does anyone else feel totally wiped out after leg work?

[eema]

Hi Everyone,

I'm curious if anyone else has this problem. I can do super heavy upper body and cardio in one day and feel on top of the world. Yet when I do either Leaner Legs, PS Legs or S&H Legs I am completely exhausted for the rest of the day. Yesterday morning I did S&H Chest and Back AND ran for 30 minutes. I felt fantastic for the rest of the day. This morning I did Leaner Legs with only a 25# barbell and all I wanted to do all day is crawl into bed and take a nap. The problem is that I ALWAYS feel like this after one of Cathe's leg videos. Common sense tells me that the quads/hams are bigger muscles and are therefore taking more energy but isn't the back a big muscle too? And ok, so I'm walking on my legs all day but I'm also picking up my 25# two-year-old and 35# 4-year-old all the time too so it seems that my upper body gets a lot of use throughout the day, too. I need to work my legs twice a week but I rarely do because it just makes me too tired. I squeak out one workout a week and I usually dread it. Does it do this to anyone else? Thanks in advance, educated crowd! Linda

 

[lorihart]

Hi Linda,
I don't have the problem with taking a nap but I do feel like sitting down for a long time.I usually us a 35 pound barbell in power hour.For lunges usually only 25 cause I hate lunges.
I hate working my legs.I feel releived after I have it done because I did it and I made it all the was through but I hate it.I dread it every time and like you I usually only work my legs once a week.But I can see your point.With a 2 year old and a 4 year old the last thing you need to be doing after your workout is going to bed.
Have you tried have some carbs right after you excercise? I read one time before that we should eat a banana after working out.
Hopefully someone else can relate to you more then what I just did...Have a good one
LOri

 

[prfitness]

I have the same problem. I would love to work my legs out twice a week but even the one time leaves me feeling exhausted. I normally always schedule a rest day after as well. I did S&H legs and shoulders day before yesterday, and I struggled to keep my eyes open the whole of yesterday. In my case - my legs are strong and so is my back. But my shoulders and my chest are weak areas. So I find that when I do a leg workout, I am exhausting some of the weaker muscles by carrying that heavy barbell on my shoulders. In the case of an upper body workout, the weights handled are little lighter so the legs are not that exhausted. It is possible that when you carry your child even after a back workout, the legs end up compensating for the load. However once you've worked your legs out, no muscle has been spared. Anyway, that's how I see it. I could be totally wrong. I am however trying to do more mat exercises to workout my legs out more. They are a lot easier to include into a rotation and I use ankle or thigh weights to add more resistance. Sorry, but I don't think I have been of much help either.

 

[eema]

Thank you both for your posts. It's good to know that I'm not alone. I also schedule a rest day after legs because I absolutely cannot do anything. It's not that I'm so sore, just exhausted! Here's another question, though. For those of you who are doing endurance workouts (MIS, Power Hour, etc.) are you doing these 3 times a week and if so do you work your legs 3 times or split the workouts? I've decided to start an endurance rotation this week since I've been lifting heavy for almost 3 months and I need to shake things up, yet I'm a little concerned about overtraining so thought to do maybe:

Body Max
Cardio or Rest
Cardio
MIS
Cardio
Circuit Max

Any thoughts? Thanks, Linda

 

[mogambo]

I certainly wouldn't put Circuit Max right before Body Max. I think it would be too much on the legs and too hard cardios back to back. But if you are resting after Circuit Max, that would be fine.
About your other questions: My legs are very rubbery and feel melted after a leg workout, since I work out after work, I just take a shower and go to bed and read. The next day, I let my legs rest, but I might do something like S/H Triceps/Biceps or the upper body portion of MIS.
I do one "hard" leg workout a week: PS Legs, S/H Legs, MIS with a 40 lb barbell, and Leaner Legs qualify. Then I try to do an easier leg workout once a week: PowerHour, Power Circuit or Body Max qualify.
Leg workouts are awful, but since I know the next day my legs get to just hang out doing normal leg behaviors like walking and sitting in a chair, I just press onward. Bad pun :-O

 

[kweller]

Just chiming in to say that it's good to know that I am not alone!

That's me! That's me!

I oftentimes have to mentally psyche myself up for (or maybe just into doing? ) leg work because of that very reason. Also, I am pear
shaped, and it actually just dawned on me yesterday or the day before, after all this time, that the REASON legs are so hard for me is precisely because I am a pear and carry more weight below the waist. Not to mention my lower body muscles are larger. Push ups, planks, upper body whatever, bring it on!Believe it or not I do enjoy squats and plies, actually, but lunges, they're my fire-breathing dragon. they kill me, and it doesn't matter the weight. Even no weight, if I do enough of them, I'm trembling and burning. They kill me.

I tend to use **very light** weights these days on leg work. It really doesn't seem to upset my strength factor, I'm strong in my legs, especially my quads, and when I was working hard with heavier weights on lower body work before my new 'lighter' experiment, my thighs were probably a good inch bigger. My leg endurance factor has definitely improved, too, regardless of my light weight usage, as long as I keep doing Power Hour and endurance leg work as well as power moves like those power 7's !

Okay, too much info here. It's just so good to be able to share experiences with others like me.
Take care, and keep taking that rest time when you need it. smart.
Kathy