Is training everyday too much?

[alphacat]

Hey,

Every day I have a 1:30 hour workout – 1 hour for the main part (Muay Thai, weight lifting, cardio) and 30 minutes for stretches.

Each week comprises 2 Muay Thai trainings, 3 weight lifting sessions, and 2 cardio workouts, and it goes like this:
MT, weights, MT, weights, cardio, weights, cardio.
Monday and Wednesday are fixed for MT, since that’s my gym's schedule.

I wanted to ask for your opinion about it.
Is it too much?

Thanks guys.

[Dirty Dog]

If training every day is too much, there are a lot of us who are in trouble...
I do semi-random combinations of forms, cardio, weight training, sparring, and bag work at home, plus 2-3 hours 3 days a week at the dojang.

[Akira]

Depends if you want to be any good or not.

[alphacat]

It has probably got a lot to do with your goals.

I was more interested in knowing whether the human body can handle such workout schedule in the long run.

My main goal is to be able to workout and take Muay Thai lessons until I'm too old for this, hopefully I'll still have the passion for it.
I mean, I don’t want my body worn out at my 30s (I'm 22yo).

I see how much I enjoy it right now, and I wanna keep being able to enjoy it 20 years from now.

[Ken Morgan]

Depends, how much are you eating and how much sleep do you get.

[xJOHNx]

Listen to your body.

Getting a day of rest in between would be better in my opinion. Because muscles take generally 48 hours to recover from serious weight training (the burn you feel afterwards) are micro trauma. Which some physiologists think is necessary to make your muscles grow. So a day of recovery could possibly spare you some minor injuries.

Most people with serious injuries (thinking of ruptured achillestendon) have mutilple small injuries who gradually become more serious. They just don't listen to the signals. (except ofcourse people who are in serious accidents, than wear and tear isn't the initial cause).

If you don't train weights that hard, you should be fine though. But doing weights and MT every day is a bit overkill. Not the first 8 months, but afterwards maybe. But you should really go on your own feelings on this.

[alphacat]

Yes, you're correct.
Eating right and getting as many hours of sleep as possible are very important for the recovery of the body.

I usually sleep about 6-7 hours a day.

[alphacat]

Listen to your body.

Getting a day of rest in between would be better in my opinion. Because muscles take generally 48 hours to recover from serious weight training (the burn you feel afterwards) are micro trauma. Which some physiologists think is necessary to make your muscles grow. So a day of recovery could possibly spare you some minor injuries.

Most people with serious injuries (thinking of ruptured achillestendon) have mutilple small injuries who gradually become more serious. They just don't listen to the signals. (except ofcourse people who are in serious accidents, than wear and tear isn't the initial cause).

If you don't train weights that hard, you should be fine though. But doing weights and MT every day is a bit overkill. Not the first 8 months, but afterwards maybe. But you should really go on your own feelings on this.
You've raised up good points.

I'll think about it and perhaps won't have a weight lifting session a day before MT training, or just lower down the intensity of that weight lifting workout which is followed by the MT training.

Thank you.

[xJOHNx]

No problem, it's all about finding balance :)

[Bill Mattocks]

I wanted to ask for your opinion about it.
Is it too much?

It would be too much for me, but I don't know if it would be too much for you. I'm 48, and my body takes longer to heal after a hard workout, and injuries heal more slowly, too. I go to the gym 2x - 3x a week, and do the dojo the other 2x a week, but I take the weekends off training. So I work out either 4 or 5 days a week, but not as hard as you're describing. I usually run 3 miles on the treadmill, sometimes do some light weight-lifting, and when I'm in the dojo we always start with some good calisthenics. That's pretty light compared to what you're describing, but any more and my body never stops hurting.

NOTE: When I was in USMC boot camp, a million years ago, we worked out very very hard for 13 straight weeks every single day. I noticed my biggest jump in capability the day after we had a one-week 'mess week' when we just handed out food to other recruits for a week. It was that layoff from all the running, situps, pullups, etc, that gave my body time to recover. I went from like 13 pullups to over 20 in that one week. Just FYI.

[Ken Morgan]

I would make sure to take at least one day off a week from everything. Do nothing physical at all. Eat extra and sleep extra. Growth only occurs during rest periods, as Bill points out with his example. I've trained every day for weeks on end, because i could, I had to force myself to stop and take rest days. Look at the gyms, the biggest guys are not the ones who work or train the hardest, they are the one's who train, the smartest.

[suicide]

summer is almost over hit the beach :)

[Bruno@MT]

Listen to your body. If you train smart, you should be able to handle it.
Alternate different training regimens on different days, change focus (legs, arms, stamina) etc every day and if your body complains, listen to it.

Bas Rutten mentioned in an interview that he would never fight again, because he had simply trained his body into destruction by training hard but stupid.

[Deaf Smith]

It can be alphacat.

You can get so sore and tired that the next day you can't put 100 percent of yourself into training.

I find working out 4 days a week the most efficient for me. And different days, different kinds of workouts.

Deaf

[Josh Oakley]

I would encourage taking a one day off a week. It helps things rebuild better.

[Zero]

Around (and within) a long working day I put in as much training as I can.
I go for a 35-45 minute run 4 times a week in the morning before showering up for the office.
I eat while working so come lunch I can devote the hour to weight training, which I do 6 times a week:
Mon - Legs (squats, calf raises, romanian deadlifts for hammies, leg press, seated calf raised)
Tues - Chest (benchpress, incline flies, decline bench, cable crossovers)
Weds - Shoulders (military dumbells, seated bar, standing bar (behind head), side raises, cable work and light weights for rotator cuff)
Thrs - Biceps (standing eazibar, seated preacher curls - dumbells, standing curls - dumbells or cables, brachial side raises)
Fri - Back (deadlifts, upright rows, seated flies, cable pulldowns (and chuck in dumbell bench press for good measure just so the chest gets it again)
Sat - Triceps (Skull crushers, cable pulldown: unilateral and then bilateral; overhead, kick-backs)

I lift heavy and it is pretty much a serious weight lifters regime. I try to avoid legs anywhere near Weds and Fri, as those nights I do stand-up fight training. Sunday I do mma and ground work. Aside from the mma 1.5 hours, I take Sunday off.

I also have a heavy bag in the garage and work my punches and kicks as much as I can in my own time.

I use a lot of supplements though, lots of protein, aminos and creatine, also minerals/vits, on top of a lot of meals. And you're right on the sleep, I try for 7 - 8 hours.

Leading up to a fight, I avoid serious weights for the two weeks leading in (and no weights for the week before) to avoid injuries or over fatiguing. I switch focus purely to skills/techniques and mental preparation. I also take it easy and do "cruisy" runs to keep cardio up but avoid any risk of injury or fatigue.

As others have said, depends what you're training for. When I used to compete regularly and seriously I trained even more, with more sessions at the fight club and more focus on cardio/endurance. I've been doing MA and fighting for twenty years and as long as you train smart to avoid serious injury you should be fine.

[alphacat]

Zero,

I'm really amazed by the great effort you put.
Its like you're driven by something beyond me.

You sound like a mixture of a bodybuilder and a fighter.

I find it really hard to have martial art training up to 24 hours after lifting weights.
Every time I throw jab or cross, I feel this painful tension where the arm connects the forearm.
I'm really surprised and amazed to hear that you're able to fight after lifting weights earlier that day.

It is incredible how good nutrition and much sleep help you out enduring all these intense trainings.

I'm thinking to myself, what advices could I get from you in order to be able to work out hard and avoid injuries but it seems like my body reacts totally different than how yours reacts to intense and frequent workouts.

[KELLYG]

I think that a person's training pattern should be individual thing. I usually train to 5 times a week. Any more than that I am just going back wards. It also depends on the type of work out. If you are doing a medium type work out every day is OK. If you are going all out until your muscles reach exhaustion then more rest is required. I sometimes take a week off to just let every thing get better.

[ATC]

Each person is different. Some can train everyday others can't. Only you know how you feel and what is right for you.

However I do believe that you need to take a day or two every now and then to just rest and let your body recover some. It may take some time for you to use trial and error to find out just what is your bodies best methods for training and how often and what to do.

Remember everyone is different.

[kungfu penguin]

even god took a day off also make sure your are getting protein and good carbs and minerals into your body or all your hard work is for naught. PS i wish i could sleep like you my sleep patterns suck and they have for 30 + years get a days rest / week your body will thank you keep up the great intensity though

[BLACK LION]

IMHO you can train everyday in something relative without burning out but that really depends on what it is you are doing...

[Zero]

I find it really hard to have martial art training up to 24 hours after lifting weights.
Every time I throw jab or cross, I feel this painful tension where the arm connects the forearm.
I'm really surprised and amazed to hear that you're able to fight after lifting weights earlier that day.


You will see that I do have a large gap before my different forms of training. My run is first thing in the morning - so I am not sapped for lifting heavy weights come lunch (1pm). There is also then a decent gap after lifting before I go to train MA. It is also important to think your days through. On a leg work out day I do a low intensity run in the morning - even then I remember it took some time for my body/legs to be able to handle this, at first when I went to do squats after having run my legs already felt like lead - but not now.

As for your tension/tighness in your arm, make sure you warm up and strectch properly. Before a workout I always warm up the particular muscle group and work it thourhg the entire movement range, followed by some light stretching. Post workout I also stretch that muscle group out to avoid any muscle compacting, kinks or inflexibility. Why not stop doing a bicep/tricep workout before your fight/boxing training, do it on the next day if this still bothers you. Also be sure to warm up either before or at your muay thai class before you start throwing punches.




It is incredible how good nutrition and much sleep help you out enduring all these intense trainings.


Yes, given I have a mix of cardio, MA and weights training I go through a truck load of food and supplements a day. Depending on what your natural size is, what weight division you're fighting in and what your other goals are, maybe consider supplements. I take protein shakes throughout the day in between my regular meals, with creatine, glutamine and amino acids thrown in pre-work out. Depending on how serious I am I will also take ZMA and now and then tribullis terrestris. But if you are young and still growing take it easy and just go for the protein for now. Thoroughly research all the other supplements as they need to be taken wisely.

YOu don't need any of the supplements of course, bnut in my experience they do increase rates of muscular development and also importantly, recovery post training. Look at most athletes and professional sports people, they are definitely using supplements.





I'm thinking to myself, what advices could I get from you in order to be able to work out hard and avoid injuries but it seems like my body reacts totally different than how yours reacts to intense and frequent workouts.


As put above, timing your training correctly and staggering it with appropriate breaks through the day - not back-to-back, should help. Also, as you have said, the correct diet and adequate sleep is also essential so you don't burn out.

I'm sure if you're not geriatric (no offense to all the 80 year old 10th dans still doing side splits out there!) and of decent health you should be able to handle this. Look at the likes of George St Piere from UFC, Fedor from Pride, the late great Andy Hug from K1 and (most) boxers such as Evander. They split their days and train(ed) as a full time job (hey, I know it's tough for us already with full time jobs!!).

Also I have been training like this for a long time, and I can't remember but maybe I eased into things so if you're relatively new to training just take it easy and build up slowly.

[kingkong89]

Y not bruce lee trained every day as do most of us it makes you better at your style as well as keep u in shape i say there is no harm in what you are doin keep up the good work

[MJS]

Hey,

Every day I have a 1:30 hour workout – 1 hour for the main part (Muay Thai, weight lifting, cardio) and 30 minutes for stretches.

Each week comprises 2 Muay Thai trainings, 3 weight lifting sessions, and 2 cardio workouts, and it goes like this:
MT, weights, MT, weights, cardio, weights, cardio.
Monday and Wednesday are fixed for MT, since that’s my gym's schedule.

I wanted to ask for your opinion about it.
Is it too much?

Thanks guys.

I dont think its too much. Of course, depending on how hard you go each day, may take more of a toll on your body. IMO, its good to give at least 1-2 days of rest. Our body is an amazing machine, but if its over worked, you'll eventually feel the effects of it. Mix it up a bit. Those days that you're not feeling 100%, go a bit lighter with your workouts.

[TigerLove]

From person to person..also depends how do you train.

I train six time a week: 2 times hapkido classes, 2 times weight lifting, 1 time tai chi (or some other martial arts related training), 1 time jogging. I have no selected day for rest - i take it when i need it. But, i think a key to my training (maybe it's a placebo ;)) is the fact that once in 2 months i take 2 weeks of completely resting..that helps me very much.

[tallgeese]

As most have said, if you're body is responding well then it's not too much. I agree that eating well and sleeping good are two key components the heavy training regimens.

Make sure that you're allowing some sort of recovery, either by alternating what your training with, or your focus, or your intensity. There's nothing wrong with an "active rest day" now and again. Recovery is key to allowing improvement.

Lastly, with a heavy training cycle, don't be afraid to take a week off now and again. After a competition that I've been working for hard, I'll usually take a week off of anything beyond "active rest" just to give my body a break.

It can be refreshing and keep the burnout factor down.

[sfs982000]

I would make sure to take at least one day off a week from everything. Do nothing physical at all. Eat extra and sleep extra. Growth only occurs during rest periods, as Bill points out with his example. I've trained every day for weeks on end, because i could, I had to force myself to stop and take rest days. Look at the gyms, the biggest guys are not the ones who work or train the hardest, they are the one's who train, the smartest.

Excellent points. The keys things are balancing your workouts with your rest and diet. Taking time off for some maybe hard, but in the long run is the best thing for your body. Varying your workouts and changing things up routinely definitely helps out as well.