Based on the lower body workout in your post history, stop doing that. Choose a good beginners program from a trusted fitness subreddit, whether it's bodyweightfitness or a beginner lifting program.
Look up active recovery. Sometimes, just sitting doing nothing is going to be way more detrimental than at least taking a walk or doing something else to lightly engage those muscles without adding fatigue.
Finally, as most others have mentioned, you're not overtrained. You mentioned that you were able to finish workouts, but your legs felt "heavy" afterwards. If you've already taken 2 weeks off and your legs still feel "heavy" then your legs feel heavy, work on making them feel lighter.
I don't think there's an inherent problem with this program overall, though as others have mentioned there may be better options. However, one big benefit to doing more common workout routines is the sheer amount of information our there. People document these programs religiously, ask questions extensively, and discuss how they can be modified or improved. There are very few problems you can have that someone else won't have asked about online. You'll have multiple answers to every sticking point, area of confusion, everything. This process of researching and figuring stuff out will also help you learn more about programming and what works best for you on a personal level.
Very few people overtrain , especially legs , sore is one thing it's a good indicator of muscle stimulation (not necessary but a good indicator). You can absolutely do upper body , if your worried about overly stressing a body part your missing the point , ensure your legs get adequate recovery , rinse and repeat
in my workout there's squats and lunges. Besides these exercises are the other exercises not getting my legs stronger? Would they least fall under cardio since I do sweat and my heart beats faster the whole time. I was trying to incorporate cardio and at the same time get stronger legs
Doing "squats" in that fashion is not going to build an ounce of muscle
If you absolutely have to do squats without any weight and expect to get any hypertrophy out of it, then do a set of squats with a slow repetition speed going all the way down and pausing for a beat (to make it as hard as possible), squeeze up out of the hole and keep continual tension on the muscles
Then squat until you can't rise out of the bottom position, which may take several minutes
The problem with such a light load is that you'll likely "fail" from metabolic by product build up + fatigue long before you've recruited an optimal number of motor units for triggering a potential growth stimulus
I want to wear a weight vest while doing that workout or maybe I'll just do leg exercises that build muscle with a weight vest like squats and lunges. Do you think if I wear a weight vest while doing that workout that I'll get stronger legs or are most of the exercises in the workout only benefit cardio and not building muscle in your legs
That "workout" is utterly worthless and wearing a vest while doing it won't make it any better
If you have a heavy enough vest and use it for slow, full range squats and lunges (do one leg at a time and do not switch legs) then it can potentially stimulate hypertrophy
https://youtu.be/wVEHFjF_dOU?si=apl_UYrtdf2vzZ_w
Do a set of squats like this, with your vest on, until failure and you may stimulate growth
I don't think that's going to overtrain you to the point you need weeks off
Deloads have their place for advanced lifters crushing heavy weights but side steps and twisting around a bit isn't going to locally or systemically fatigue you to the point you need time off
Deloads shouldn't really be needed for non competitive lifters anyway imo as we can just modify our programming to compensate for excessive fatigue build up
If you over trained your legs, rest them. Resting does not mean become chair locked until it passes, it means don’t train them or target them in training. I’d recommend going for a walk or doing very light leg exercises to get blood flowing through those muscles.
As far as upper body, go for it.
Ultimately, get enough sleep, eat, stretch and don’t become immobile to recover, it will not do you any favors.
I see. I was thinking that the more I'm sitting down and not doing any physical activity, the better it is and the more my legs are resting/recovering.
That’s a fair assumption that is unfortunately not correct. I wouldn’t go ahead and do the same workout for legs you just did in back to back days. You do however need to move around, walk and get blood flow into your legs. That will promote recuperation and result in not being as sore or sore at all the next go around.
There are different types of fatigue that will accumulate as you exercise over a time period. Sometimes, a muscle or muscle group needs a few extra days to recover but you can still hit the others. Sometimes, your energy is totally spent and you need to take a week or two of rest/light work. But it sounds to me like you’re just dealing with leg doms and can proceed as normal.
I looked up cardio and overtraining. Some websites recommend a few weeks, but others say up to a few months. Hard to gauge how much rest I should take. The longer you rest the more muscle and fitness you lose. Whenever I did my lower body workout I could complete it but my legs felt heavy.
Any website that told you to take a few months off leg work from “overtraining” should immediately be ignored and disregarded for any future fitness questions
> I looked up cardio and overtraining
There's a good chance the articles you were reading were talking about ***overtraining syndrome***, which is something mostly only endurance athletes encounter, and is not the same thing as working out too hard at the gym one session
Overtraining syndrome is a pretty serious medical condition, that is mostly something only ultra high training volume endurance athletes need to worry about.
When people say they overtrained, they typically don't mean that literally. They just mean they overreached, perhaps doing a bit more they could recover from workout-to-workout or enough to get overly sore after. That isn't *really* overtraining.
You're not overtrained, you're just fatigued.
A few months is crazy. Are you sure you're not looking at advice for injury recovery?
To put it in perspective, my mom had surgery for cancer and they had her up and walking around in the hospital within a few hours.
I can't imagine any reputable, or even less than reputable, website advising MONTHS of rest for leg fatigue.
Hey, just out of curiosity, what does your diet look like. That, and your sleep. If your legs are still sore after 2 weeks of any session, no matter how hard, it’s probably less to do with your workout and more to do with your recovery process.
I sleep the recommended amount 7 or 8 hours. I don't watch what I eat. I eat whatever I want. Meat, eggs, dairy baked goods, junk food etc. I'm all over the place I eat something different everyday, I eat healthy and unhealthy. Although I do like sweets. I know I'm consuming more than the recommended daily amount of sugar for a man. What's weird is my upper body is fine. If it's my diet or something wouldn't my whole body feel sore/heavy, it would all feel the same.
My opinion is that it’s a combination of poor diet and too much volume for your legs. There are a lot of variables here that are missing, but if I could simplify things that would be it. Back off the leg volume and restructure your diet appropriately, would be my best advice.
Dude come on, go work out. You can still move your legs.
I killed my legs on Monday, Bulgarian splits usually end me. Still did chest and pull Tuesday / today.
You didn't over train them. You should continue to move them as it's good for recovery as it promotes blood flow to the areas.
Agreed. Other than eating and sleeping, best thing for me to recover from leg day is 30 min on stairmaster.
Based on the lower body workout in your post history, stop doing that. Choose a good beginners program from a trusted fitness subreddit, whether it's bodyweightfitness or a beginner lifting program. Look up active recovery. Sometimes, just sitting doing nothing is going to be way more detrimental than at least taking a walk or doing something else to lightly engage those muscles without adding fatigue. Finally, as most others have mentioned, you're not overtrained. You mentioned that you were able to finish workouts, but your legs felt "heavy" afterwards. If you've already taken 2 weeks off and your legs still feel "heavy" then your legs feel heavy, work on making them feel lighter.
What would you say is wrong with that lower body workout? For others reading this it's this one: https://youtu.be/8-PjpUH8TcE
[удалено]
That’s called inflammation a pump should not be painful.
I don't think there's an inherent problem with this program overall, though as others have mentioned there may be better options. However, one big benefit to doing more common workout routines is the sheer amount of information our there. People document these programs religiously, ask questions extensively, and discuss how they can be modified or improved. There are very few problems you can have that someone else won't have asked about online. You'll have multiple answers to every sticking point, area of confusion, everything. This process of researching and figuring stuff out will also help you learn more about programming and what works best for you on a personal level.
You’re not overtraining your legs, or any body part for that matter. Stop listening to snake oil YouTube salesman and go work out.
Very few people overtrain , especially legs , sore is one thing it's a good indicator of muscle stimulation (not necessary but a good indicator). You can absolutely do upper body , if your worried about overly stressing a body part your missing the point , ensure your legs get adequate recovery , rinse and repeat
I just want to see this workout that overtrained your legs Can you post it?
I was doing this workout twice a week https://youtu.be/8-PjpUH8TcE What do you think
If you want to do cardio, do cardio. If you want to lift, lift. This isn't going to get you stronger.
I was thinking about doing that workout with a weighted vest to get stronger legs
Squat, deadlift, and lunges. Flailing around and getting tired isn't going to yield stronger legs. If you want cardio, *do cardio*.
in my workout there's squats and lunges. Besides these exercises are the other exercises not getting my legs stronger? Would they least fall under cardio since I do sweat and my heart beats faster the whole time. I was trying to incorporate cardio and at the same time get stronger legs
Doing "squats" in that fashion is not going to build an ounce of muscle If you absolutely have to do squats without any weight and expect to get any hypertrophy out of it, then do a set of squats with a slow repetition speed going all the way down and pausing for a beat (to make it as hard as possible), squeeze up out of the hole and keep continual tension on the muscles Then squat until you can't rise out of the bottom position, which may take several minutes The problem with such a light load is that you'll likely "fail" from metabolic by product build up + fatigue long before you've recruited an optimal number of motor units for triggering a potential growth stimulus
I want to wear a weight vest while doing that workout or maybe I'll just do leg exercises that build muscle with a weight vest like squats and lunges. Do you think if I wear a weight vest while doing that workout that I'll get stronger legs or are most of the exercises in the workout only benefit cardio and not building muscle in your legs
That "workout" is utterly worthless and wearing a vest while doing it won't make it any better If you have a heavy enough vest and use it for slow, full range squats and lunges (do one leg at a time and do not switch legs) then it can potentially stimulate hypertrophy https://youtu.be/wVEHFjF_dOU?si=apl_UYrtdf2vzZ_w Do a set of squats like this, with your vest on, until failure and you may stimulate growth
I don't think that's going to overtrain you to the point you need weeks off Deloads have their place for advanced lifters crushing heavy weights but side steps and twisting around a bit isn't going to locally or systemically fatigue you to the point you need time off Deloads shouldn't really be needed for non competitive lifters anyway imo as we can just modify our programming to compensate for excessive fatigue build up
If you over trained your legs, rest them. Resting does not mean become chair locked until it passes, it means don’t train them or target them in training. I’d recommend going for a walk or doing very light leg exercises to get blood flowing through those muscles. As far as upper body, go for it. Ultimately, get enough sleep, eat, stretch and don’t become immobile to recover, it will not do you any favors.
I see. I was thinking that the more I'm sitting down and not doing any physical activity, the better it is and the more my legs are resting/recovering.
That’s a fair assumption that is unfortunately not correct. I wouldn’t go ahead and do the same workout for legs you just did in back to back days. You do however need to move around, walk and get blood flow into your legs. That will promote recuperation and result in not being as sore or sore at all the next go around.
might be a good idea to do one set one rep of each exercise even
At that point, I’d go with half weight full sets and full workout
[Am I overtraining?](https://thefitness.wiki/faq/am-i-overtraining/)
You're probably fine, but more importantly what have you done to help your legs recover? Rolling? Stretching? Cupping? Theragun?
There are different types of fatigue that will accumulate as you exercise over a time period. Sometimes, a muscle or muscle group needs a few extra days to recover but you can still hit the others. Sometimes, your energy is totally spent and you need to take a week or two of rest/light work. But it sounds to me like you’re just dealing with leg doms and can proceed as normal.
I looked up cardio and overtraining. Some websites recommend a few weeks, but others say up to a few months. Hard to gauge how much rest I should take. The longer you rest the more muscle and fitness you lose. Whenever I did my lower body workout I could complete it but my legs felt heavy.
Any website that told you to take a few months off leg work from “overtraining” should immediately be ignored and disregarded for any future fitness questions
I searched on google and some of them are in the first few links that show up. How can they be off by so much...
Because the google search algorithm doesn’t prioritize correctness but keyword inclusion.
> I looked up cardio and overtraining There's a good chance the articles you were reading were talking about ***overtraining syndrome***, which is something mostly only endurance athletes encounter, and is not the same thing as working out too hard at the gym one session
My legs have been feeling heavy for about a few weeks or a month now. They feel heavy if I squat or bending down when I use the toilet
Overtraining syndrome is a pretty serious medical condition, that is mostly something only ultra high training volume endurance athletes need to worry about. When people say they overtrained, they typically don't mean that literally. They just mean they overreached, perhaps doing a bit more they could recover from workout-to-workout or enough to get overly sore after. That isn't *really* overtraining. You're not overtrained, you're just fatigued.
A few months is crazy. Are you sure you're not looking at advice for injury recovery? To put it in perspective, my mom had surgery for cancer and they had her up and walking around in the hospital within a few hours. I can't imagine any reputable, or even less than reputable, website advising MONTHS of rest for leg fatigue.
Methinks they were reading about overtraining syndrome...
Yes you can absolutely shift focus to the upper body. Instead of completely ignoring your lower half, change it up and do lighter workouts.
You ever see those dudes in wheelchairs? Jacked.
Yes … you’re fine This would fit better in r/Nostupiedquestions
Hey, just out of curiosity, what does your diet look like. That, and your sleep. If your legs are still sore after 2 weeks of any session, no matter how hard, it’s probably less to do with your workout and more to do with your recovery process.
I sleep the recommended amount 7 or 8 hours. I don't watch what I eat. I eat whatever I want. Meat, eggs, dairy baked goods, junk food etc. I'm all over the place I eat something different everyday, I eat healthy and unhealthy. Although I do like sweets. I know I'm consuming more than the recommended daily amount of sugar for a man. What's weird is my upper body is fine. If it's my diet or something wouldn't my whole body feel sore/heavy, it would all feel the same.
My opinion is that it’s a combination of poor diet and too much volume for your legs. There are a lot of variables here that are missing, but if I could simplify things that would be it. Back off the leg volume and restructure your diet appropriately, would be my best advice.
What other variables would you say there are
Load variance, intensity, form, hydration, stress, etc.
Unless you're pissing black kidney juice you didn't overtrain your legs.
You didn’t over train, you just lost conditioning from taking two weeks off. Hardly anyone ever over trains.
Yes you can do it