I have a follow-up question to my over training. Since my body is used to working out so much how does it adjust when I start a more normal routine? By this I mean if my body was in a constant state of over training how does it know when to slow down. I have cutback on my workouts and even take a rest day. How should I adjust my caloric intake to offset my body adjusting? My goal is to loose about 10lbs.

thanks,
Jenny

To read Jenny’s first Q and A she is referring to, head to Q and A: Over Doing It

your body IS slowed- you dont want it to slow down, you want it to speed back up. over trained means it stopped working on you to protect itself, so even if you force it to workout, you arent going to get any of the benefits from it because it has slowed and stopped all of your body processes.

when it is able to rest- ie. not made to work out, it will start to trust you again, and start your body processes back up (burning calories, building muscle, etc.) Your bodies job is not to die, so if you make it work too hard, it thinks you re trying to kill it, and will do everything in its power not to let you. So it holds on to calories to preserve the energy (fat, calories) you are so desperately trying to burn off it.

Id keep your calories the same, because once your body kicks back in, its going to need them (you arent burning as many calories when you are over training, but when your body starts to work again, it will need those calories because it will be burning them) so you might lose weight by eating the same. If you find you arent, then I would lower them slightly, because you may be working out at such a high intensity/frequency, that even your slowed state is burning a lot of calories.

That was confusing.

Leave your calories alone, because you will need them when your body kicks in, but if you dont notice loss, I would re-do The Harris Benedict Formula and then figure out how many you need for your activity level. It takes a bit for your body to respond to rest, but not too long, so you should be able to do the equation and have it be accurate, because your body will be responding fully to the level of exercise you are doing.

-Amy Hansen

Amy- there are a few things to consider:

1) The Harris Benedict formula is to figure out how many calories you need to maintain your weight. In order to safely lose weight (about 1 pound a week) you want to subtract about 500 calories from that (500 calories equals 3,500 over a week: 3,500 calories are in a pound, so viola!) so in order to lose, you should be eating around 1,800-2,00 calories a day. Bleh, math.

2) 1,200- 1,500 is way too low. You aren’t going to drop weight if you don’t eat enough- which makes all that exercise you are doing a waste. I say it over and over, but if your body is starving, not matter how much you make it work, it isn’t going to burn calories, so you definately shouldnt be anywhere under 1,600, especially for the weight you are at.

3) Your body only needs a day in between to heal from strength training so you can split your strength training up a number of different ways. You can do full body each time, you can alternate upper and lower (which means one week you will do upper twice and one week you will do lower twice) or you can split it into random muscle groups, or you can do full body one day, then abs and core the next- it really doesnt matter. As long as you give your muscles one day of rest in between workouts (at least) you’ll be fine. Remember: We give our bodies too much credit. Weeks are a man-made thing, your body doesnt think in terms of weeks, so dont worry so much about being even. However, 2 times a week isnt bad, so don;t fret too much

4) Some good sites to check out for exercises are: Youtube.com (just type in the body part you want to work) PTontheNet.com (you have to search a bit for free stuff, but if you sign up for a membership- that’s what my work uses when we aren’t feeling creative), Workoutz.com. There are a million. Just search free workout videos and you’ll find anything you could ever want.

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Thanks,
Tara

I get questions about how to do cardio without being able to use your legs a lot. Broken toe, strained knees, pulled muscles, surgeries: tons of things can keep you from using your legs, which is a scary thing when you are so used to your cardio, or trying to lose weight.

The bigger the muscles you use, the your more heart rate is going to rise. Since your legs contain the biggest muscles (quads, hamstrings, glutes) running, walking, biking and ellipticalling are usually the cardio of choice.

When you can’t use your legs, there are still some options to get your heart rate up.

Swimming is always easiest, but still requires your legs, so this works for some people, but not all, (like Tara.) Another drawback is you don’t always have access to a pool.

There is one machine that is awesome to get your heart rate up and only uses your arms. They go by different names: crank bike, arm bike, Upper Body Ergometer, but they are like exercise bikes for your arms.

This one is the Sci-Fit Pro1 Sport from PerformBetter.com.

These used to just be in rehab centers, but you’ll find them more and more in regular gyms. When I went to 24 Hour Fitness, they had only one, and there was woman that used it all the time because she had a pretty severe limp.

Even if you can use your feet, you can get a great workout from this bike. Even though your arms contain smaller muscles than your legs, your arms are closer to your heart, causing your heart rate to rise to levels equivelent to that of regular cardio machines.

If you don’t have access to these, obviously Im not going to tell you to go by one. There are other great ways to get footless-cardio workouts in.

Boxing with a heavy bag, or just punching air, is a great way to get the heart rate up. You can do this standing or sitting in a chair depending on your injury. Rowing machines and ellipticals are low impact, but these aren’t advised for everyone, so ask your doctor if they are ok.

Strength training can also really get the heart rate up, if you use lower weights and high reps, and don’t rest for too long in between. If you can’t stand, you can perform all of your exercises sitting on a stability ball to take the pressure off of your lower body and to engage your core a bit while doing upper body exercises.

A lot of people think when they are hurt they have to cut back on their calories. Depending on your activity level, this isnt always the case. Daily runners may find it difficult to get the same calorie burning effects without it, but remember that your body is trying to heal and needs all the help you can get. Also, your metabolism isnt going to drop over night if you have to take a week or two off. You will probably find you are just as hungry, if not more, because your metabolism is still running as if you are still running.

For the average exerciser, it may be more neccessary to reduce your calories, but not by much. Use the Harris-Benedict formula to figure out how many calories you need based on your new activity level.

The best option, of course, is to just find different ways to train just as hard. You may find you actually lose weight because of your switch in activity. Changing your routine to something you never have done before is along the same lines as cross training which is one of the best ways to jump start your results and break through plateaus.

Just make sure the intensity level is the same. This is one situation you may want to use a heart rate monitor.

REMEMBER: injuries never mean you need to stop training, unless advised to. I get clients that come in a ll time upset because they are hurt and think they have to stall their results, but the truth is, with any situation, there are always ways to train around it.

But again, check with your doctor to make sure what you are planning to do is ok for your situation. Aggrevating your injury can lay you up for even longer.

Good luck!

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

 
The rest of this week is going to be a true test of fitting in exercise on a busy schedule. Tonight, I should be able to make it to the gym no problem even though I have to go grocery shopping. Tomorrow I have to run to my parents to say good bye before my trip, have dinner with them, pick up a suitcase, get snacks for the plane/rest of the trip, do laundry, and pack. Thursday, I have to work until 6:45 because I am way too nice and said I would cover a shift, have to be at the airport around 8, and my flight is at 10:25. yes, PM. Its and overnight flight with a 3 hour lay over in North Carolina, so I can take some laps around the airport if I can stay awake. I arrive Friday morning, am hopping straight in a car with my sister to head to Reading, PA to see the concert. We are staying in hotel, which will hopefully have a gym but I dont even know if we will stay there long enough to use it.  Then drive 2 hours back to my sisters, and hang out with my neice and nephew. Then Sunday morning its back on a plane. The pedometer will definately be a long for the trip to make sure I get enough steps in, because Im thinking a formal workout just isnt going to happen.