afterwards. And I eat well. I'm a vegetarian, have been for years and I've done a lot of reading on the subject in the past so that I'd be able to do it in a healthy way.

Oh and about the reason I went to see the physioherapist: I experienced some knee pain while dancing. She examined my knees and said there's nothing wrong, I just have weak muscles in my legs. Then she gave me a bunch of exercises to strenghten my muscles. So I'm not in acute danger of anything.

 

[chirel]

Thord day of resting and it's the first one when I actually *feel* the need to rest. Weird. I have been thinking about the reasons that led to this as I did try to avoid overdoing it. At first i built my weekly routine slowly, really slowly. Only adding ten minutes of exercise here and there and thta sort of thing. Then many things happened at the same time that caused bigger changes to my routine: my belly dance course began, I started cycling and I got those leg exercises from the physiotherapist. I tried to change my program so that I'd be replacing things instead of adding but I now realise that the new things where a lot more strenuous than the old ones. So the same time used was way too much.

I feel a lot better already, and will get back to exercising in a day or two, but again slowly. I'll modify the leg routine to make it easier and I'll leave some stuff out complitely so that I'll have more days for resting.

It's so hard to find the balance. But I guess it's kind of normal to go from one extreme to the other before the balance is found. I realised that there were some days when I kind of didn't felt like exercising, but I interpreted it to be a sign of the lifestyle change becoming a routine. Before when I've felt blah about something it's been because I've been too passive. I now realise that it might have been the first sign of tiring myself out physically. Kind of complicated: feeling all blah about something might mean that your doing too much of it or not enough of it. From now on I'll consider it a sign of losing the balance. Live and learn. Thanks for all the responses.

 

[kaza26]

if you like so much to feel your muscles..a week of rest will be great for

after this week you will feel that your body must to exercise you will feel great urge to exercise and of course you will be full of energy

 

[Kashmir]

Warm up is my weak point, I still haven't learned to automatically start with it, but I've managed to learn to strech afterwards. And I eat well. I'm a vegetarian, have been for years and I've done a lot of reading on the subject in the past so that I'd be able to do it in a healthy way.

Warm up before is really vital. Stretching after is optional (a cool-down is needed - but a stretch is no more a cooldown than a warm-up). The main reason for stretching after exercise (unless you have done a very heavy session) is it is a good time to increase flexibility. But this will only happen if you do the right stretches for you - and you do them correctly.

Protein is vital for exercise. You need protein to repair muscle damage that is a normal part of training. Vegetarian diets are often low in protein. When I was doing serious work the rule of thumb was 30g of protein and 50g carbohydrates within 30 minutes of finishing exercising. That isn't 30g of protein containing food - that is just the protein. Say a litre of milk - personally I went for the high protein bars.

Oh and about the reason I went to see the physioherapist: I experienced some knee pain while dancing. She examined my knees and said there's nothing wrong, I just have weak muscles in my legs. Then she gave me a bunch of exercises to strenghten my muscles. So I'm not in acute danger of anything.

Good. Stick to the exercises. Also watch your technique when dancing - "knees over toes". The most common times I see people going wrong is during level changes and during horizontal eights. If you use your abs for teh latter rather than your legs you have a better chance of keeping your knees aligned.

 

[chirel]

Actually my problem is that I've taken literally when ever people have said "bend your knees". It took me a week to learn to bend from the hip too. So actually I really was leaning forward, but now I'm more like sitting in the air (if i start to bend my knees more, that is - not for dancing).

These routines and habits that one should have before and after excersizing are the most difficult thing for me at the moment I think. I just don't have them yet and I'm not exactly sure how to do them. So I'm trying differnt things and seeing, which ones work the best.

Why should one eat right after exercising? Like I've said, I have been doing ashtanga yoga for years and the instructions there are very different from other type of exercising: Don't drink during the exercise and don't eat for 2-4 hours before or after, don't shower right away etc. It's like a mirror world for western exercise routines. And it's strenuous, so now I'm wondering how important these kind of instrctions (for eating or drinking) are after all, since I've been doing fine for years, even when I've done yoga three or four times a week. But it's true, I need to find out about nutritional recommendations for.

(I'm not a strict vegetarian, I eat dairy, eggs and fish. It's just somehow easier to call myself a vegetarian when discribing my eating habits. And I've been eating lots of protein lately.)

 

[Kashmir]

Why should one eat right after exercising? Like I've said, I have been doing ashtanga yoga for years and the instructions there are very different from other type of exercising: Don't drink during the exercise and don't eat for 2-4 hours before or after, don't shower right away etc. It's like a mirror world for western exercise routines. And it's strenuous, so now I'm wondering how important these kind of instrctions (for eating or drinking) are after all, since I've been doing fine for years, even when I've done yoga three or four times a week. But it's true, I need to find out about nutritional recommendations for.

Strenuous exercise damages muscle. That's how you build it up - take it down and then rebuild bigger. If you leave it too long before eating protein it'll take about 48 hours before your muscles are ready for another heavy session. By feeding up within 30 minutes repair is done faster and then you can hit it again the next day.

I suspect the yoga recommendations are cultural rather than based on exercise science. Totally up to you what you do - but if you are doing strenuous exercise and finding the next day difficult it could be (partly) nutrition.

 

[chirel]

Thanks Kashmir, I'll see how it goes and test different options to see what suits me best.

 

[Mahin]

So now I need to cut back. Someone said I should take a week off, but I'm afraid that that'll kill my inspiraton to be active - I don't trust this change of life enough yet to take a complete break from it (but I will, if it's the only choise I have). I feel like I have two options: 1) do less per day or 2) keep more days for resting. But I have no way of evaluating which approach would be better and why.
.

In reading your post, I'm not sure I know your reason for feeling you need to cut back. Are you tired and sore? Are you getting injured? Is the time biting into your schedule? Knowing that would make it easier to respond with a potentially helpful answer.

If I was working with one of my fitness clients who came to me with this concern, I'd want to know the thoughts behind it before I offered suggestions to address it.

Mahin

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Chirel, how have you been doing?