How much exercise? Couch potato vs marathon runner? Middle ground?

[Knowledge]

The topic of this thread was meant to be a bit controversial to catch your attention. I wanted to share this very interesting TED talk by a Cardiologist about exercising and over-exercising and the effects on our hearts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6U728AZnV0

Kind of interesting!

[TandemWalker]

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@Knowledge wrote:

The topic of this thread was meant to be a bit controversial to catch your attention. I wanted to share this very interesting TED talk by a Cardiologist about exercising and over-exercising and the effects on our hearts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6U728AZnV0

Kind of interesting!

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Very interesting indeed. Thank you for sharing.

Without any medical expertise to lean on, I think that his take on this is spot-on. Yes, everything in moderation is not a new concept; but people, for one reason or another, tend to go to extremes. Too much or too little of a good thing each carry their specific set of consequences.

A balanced approach to eating and exercise, tweaked to one's occupation and the imperatives of day-to-day life, is the best approach. 

    TW     

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[kelfran]

Thank you for the video @Knowledge. I've long agreed with the ideal of moderation in all things. Now, how you define moderation is a different story and I define it as a whole box of thin mints in one sitting (2 would be excessive ). LOL

Seriously though, I think it is really easy to overdo exercise, especially when one is trying to lose weight. I can usually tell when I've overdone it because I feel run down instead of energetic for the rest of the day and the next. More and harder is not necessarily better, especially if you workout so hard that you cannot brush your own hair for 2 days (true story).

[Heybales]

Very true, some of those studies that have been out are interesting about the negative effects of extended exercise, even when it's not intense.

But for some, they claim they have no middle ground, and I think we've all seen people like that on all sorts of aspects of life, they are on/off switches, not dimmers. So for them, the on is better than the off.

But even without going to the extent he is talking about, many do think that any workout is only beneficial if done as hard as possible, or least feels that it was done as hard as possible.

And combine that with trying to do the workouts everyday, just leads to nothing but mediocre workouts not doing nearly as much as a wise schedule could provide.

They totally don't understand the concept that the changes to the body don't happen during the workout, but during the rest. Or in their mind, the workout is still about weight loss only, so the fact it ends up just spinning their wheels and only burning calories as a side effect doesn't bother them yet.

[Willpower]

I have fallen into the category of over exercising !  I'm a new fitbit user (1/7/2015).  I was totally absorbed with my dashboard statistics !  I always met my daily minimum goals and on most days far exceeded them. In addition, I was lifting weights 3 times a week.  After 9 weeks of doing this my body revolted !  I was finding myself getting up in the middle of the night and eating carbs (bread, cereal)-even though I always ate my allotment of calories every day. I would wake up in the morning with a "food hangover" and feel slugish all day.  My workouts were mediocre and felt like I was just "putting in time" !  I have cut "way back" the last 2 weeks and take a full day off with the exception of walking Suzy and Libby (my dog and cat).  The midnight eating has gone away and I feel much more energized.  A big problem with me is that I am 62 yrs. old but in my mind I'm 25.  Also, I'm recently retired and filled my "extra" time with 2-3 hours of exercise daily.  Suzy and Libby are very happy that I'm spending more time with them !

[TandemWalker]

Thank you for your post @Willpower , because it simply confirms the information I found after surfing the web to find answers to "Am I doing too much?" What you have described here fits right in with what I've read. Thankfully, you reacted in a timely manner and manage to initiate the changes necessary to better calibrate your exercise regimen. The lingering danger for those who do not recognize those early signals is depression, insomnia, and the list goes on and on.

For me, so far I am OK, but I am vigilant and make doubly sure to take a day off once a week; or to ease off if I don't feel as energetic as usual one morning, because of a little to ambitious workout the previous day.

I am 66 years' old. I try to vary my exercise regimen as much as possible, incorporating an interval scheme whenever practical to do so. I do weights, resistance bands, rowing, cycling, swimming, boxing (kickboxing cardio, free standing bag), cardio workouts, walk/jog interval workouts; and (in season of course) snowshoeing and cross-country skiiing. I try to avoid doing the same exercise two days in a row. If I do weights or resitance bands training two days in a row, each session will target a different muscle group. I also try to keep my diet balanced with my energy needs, both in terms of the make-up of my diet  but also the timing of my meals relation to my workouts.

Thank you for you insights.

    TW