Is exercising 6 days a week too much?

[senetenari]

Male

36 years

Weight 110kg (down from 117kg at the start)

I have been going up a small mountain 6 times a week for the last 2 and half weeks. 

Mountain is only 450m climb and about 7km trail for trail 1 and 3.9km for trail two which is the steeper one. I alternnate between the two. Time is normally between 1hr to 1hr 30 mins. 

I have lost about 5 pounds since and I feel a lot better including my joints. Also I feel a lot fitter now than before. 

Is this too much and am I causing damage that I don't  know about?. 

[A_Lurker · Accepted solution]

@senetenari - if you feel good I wouldn't worry about it.  Sounds like you're already taking a rest day, so as long as you aren't in any pain I'd say continue on.  The concern would be that if you are continually pushing through pain then rest a little more often.  I do small amounts of cardio exercise each day (increasing) but I rest between weight lifting sessions. 

[USAF-Larry]

You don't say whether you are walking or running, or a combination, @senetenari. But, it is not likely you are doing too much exercise if you are not feeling pain. Before I had my back surgery, the doctor said he wanted me to walk 3 to 5 miles a day (5 to 8 KM) for 2 months to build my fitness level prior to the surgery. After a short time, I found that walking 5 miles a day was easy, and did it 7 days a week until the day of surgery. After I recovered from the surgery, the doctor told me he wanted me to continue walking, and increase distance as much as possible - his exact words were, "You can't walk too much, and you can't climb too many stairs to speed the healing process."  I still walk as much as I can, usually 5 to 7 miles a day.

[senetenari]

Yes no pain. As a matter of fact I use to feel muscle pain before but now not anymore. I have notice big improvement in my fittness in that I use to stop 3-4 times but now I just rest once at the top.

I also spend at least 10 mins streaching and almost always 12 mins to warm down after. 

Thanks

[senetenari]

Just walking up and walking down as well. I am still heavy so I am very careful about my knees and ankles especially on my way down.

Yes don't feel any joint or muscle pain as I also warm up and warm down after for at least 10 mins each.

I just read online how it is bad to exericse daily but I wanted to know for actual people.

Thanks 

[shipo]

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@senetenari wrote:

Male

36 years

Weight 110kg (down from 117kg at the start)

I have been going up a small mountain 6 times a week for the last 2 and half weeks. 

Mountain is only 450m climb and about 7km trail for trail 1 and 3.9km for trail two which is the steeper one. I alternnate between the two. Time is normally between 1hr to 1hr 30 mins. 

I have lost about 5 pounds since and I feel a lot better including my joints. Also I feel a lot fitter now than before. 

Is this too much and am I causing damage that I don't  know about?. 

---

Nope, not too much at all.  Many folks, myself included work out almost every day; sometimes I go nearly a month without a rest day.  The good news is your body will tell you when it needs a rest.  🙂

[Ukase]

The truth is it all depends. Stretching before and after is wise. A warm-up and cool down probably save you a lot of stiffness the next morning, particularly if you're an older person like me. 

Are you doing too much? How much sleep are you getting? What foods are you eating? 

Whether an exercise program is too much depends on what you're eating and how much rest you're getting - and to a degree, what you're doing when you're not exercising. 

Sounds to me like you're doing fine. Get yourself a weighted vest and get that heart rate up. 

[shipo]

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@Ukase wrote:

The truth is it all depends. Stretching before and after is wise. A warm-up and cool down probably save you a lot of stiffness the next morning, particularly if you're an older person like me. 

Are you doing too much? How much sleep are you getting? What foods are you eating? 

Whether an exercise program is too much depends on what you're eating and how much rest you're getting - and to a degree, what you're doing when you're not exercising. 

Sounds to me like you're doing fine. Get yourself a weighted vest and get that heart rate up. 

---

A few comments:

• Stretching before a workout has been proven to be counter productive and is now very much out of vogue.
• Regarding being old(er); as I've aged I don't sense I'm any more or less sore or stiff after a hard workout than I was forty or fifty years ago.

[josephz2va]

Nah. Most people workout all 7 days despite the 'rest day' on some programs. I do my best to workout all 7 nights on Fitstar's 30 minute Get Lean program. If I take off one day, it's suddenly taking off a week. But like most programs state on the disclaimer, talk to your doctor if you experience major discomfort and halt the program.

[brerbill]

From @shipo: "Nope, not too much at all. Many folks, myself included work out almost every day; sometimes I go nearly a month without a rest day. The good news is your body will tell you when it needs a rest."

This is very true. I'm 70 and run every day most weeks, because I feel my best when I exercise each day, although I vary the amount of time I exercise each day anywhere from about 40 minutes to over 2 hours. The longest I've gone recently without a rest or off day from exercising is 72 days, but it wasn't planned. I don't "streak" or try to improve on that. Sometimes my body tells me to rest, sometimes life gets in the way, and other responsibilities take precedence. 

[shipo]

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@brerbill wrote:

From @shipo: "Nope, not too much at all. Many folks, myself included work out almost every day; sometimes I go nearly a month without a rest day. The good news is your body will tell you when it needs a rest."

This is very true. I'm 70 and run every day most weeks, because I feel my best when I exercise each day, although I vary the amount of time I exercise each day anywhere from about 40 minutes to over 2 hours. The longest I've gone recently without a rest or off day from exercising is 72 days, but it wasn't planned. I don't "streak" or try to improve on that. Sometimes my body tells me to rest, sometimes life gets in the way, and other responsibilities take precedence. 

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Awesome; don't think I've ever gone 72 consecutive days with a run; life, work, kids, travel, stuff..., they all seem to conspire to cause me to miss days every now and again.  🙂

[DanielleinDC]

I try to get 30 minutes of exercise, even if it's just walking, every day and feel bad if I don't. It's why I do this aerobic walk in the mornings--to help kickstart my day.

[bcalvanese]

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@shipo wrote:

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@Ukase wrote:

The truth is it all depends. Stretching before and after is wise. A warm-up and cool down probably save you a lot of stiffness the next morning, particularly if you're an older person like me. 

Are you doing too much? How much sleep are you getting? What foods are you eating? 

Whether an exercise program is too much depends on what you're eating and how much rest you're getting - and to a degree, what you're doing when you're not exercising. 

Sounds to me like you're doing fine. Get yourself a weighted vest and get that heart rate up. 

---

A few comments:

• Stretching before a workout has been proven to be counter productive and is now very much out of vogue.
• Regarding being old(er); as I've aged I don't sense I'm any more or less sore or stiff after a hard workout than I was forty or fifty years ago.

---

The best time to stretch is after the workout while the muscles are still warm to work on flexability.

Before the workout you just need to loosten up and get the heart rate up slightly.

[bcalvanese]

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@senetenari wrote:

Male

36 years

Weight 110kg (down from 117kg at the start)

I have been going up a small mountain 6 times a week for the last 2 and half weeks. 

Mountain is only 450m climb and about 7km trail for trail 1 and 3.9km for trail two which is the steeper one. I alternnate between the two. Time is normally between 1hr to 1hr 30 mins. 

I have lost about 5 pounds since and I feel a lot better including my joints. Also I feel a lot fitter now than before. 

Is this too much and am I causing damage that I don't  know about?. 

---

I power walk 7 days a week, and go for months without taking a day off. I do recovery walks in between the intense walks though.

I have a hard time keeping my heart rate in the cardio zone now just from walking so I added jog intervals to my intense walks, and just power walks for the recovery walks. I know my fitness is improving because my power walks usesd to be the intense walks, and now the're the recovery walks.

[scubatim84]

I think the important thing is to just alternate what you're doing. I do a running program on Tues/Thurs/Sat and my 8fit workout program on Mon/Weds/Fri.

+1 to stretching not being beneficial to reducing injury...I looked that up awhile ago and was shocked to find out it doesn't do much. I need to remember to stretch after my workouts / runs though...I'm bad about remembering. The most important thing is to just do a warm up walk or something before you start.

[AuroraKat]

I exercise six days a week with one rest day. On this rest day, I still exercise, just less intensely - in my case, this includes walking and physical therapy. I do make a point to take a day off from intense activites to let my muscles recover. In my case, six times a week is not too much.

For me, the one day off is very important. I gain strength at a faster rate than if I don't take a day off. I used to exercise heavily seven days a week. During this time, I had to take a day off due to unforeseen circumstances. What I discovered is when I did my upper and lower body strength training the following week, I made bigger gains in strength than during the weeks when I didn't rest (I journal my strength routines very throughly). Additionally, I significantly improved one of the kicks (MMA) I've been struggling with. I was also able to reduce my ballistic kettlebell session by one minute (keeping reps and sets constant). Ever since then, I schedule my one rest day just like I do all my other activities. I tried resting two days a week and didn't see any further gains. I did get frustrated because fitting in everything I wanted to do in five days wasn't easy!

If you think you may benefit from an extra rest day, why not try it? Take one more day off and then see if your walks/runs/hikes improve afterwards. I assume you have statistical data from your past sessions via your Fitbit device or an alternate source.