So I just did a 2 hour cardio session

[Rorschach]

and burned 2000 calories...

 

I'd only eaten about 800 so far the day (although right now I'm enjoying a big bowl of home made clam chowder with fresh clams I caught yesterday), is that bad for me? To burn so many calories at once?

 

What does that do to me physcially, it's not like I do it everyday but maybe once a week I have a cardio day, though this was the hardest one.

[alphamale]

, is that bad for me? To burn so many calories at once?

only if you pass out

[Rorschach]

only if you pass out

 

My feet hurt. Other than that I'm getting up tomorrow and putting in my usual 90 minute workout.

[RobM]

Make sure your alternate hard days with easy days, when I'm training on my bike one day might be hard intervals and the next day a long slow easy recovery ride.

[tman666]

I think that as you progress, you'll find sessions like you did to be unproductive in your training due to the recovery time needed.

 

However, it's also fun sometimes to test out your abilities. I remember back in high school my buddy and I decided to just go for a run in the middle of the day during the summer (which gets to about 105 deg. where I live). We ended up running for about 8 miles. Though this doesn't sound like much to some people, it was the farthest that either of us had ever run at the time, and it was hotter than the hinges of hell out. Did it serve any physical purpose? Definitely not. I think that it did give me a confidence boost though, and was one of the first times that I'd had to really "buckle down" to get it done.

[Rorschach]

I think that as you progress, you'll find sessions like you did to be unproductive in your training due to the recovery time needed.

 

However, it's also fun sometimes to test out your abilities. I remember back in high school my buddy and I decided to just go for a run in the middle of the day during the summer (which gets to about 105 deg. where I live). We ended up running for about 8 miles. Though this doesn't sound like much to some people, it was the farthest that either of us had ever run at the time, and it was hotter than the hinges of hell out. Did it serve any physical purpose? Definitely not. I think that it did give me a confidence boost though, and was one of the first times that I'd had to really "buckle down" to get it done.

 

What if I don't take time off? I just got home from an hour and a half work out (a full hour of weights today, all abs/back/chest, did squats and dead lift and pull ups and a bunch of exercises I normally skip).

 

It was tough sure but not so hard as to put me off my workout schedule.

[tman666]

For now, I would train as hard as you can, as often as you can. If your joints start to hurt or feel loose, or your muscles get extremely sore, you're probably not getting enough rest.

 

I always program rest days and deload days into my training schedule. Rest is equally as important as your training. With training, you're breaking down the body. Rest allows your body to recover, and it usually comes back stronger as long as your nutrition and stress levels are in check. I suggest that you consider rest days as part of your training.

 

However, in order to gauge your work capacity, you might want to work out as frequently and as hard as you can for a while. This mild overtraining will not only teach you about your body, but it will build mental discipline too. Don't make it your permanent training style though. I'm just talking 2 or 3 weeks or until you start really dragging ass or hurting. Then, take a week off and then start again, but with more rest days.

 

Another tool for autoregulation is what the Soviet weightlifters did/do in their training. You basically rate how your feeling on a scale of 1 to 3, three being the best, one being the worst. Rate how you slept last night, how you've been eating, how fatigued your muscles are, how stressed you are that day, etc.

 

This method works well if you have a very open schedule. If you don't feel like training that day, take a rest day or go lighter/less volume. If you're feeling like you're going to hulk out, take advantage of it.

 

Since my schedule is very tight, I tend to schedule in my rest days. Either way, rest is extremely important to making forward progress with any physical pursuit.

[Rorschach]

When I start to feel tired, rest. got it. Honestly I probably go about 4 days before I hit the same muscle group again, I don't see why 4 days of rest (for my arms, while my legs/back/abs all get worked) isn't enough. Or maybe it is? I don't know what most people's work out regimen looks like.