So I know this is an odd question. The main reason is that a couple months ago, I was running 5-6x a week for about 3 miles each session. Then I got extremely bad Achilles tendinitis. My doctor took me off all exercise except "light walking" and told me to take it easy. I got better shoes for my flat feet that should help with my over-pronation, which caused the problem in the first place.
Now I am starting to pick up running again instead of my exercises classes. I want to run everyday because it feels so great (yay runner's high) but I'm afraid I'm going to over do it. What do you guys think? Have you ever "over exercised" and hurt yourself?
I work out 6 days a week, a lot of the time I do more than 4 miles on the treadmill. I started in November and I started slowly and doing about an hour a day now I'm up to 2 hours a day. I have not hurt myself, I do take short little breaks in between miles. I've been sore but never injured. I do a lot of stretching after my workouts.
I think you should definitely take it slow since you were injured. Listen to your body and if something feels off, stop, take a break and see what's going on.
I think it depends, me personally I think more than 2 hours is a lot, BUT some people train for marathons and of course that takes more time to run so you'll be exercising for longer hours.
I agree to listen to your body- I know my half hour to 1 hour sessions is plenty for my body!
I also wonder about this sometimes. In November I developed a stress fracture in my foot that sounds similar to your tendinitis - the doctor said I had ill-fitting shoes, and I was running too much in them. (I still haven't replaced the shoes, bad bad fatmac!)
I think it's probably a good idea to take a day off here and there, or, if you absolutely don't want a rest day, have a cross training day so at least you're still exercising and being active, but not overstressing the same muscle groups and bones day after day after day.
My gym partner workouts out for hours on end each day...I prefer 1 hour to maybe 1.5 hours at the gym no more then that. She wants to get bulked up fast...I prefer to drop weight but do it slowly since this is a 2 year thing and I don't want to burn myself out.
I work out 6 days a week, usually, but I don't run every day. I would if I could, but it bothers my knees, so every other day works out fine. On the "off running" days I do some other sort of cardio.
Honestly, if I had the time I'd be in the gym for 3 hours each day, but I don't. I enjoy working out, I don't do it because I'm trying to burn off every calorie that I eat - I just feel awesome after exercise.
When its warmer out I'm usually outside doing some form of exercise on the weekends, I just make sure that I listen to my body, hydrate, and eat enough.
I think if you're doing the exercising for the right reasons... not to lose weight or anything.. then you're fine. It's a hobby to you and you're doing it because you enjoy it.
As long as you are maintaining proper form and using the correct gear then you should be fine. But as soon as you start to compromise either of those you could see injury. So I say run as much as you would like
I recently read somewhere online that your muscles (on average) generally store enough energy for a workout up to about an hour and a half long. So if you exercise longer than that, that's when it would be important to have something to keep your energy up like sports drinks or things like that. Although I can't stand sports drinks myself. I keep my workouts to around 1.5 hours or so, but there's also a fair amount of down time between activities as I move around the gym so my body gets a bit of a break. I started with exercising about 3 - 4 days a week, then found out that I was actually feeling less pain from my joint problems while exercising when I didn't take whole days off for rest, so I've been trying to go to the gym or do a little bit of exercise every day since. Of course, I have to be smart about the exercises I do to accommodate the joint issues, but overall they do seem to do better moving.
I think if you're doing the exercising for the right reasons... not to lose weight or anything.. then you're fine. It's a hobby to you and you're doing it because you enjoy it.
Oh I definitely exercise to lose weight! I couldn't have lost weight without it, honestly. Sure, it feels good and sometimes it's still a chore, but I know that it's one of the factors in maintaining my weightloss. It plays a pretty vital role, though it varies for everyone.
I think you are within reason to run as many days as is comfortable to you, but since you've had issues with injury I would just be particularly mindful of listening to your body. I have knee issues and also love to run, but once it acts up I switch to the elliptical for a couple of days or rest. The other side of the coin is that the more consistent I am with exercising, the less issues I have.
fatmac Get new shoes!!! It might be expensive, but it's worth not becoming injured. I've heard the general rule of replacing your running shoes every 300-500 miles.
misstraveller Yeah I <3 Couch to 5k. I've done that before, that's what I'm using now.
I have the type of personality to become obsessive about stuff. I just think I overdid it before/didn't have the right gear. I'm going to have to watch for signs of the tendinitis and cut back/switch exercises if it creeps up again.
absolutly the first time i started to lose weight i hadn't done anything but sit on the couch for 3 years then i thought i was going to run a mile hahahaha and i tore a tendon in my knee from over doing it so now im taking it easier!
How much exercise is too much exercise
