I have been running in my pool and doing Tae-Bo kicks (360 of them) about 6 days per week (if it's too cold or raining I use the treadmill). If I also do a lower body workout (squats, lunges, etc.) as part of circuit training would I be over training the lower body?

Thanks for your help.

Peg,
HMMMM.... to me, overtraining is a very individual thing depending on the intensity fo your workouts. I do AM cardio 3-4 weeks on the elliptical and PM cardio twice a week playing full court basketball. B/c I work my legs so hard during bball, I wont train legs when it is my "in-season" time.

Are your legs sore after u do your pool workouts? If you do that 6 times a week intensely, adding squats,lunges, etc might be pushing it a bit.

Here is an article that Dan posted on our board a while ago:
Muscle Recovery - Proper rest days between training session
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The general purpose of any training session is to improve the performance and the shape of the body's muscles, organs and systems. To achieve this the body must be subjected to a load above it's habitual level.

Most of your muscles' adaptations for increased strength and endurance occur in the interval between exercise sessions, your ability to perform at a high level day after day is limited by the extent of muscle recovery and repair after strenuous training.

Equally important is recovery after exercise. Without adequate recovery, there can be no advancement in growth. The body needs time to rest, recover and adapt after training. The amount of time needed will depend on the intensity and length of the session, the fitness level of the person, the use of recovery techniques, and the person's diet.

If you train too frequently, the body uses its energy completely for recovering purpose and no time is left for the buildup process. Overtraining and it's complications seem to be a no-brainer, but unfortunately mnay people don't understand the interaction between exhaustion and recovery.

Here's a common scenario ... a person starts weight training and gets great results initially. Excited by the results, and anxious to do whatever it takes to re-shape their body, they start training everyday.

They start to have problems going up in the morning (everything hurts and you're sooo tired), and in the gym the muscles are still sore somehow from the preceding workout. First they don't even notice that they get weaker. Then they do and somebody has to tell them its OVERTRAINING.

What to do against overtraining?

One good solution is to learn to listen to your body. Are the muscles you're going to train today really fully recovered? If your muscles are sore, you CAN NOT train that muscle group.

Keep in mind that smaller muscle groups are involved in moving the larger muscle groups, so if your triceps are sore, you can't train chest either. Sore biceps? No back or biceps training for you. Sore shoulders? Tough one. Better do legs since shoulders are directly involved in all pressing moves, and indirectly involved as stabilizers in moist biceps moves.

If its the first day after the tension or the soreness went away completely, wait another day to be sure there was time to grow.

If you are training with fully recovered muscles it has the big advantage of a really great pump.

I hope some of my info helped. I will tell Dan this post is here and let him give you his "expert" opinion.

Linda

Fern,

Thanks for the prompt reply. My muscles are not sore at all after doing the Tae-Bo kicks, so based on Dan's article I should be safe doing some LBWO. If I get too sore, I'll scale back. Thanks again for your help.

Peg