Are my workouts becoming counterproductive?

[RubySue78]

Hello All - I apologize for the stupidity of my question, I am hoping someone who is more advanced than I can help out.
I workout 7 days a week (Sunday I do stretching and a light upper body band routine)
I also walk 4 to 7 miles daily.
Here is my current routine
Monday - Legs (usually an hour and a half)
Tuesday - Cardio (over an hour long, I switch between high intensity and low intensity weekly)
Wednesday - Upper Body (usually an hour and a half)
Thursday - Cardio (over an hour long)
Friday - Legs (usually an hour and a half)
Saturday - Kickboxing (1.25 hours)
Sunday - Stretching and light upper body band work
I alternate between using BFR bands and just lifting as heavy as I can on weight training days. I got a boxers fracture on my right hand Christmas Eve so I have not been able to lift as heavy as I would have liked to - I have been using the BFR bands for the last 8 weeks and a 12# weighted vest
I am not building any muscle no matter how much I lift or how many reps or how much I burn. I am pretty skinny at this point - 5'8" 110# 41 years old
Appreciate Feedback from veteran specialists I guess you could say..

 

[lisa_la_machina]

Hi, I can only answer for me and my body, and the answer would be yes. Overtraining. Similar amounts of intensity and length of activity would, for me personally, send my cortisol levels through the roof and disrupt other hormone levels as well. I'd be achy, and overly hungry, constantly sore, and not building muscle. I know because this is how my body tells me I'm doing too much FOR ME, having been there in the past. I have learned to seek out the minimum effective dose of exercise. You can't build strength without adequate recovery.

Ultimately no one knows your body better than you, and every body responds uniquely to the stress (good stress at the right doses) of exercise. Your walking activity alone is a lot! I'm not suggesting cutting the other stuff out, just tweaking your routine to lessen the load.

The best way you can know how you're doing is by analyzing the cues your body is giving you. The fact that you're injured for 2 months and also not making the progress you're seeking suggests you're overworking yourself and not giving your body the requisite rest, but there are other factors to consider.

Anyway, not an expert. There are plenty of Internet resources and publications written by trained professionals available at libraries or bookstores that can give you scientific information. You could also consider having your hormone levels tested by your medical care provider if that's an option available to you and your finances. Wishing you good health and the muscle gains you seek!

 

[RubySue78]

Hi, I can only answer for me and my body, and the answer would be yes. Overtraining. Similar amounts of intensity and length of activity would, for me personally, send my cortisol levels through the roof and disrupt other hormone levels as well. I'd be achy, and overly hungry, constantly sore, and not building muscle. I know because this is how my body tells me I'm doing too much FOR ME, having been there in the past. I have learned to seek out the minimum effective dose of exercise. You can't build strength without adequate recovery.

Ultimately no one knows your body better than you, and every body responds uniquely to the stress (good stress at the right doses) of exercise. Your walking activity alone is a lot! I'm not suggesting cutting the other stuff out, just tweaking your routine to lessen the load.

The best way you can know how you're doing is by analyzing the cues your body is giving you. The fact that you're injured for 2 months and also not making the progress you're seeking suggests you're overworking yourself and not giving your body the requisite rest, but there are other factors to consider.

Anyway, not an expert. There are plenty of Internet resources and publications written by trained professionals available at libraries or bookstores that can give you scientific information. You could also consider having your hormone levels tested by your medical care provider if that's an option available to you and your finances. Wishing you good health and the muscle gains you seek!

Thank you so much for your response. I am menopausal at this time, my hormones have been out of whack for years. I am sorry I did not mention, because of the complexity of it, that I have Crohns - which means lots of food allergies/and intolerances, lymes disease and I am currently treating my hypothyroidism with meds.
I am starting to have issues with fatigue, but have not really addressed that. I have scoured the internet and library and there are so many varying opinions out there it is hard to decipher. I love my workouts and my walks, but I do think I am overdoing as well.. Thank you again

 

[Repo]

You might want shorten your cardio.....that sometimes can make it hard to add muscle. Just a suggestion.

 

[lisa_la_machina]

Thank you so much for your response. I am menopausal at this time, my hormones have been out of whack for years. I am sorry I did not mention, because of the complexity of it, that I have Crohns - which means lots of food allergies/and intolerances, lymes disease and I am currently treating my hypothyroidism with meds.
I am starting to have issues with fatigue, but have not really addressed that. I have scoured the internet and library and there are so many varying opinions out there it is hard to decipher. I love my workouts and my walks, but I do think I am overdoing as well.. Thank you again

You're welcome! Given your food sensitivities seems like it would be hard to eat the caloric intake needed for you to match your activity level. You can still do the workouts and walks that you love, just shorten them a little to experiment. @Repo has a good suggestion of starting by cutting back on the cardio which can eat into your muscle if you do too much.

 

[RubySue78]

You're welcome! Given your food sensitivities seems like it would be hard to eat the caloric intake needed for you to match your activity level. You can still do the workouts and walks that you love, just shorten them a little to experiment. @Repo has a good suggestion of starting by cutting back on the cardio which can eat into your muscle if you do too much.

Dumb Question - how can you tell exactly if your body is metabolizing itself?

 

[lisa_la_machina]

Dumb Question - how can you tell exactly if your body is metabolizing itself?

Not a dumb question at all. Signs include, but are not limited to: fatigue; slowed metabolism; decreased performance during workouts; inability to build muscle (which you mentioned is happening to you).

 

[Hazlady]

Hi RubySue78, looking at your overall training programme you have a lot of cardio. As well as the daily walks you are doing 2 cardio focussed workouts per week, and kickboxing. You are also doing Legs twice a week and leg workouts can often have a significant cardio effect. High levels of cardio can be counterproductive to muscle building.

Also, with your food allergies/intolerances it may be more difficult for you to meet the nutritional needs of your current training schedule. You may be eating what you think is sufficient but when you have food allergy/intolerance type issues your body may not be absorbing all of the food nutrients. This makes it more likely that your body will consume muscle during intense exercise. I suggest you try cutting back on the cardio and seeing if that makes a difference. Cathe has some articles under the Blogs section that address muscle building.

 

[Denise R]

I agree with the overtraining comment. I'd suggest cutting back and adding in more "rest". Good luck!

 

[snowlover]

Never underestimate the power of rest. I think you must have at least 1 rest day a week. If you don't, I liken it to not getting the right amount of sleep. If your body doesn't have any downtime it will break down and yes, your workouts will become counterproductive.
Over the years I've read some articles supporting rest as an important part of an athlete's success. I recall that the Olympic swimmer Dara Torres had sited that she was at the point ( she was an "aging" swimmer who made it on the Olympic swim team at age 41-- which is getting up there in Olympic level swimming) that she recognized that she could actually train too much and that rest was so important.

 

[Jane Power-Grimm]

Great questions RubySue. And some great suggestions above!
I was given some great ideas by a personal trainer who I worked with in order to build muscle. These suggestions helped me reach my goals and may be food for thought:

1. Check if you are getting 7-9 quality hours of sleep per night. Prioritize that as much as you prioritize working out. (If you are having difficulty with sleep, I suggest Matthew Walker's book "Why We Sleep")

2. Take a rest day each week. Rest day to me means only doing a stretch and a light, short walk.

3. Decrease cardio to three days per week, 30 minutes per session. As my trainer said, if my goal is to build muscle then focus on that, and just maintain cardio fitness since it is already at a good level.

4. From time to time wear a device so you can monitor your heart rate when doing cardio. Work hard so you will only need 30 mins. to get the job done. But don't let the heart rate go too high! I would suggest 75-85% of your maximum heart rate. About 100 mins/week in that zone will do the trick of maintaining cardio fitness. If you check your heart rate when walking, kickboxing and doing high and low intensity cardio programs you will see how much time per week you are training/overtraining. If your heart rate is over 85% of your max for extended periods you may find that counterproductive to your goals. When your heart rate is lower than 65% of your max (as it may be with walking) then you may be safe adding those activities in on top of the 3 - 30 mins. workouts.

5. Work hard when doing weight training and stay in the 8-12 rep range. This means fairly heavy weights but I would stick to workouts that are not more than 60 mins. in length. If you are trying to lay down some more muscle, hypertrophy workouts (e.g. STS Meso 2) will work most efficiently in my opinion. I personally would remove band workouts, metabolic workouts and endurance based workouts with high reps from the weekly rotation for now.

6. Measure your % of body fat and find out your lean muscle mass. I just use a scale that measures % body fat through electrical impedance (it gives an estimate, not perfect, but an inexpensive method). And once you have those numbers from the scale you can calculate lean muscle mass. Hard to say what your body composition is just from your total weight. Baseline data is important so you can assess down the road if the changes you make to your routine are working for you.

7. Consider going to a sport nutritionist. Just one or two visits may give you the direction you need. You would want someone who can look at your energy expenditure and see how many calories you need to support that amount of activity, and also where those calories need to come from in order to build muscle.

8. Be easy on yourself. Menopause can be brutal on the body. It's a game changer! Be happy and proud you are fit and committed to a healthy lifestyle.
Best of luck!