Safe to train (lightly) every day?

sobriquet

Just wondering what people think of training say every lunchtime at work?

I'm not talking serious workouts, just say 15-30mins on the treadmill/bike/rower/stepper etc (as appropriate), some flexibility exercises, maybe the odd bit of weights?

I'd be under the impression that this is OK, so long as it wasn't the same thing every day, but at the same time I don't want to start doing it and be at greater risk of injury.

g'em

muscle builds during rest periods. ideally you would leave a day between each weight training session, but this applies more if you lift heavily (what's the point in doing any other kind ). Technically you shouldn't work the same muscle group on consecutive days so if you split it into legs/ chest/ back/ shoulders, biceps & triceps all on different days thats ok.

cardio is fine for most days, but do try and give yourself a couple of days rest a week. you may be more prone to injury if you workout every day, but a lot of injuries are caused by bad technique as much as anything else. having said that, if you keep it relatively light and use your head there shouldn't be too much of a problem.

joc_06

g'em wrote:

muscle builds during rest periods. ideally you would leave a day between each weight training session, but this applies more if you lift heavily (what's the point in doing any other kind ). Technically you shouldn't work the same muscle group on consecutive days so if you split it into legs/ chest/ back/ shoulders, biceps & triceps all on different days thats ok.

cardio is fine for most days, but do try and give yourself a couple of days rest a week. you may be more prone to injury if you workout every day, but a lot of injuries are caused by bad technique as much as anything else. having said that, if you keep it relatively light and use your head there shouldn't be too much of a problem.

be carfeul with that advice about splitting up muscle groups.
Bbers do this. Not athletes. Well not any athlete that knows what hes doing anyway

also lifting @ max all the time will lead to overtraining, injury or just minimal results. your body needs different stimulus so a westside approach suits a lot of ppl. 1 day max effort @ 95% or above, another speed day where the weight is lighter.
again i dont particularly like this approach as its more of a powerlifter type thing. Not suited for sprinters say as the hypertrophy would kill your speed.

Im fairly sure in your case sobriquet training every day is perfectly safe. I wouldnt imagine your going to be taxing yourself too much

sobriquet

joc_06 wrote:

Im fairly sure in your case sobriquet training every day is perfectly safe. I wouldnt imagine your going to be taxing yourself too much

Aye, I've no intention of doing any proper lifting, mostly light cardio type work.

Thanks for the advice.

PJG

sobriquet wrote:

Just wondering what people think of training say every lunchtime at work?

I'm not talking serious workouts, just say 15-30mins on the treadmill/bike/rower/stepper etc (as appropriate), some flexibility exercises, maybe the odd bit of weights?

I'd be under the impression that this is OK, so long as it wasn't the same thing every day, but at the same time I don't want to start doing it and be at greater risk of injury.

I think what your doing is fine.

One think I’m interested in asking you, are you more productive in work after your workout?

g'em

joc_06 wrote:

be carfeul with that advice about splitting up muscle groups.
Bbers do this. Not athletes. Well not any athlete that knows what hes doing anyway

fair enough- splitting groups is something I've always been advised, but then I'm a lifter, and not an athlete (which I presume you mean is someone doing cardio-based sports).

ooh.. i've gone all embarassed now, I don't like being wrong

joc_06

Well the basic idea is unless you have a specific injury or weakness an athlete would never *isolate* a muscle group.
I mean it doesnt make sense to do strict bicep curls or whatever. There's no carry over to a sports field.
Being honest, powerlifters or OL lifters wouldnt do much isolation work either.

Bodybuilders would be the only type to get a benefit from isolation exercises.

Imo an athlete should do practically every exercise while standing and all exercises should be compound. I even mean ditch bench press. It stimulates lots of motor cells but it has little carry over to any sport.

Things like OL's, squats, deadlifts, push press, medball ball throws, pull ups, rows. Outside of those 6 or 7 exercises there should be no need for anything else for an athlete.

I mean very little has changed in the strength and conditioning world in the last 30 yrs. The same exercises that made the USSR athletes the best back then are still the exercises that will produce the best athletes today. HIT, Isometric, nautilus machines etc they all come and go every few yrs on the back of a big marketing push by some company but the squat, deadlift and press will always be the best strength builders.
In fact id go so far as to say if you just did those 3 exercises or their variants followed by a similiar plyometric movement you would be as well prepared as its possible to be from a weightroom. Even OL's arent strictly necessary.

sobriquet

PJG wrote:

One think I’m interested in asking you, are you more productive in work after your workout?

I think so, yes, in the sense of taking a break and working things out in my head. I'm writing a thesis, along with writing code, so there's something about getting sweaty that puts things into focus and makes clear what needs to be done. I'm not sure that there's a specific energy boost though.

I've found this to be true in training generally. It's amazing the solutions I've come up with while mountain biking or suchlike... All ideas need to gestate, but there seems to be something about physical activity that focus that mind and draws them out.

The main reason I'm doing this is that I've developed some fairly bad back trouble, and the sole cause seems to be sitting at a desk all day. So getting some stretching and exercises is great for relieving the tension and ache that would otherwise set in at about 3pm.

PJG

Thanks sobriquet,

I asked because in my last job a few years ago I used to train in the mornings before work. Gym was across the road from work so I'd hit the gym for 7am and be in work for 9. Usually I'd get more work done in the first 3 hours in the mornings after training that I would get done in a whole non gym day. Probably all the extra oxygen and endorphins circulating in the blood stream.

The only downside to this was I found I’d be starving for the day no matter how much I ate and after lunch I’d be knackered.

If you’ve a back problem’s Pilates is excellent and fitness ball workouts are great for creating and strengthening core stability.

BossArky

sobriquet wrote:

The main reason I'm doing this is that I've developed some fairly bad back trouble, and the sole cause seems to be sitting at a desk all day. So getting some stretching and exercises is great for relieving the tension and ache that would otherwise set in at about 3pm.

Try doing some back bridges for your back pain.

BossArky

PJG wrote:

I asked because in my last job a few years ago I used to train in the mornings before work. Gym was across the road from work so I'd hit the gym for 7am and be in work for 9. Usually I'd get more work done in the first 3 hours in the mornings after training that I would get done in a whole non gym day. Probably all the extra oxygen and endorphins circulating in the blood stream.

The only downside to this was I found I’d be starving for the day no matter how much I ate and after lunch I’d be knackered.

In my last job I used to cycle 35km to the office each morning, usually racing one or two other fellows. We'd feel great until lunch, then legs turned to iron and heads hit the keyboard. Would eate loads all day too. Great fun tho!

daveirl

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