[quote]sma92878 wrote:
I have been working out pretty hard, about 2 hours a day 5 days a week. Cardio between 750 to 1500 calories and lifting hard 4 days a week. I know that I should have rest days, so I take Sat and Sun off, but I get so depressed these days. All week I fall right a sleep at night and I feel so happy after my work outs. On the weekends when I don’t work out I get so depressed. Saturday I’m just kind of lethargic, but Sunday are down right horrible. Today I’m almost in tiers wishing it was Monday so I can go to the gym.
My question is: Will doing a half hour or so of light cardio on my 2 off days hurt me that bad, or does my body really need 2 days of nothingness to repair?
Right now I’m trying to lose body fat, and muscle maintenance. Does any one else experience this off day depression, and if so what do you do?
Thanks[/quote]
I see no problem with training every day if it is done right, HOWEVER, I believe that depression on your days off is one of the TRUE signs of overtraining. Train 7 days a week but for 30-40 minutes.
I know that 1250 is not enough; I originally wasn’t training so hard. I just never up?ed my diet to match my work outs. I think I?m going to up my calories to between 1500 to 1750 calories. The only supplements I?m taking are protein and the new HOT-ROX Extreme (4 tabs a day as recommended). I am making gains in my lifting weights, and I never feel hungry. If I?m hungry I eat. The only time there is an acceptation to this is late at night if I happen to be up because I try not to eat after 7pm, 8pm at the latest.
[quote]sma92878 wrote:
I know that 1250 is not enough; I originally wasn’t training so hard. I just never up?ed my diet to match my work outs. I think I?m going to up my calories to between 1500 to 1750 calories. The only supplements I?m taking are protein and the new HOT-ROX Extreme (4 tabs a day as recommended). I am making gains in my lifting weights, and I never feel hungry. If I?m hungry I eat. The only time there is an acceptation to this is late at night if I happen to be up because I try not to eat after 7pm, 8pm at the latest.[/quote]
You’ve been given some good advice. I would like to add that perhaps you may want to give yoga a try on your off days. It will do as much for your mental state as your physical one if you give it a continued effort. Good luck.
Ya, I was thinking yoga, but then I was thinking about getting back into martial arts. The problem is finding a school that isn’t a bunch of fags who don’t want to get hit.
[quote]Phatshady912 wrote:
You have gone way too far when you are burning more calories from cardio alone then you are eating total…[/quote]
For real… That is seriously fucked up. OP, do you realize that your body probably burns at least 2000 calories a day by sitting on its ass? Add that to the 1500 calories you are burning through cardio or lifting weights, and you’re 2250 calories (=1250-3500) in the hole. No wonder why you feel like shit.
2250 x 7 days = 15,750 calories deficit per a week
You’re looking at 15750/3500 = 4.5 lbs of fat loss per a week. Which is not even possible. I don’t think your body could metabolize that much fat per a week without serious side effects, so you’re probably eating your own muscles too.
Dude, you’re manorexic! Eat until you feel full. Stretch your tiny little stomach until it can fit enough food to feed your body before you waste away into a pile of dry bones. Otherwise, it’s RIP with a walnut-shell gut.
[quote]hazarddude334 wrote:
you should go get drunk on sat night really good so you will have a bad hang over so you wont even want to go to the gym. Problem solved by drinking once again[/quote]
whatsup man? just wanted to say i think ur trying to fill a gap non training-related with training, word to haimdall and smeg, everyone’s got problems/ issues, its part of being civilised. i’m not sure about overtraining or even trainin, but im sure ur eating too little, abs aren’t everything. hav sum patience man. it’s great for me to finish a workout, buzzin off those endowphins, but i know im too knackered to legitimately do anything else that day. what i really aspire to is being healthy in a g-flux kind of way (check out the principles of this on the site) and filling my spare time with gambling, friends, pussy etc. good luck bruv
word to kailash too (grim fate)
i was about 17 and ate too little/ trained too much, fucked my shoulder, ate less, shit fucked me up 4 about a year, avoid this
If you’ve been working out like this for a while, its likely yourbody has gotten addicted to the endorphins and other chemicals released during a workout. These affecth the brain and lead to happiness- when you don’t have them, you get depressed. Many serious athletes I’ve known experience it.
Consider doing some GPP stuff on off days- light stuff. Run around, do some pushups- anything physical. Your wife/girlfriend might have some ideas…
Also examine your life and see if there is anything there that could be causing depression- if so, seek help. Its smart, not weak.
You love to train, man. There isn’t anything wrong with that. But you need to seriously find balance…you will find it benefits your lifting if you have a life once a week.
I love to wrestle and grapple…but I do go out with friends once or twice a week and get hammered or at least drink a few drinks a couple times a month. Eat a cheeseburger, a peice of cake, have a beer…enjoy life once in a while.
You’re getting a little burned out…trust me, I do it sometimes. Take time to yourself and rest for a few days and go dancing, to a friends, watch a movie…w/e you do, just chill for three or four days.
I think what needs to be identified is what else you like to do besides train.
For me it’s spending time with my GF, spending time with my dogs, golfing and doing work in my yard. All of which require some sort of physical and or mental effort.
I used to really try to rest on my “rest days” but I’d get bored and in turn eat like shit and in turn feel bad about my off days. Now I use my rest days as kind of a “rest the soul” kind of day where I don’t concern myself with training and actually try to enjoy myself, my life, and just everything in general. It’s ok to have fun on off days, to live a little.
You aren’t rewarding yourself for the work you are doing, and you need to do that.
A good tool, or a good mindset, rather, is compartmentalizing your workouts. When you’re in the gym, focus on the work you’re doing. When you’re not working out, don’t worry so much about working out. You’re supposed to be resting, letting your muscles heal and recharge, and enjoying yourself for Pete’s sake.
I also agree with what has been stated before about your dietary intake in comparison to what you’re burning in the gym. You’re on the path toward a nasty crash if you keep on doing what you’re currently doing.
Sounds like you have some stress issues. Have you ever tried meditation? Your body does need rest days, so instead of doing light cardio on those days, you could try getting away for 30 minutes and meditating.
If this doesn’t suit you, try something else, like taking a walk or take up golfing. Something that isn’t to physically stressing, but will allow you to get away and think.
Thanks for all the advice all; I really do appreciate it. I am going to up my cals to about 2000 a day. One thing I know is true is that, I lack social interaction and the gym gets me out of the house. I started looking for some mixed martial arts, as an activity that will benefit from my gym / cardio workouts. One poster hit it on the head, on my off days I do get board; and all though I don’t eat like crap I don’t eat as clean as I’d like which makes me feel bad. I think some more active events in my life that aren’t in side the gym will fill the social need, and save me from my boredom. Thanks for the support.
[quote]hazarddude334 wrote:
you should go get drunk on sat night really good so you will have a bad hang over so you wont even want to go to the gym. Problem solved by drinking once again[/quote]
[quote]sma92878 wrote:
Thanks for all the advice all; I really do appreciate it. I am going to up my cals to about 2000 a day. One thing I know is true is that, I lack social interaction and the gym gets me out of the house. I started looking for some mixed martial arts, as an activity that will benefit from my gym / cardio workouts. One poster hit it on the head, on my off days I do get board; and all though I don’t eat like crap I don’t eat as clean as I’d like which makes me feel bad. I think some more active events in my life that aren’t in side the gym will fill the social need, and save me from my boredom. Thanks for the support.[/quote]
dude you need to up it to like 3000-4000 calories if your burning 1200 from cardio alone. At 2000 your probably just satisfying your BMR…factor in your weight training/cardio/moving around…you should probably be at around 4 grand just to maintain, you need to deduct 500 from that to lose. So I would say up it to like 3500…
The first thing I would do is simply not take two days in a row off. I would separate the two off days. I personally know exactly what you are talking about. We are people tended toward depression and when I quit working out and have a lot of stress I can get the nearly to tears thing too. Let me know how separating the off days works out. Oh and I have found that not going out as late drinking on weekends as used to has helped also (in case u doing that too).
The fundamental problem is stress combined with a tendeny to depression. The solution is to keep working out and being productive until stress gets reduced. At least that is what I am trying right now. I tried the antidepressants but they didnt work and had side effects that made me more unhappy. They might work better for you though
I checked out a mix martial arts school yesterday that seemed pretty good, I think I’ll start there. They do a lot of body weight work and conditioning so I think that will be a fun addition to my gym routine. I’m glad I’m not the only one who experiences this however; at least I don’t feel to out of the norm. This week I went in and just did 30 min of mid. intensity cardio on Saturday (an off day). That helped so much and kept me up until Monday when I hit the gym hard again. I’m thinking that some meditation my be good as well but maybe beating getting the hell beat out of me in class will be enough
= )
As far as the calories, I don’t know if I could eat 3500 a day right now. Yesterday I bumped up to almost 2000 and I felt sick this morning in the gym, well not sick but very weighed down and sluggish. At my job on Friday Sat and Sunday I sit for like 12 hours at my desk, and during the week I have classes for about 6 hours a day, but I will for sure feel it out and eat where I have optimal energy with out being sluggish.
Yeah, up your calories gradually. Try it out for a week. You mentioned your goal is fat loss. How is your current diet progressing now in terms of fat loss (not “weight loss”)?
Eating more calories, you might even find that you’ll lose more fat, and preserve more muscle. If in fact you are losing muscle now, which I might suspect.
Eventually, by adding calories, you will come to one week where you lose no fat. That’s where your maintenance will be. Drop 500 calories a day for the next week, and you’ll be losing 3500 calories which is one pound of fat. Good luck.