Shauk

Ok so I'm thinking of doing like 20 minutes of cardio just before or after every meal.

My financial aid for school didn't come through and I really have nothing to do with my time now cept maybe just go to the gym 5 days a week instead of class since I can't pay tuition this time around. (I applied a month too late so I gotta wait)

I figure I can actually do weight/strength training on 3 of those days in place of cardio for the breakfast or lunch sessions.

I dunno, I just think it would be a decent kick to the bodynads to do something like this.

The_Jazz

With the caveat that the amount of stress load you're doing with these workouts, I don't see any reason why this should be a problem or even a bad idea. Back in the day, I used to do 2-a-days for workouts routinely for weeks on end. It was the only way that I could wrack up the mileage with my coursework and dining hall schedules. When 15 miles/day is a minimum of 90 minutes plus warm ups, cool downs, stretching, lifting, PT, etc., you have to find ways to fit in your life around the workout.

As with anything, building up to this is key and you can't start it cold. You may want to start out with a slightly less aggressive goal than 20 minutes for the first week and then work into it. But yeah, when there are folks that routinely do much more than this on a daily basis, I think it's easily possible if you have the time.

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Baraka_Guru

One of the keys to resistance (weight) training is to allow for 48 to 72 hours between workouts for a muscle group to recover. Don't work a muscle that doesn't feel over 90% recovered. I've personally done 3 full-body workouts per week with good results. Just be sure to put at least full day of rest between each workout in that case.

Cardio? There's usually nothing wrong with doing 30 minutes of high-intensity cardio up to 5 days/week. Beyond that, you might be overdoing it. Again, it depends on your recovery.

Overtraining can be worse than undertraining. It usually is.

Lay out a routine here for us and we'll evaluate it for you.

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Martian

Yeah, biggest concern with this is going to be burnout. Going zero to sixty will kick your ass, and it'll be hard to stick with it.

Cardio is something that you generally can do every day, so long as you listen to your body. If you're going to be going this frequently, doing something low impact is probably best. Use an elliptical today, and your joints will thank you tomorrow.

Strength training three days a week is also good, but make sure you give yourself time to rest, and again, listen to your body. Don't push it too hard. Torn ligaments are never a good time.

EDIT -- for three things.

One: Diet. You're going to be burning a huge amount of extra calories this way. You'll want to up your intake to compensate. Try to restrict saturated fats as much as possible -- stick to lean cuts of meat, or even substitute entirely once in a while. A dinner sized bean salad or quesadilla is packed with protein, fibre and polyunsaturates. It's good stuff, and tasty too.

Try to also make sure you stick as close as you can to the 40/30/30 rule. More of your energy should be coming from carbohydrates. Those in turn should be coming from fruits and vegetables. Sweets and soda should be avoided, as should fruit juice (particularly fruit 'drinks' or 'cocktails,' which are often loaded with sugar.)

Lots of water. You'll be sweating more, and hydration is going to be an issue. When I'm going hardcore on the fitness thing I nearly always have a glass of water next to me.

Two: Rest. Your body does most of it's recovering when you're sleeping, so getting enough sleep is essential. I know as well as anyone what it's like to get absorbed in something at night, and then next thing you know you're up until 3 am. Conversely, I find that I tend to be much more productive and motivated when I keep more regular hours and make sure that I get at least 8 hours a night.

Three: Overtraining. Jazz said it, I said it, and Baraka_Guru said it again. Now I'm saying it a fourth time, because it simply can't be stressed enough. Don't overdo it, or you'll do yourself more harm than good in the long run.

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Shauk

ah well i can already do 30-40m in one session if that's all I plan on doing for the day, but I figure 20 minutes will let me push a little harder, like 5 minutes to warm up, then for the next 15 just do like interval training or something. (just a different more effective style of cardio from what I gather)

I've had my gym membership since October I think, I just didn't really go much, if at all, from thanksgiving til today.

I dunno my "routine" is usually just flat out 20 minutes on the elliptical with little to no variation to my pacing, I just set a target heart rate and the machines pretty much do the rest in telling me if i'm going too fast or too slow.


I guess for a chest day I could do like 4 sets of inclines, declines, bench press or if I feel like changing it up, a bunch of different pushup stuff.


legs i'm not too concerned about as they're built like trees already, but I get a little burn during the elliptical *is it one l or 2?* stuff. I know it's a large muscle set too so getting them to be lean muscle probably would help the overall metabolism n such huh?


shit, i'm bad at this