Doing a lot of cardio has caused severe soreness, do it anyway?

[boxingfan30]

I've always heard that if you're sore... don't workout until the soreness goes away. I am now doing 80 minutes 4-5 times a week at a pretty decent intensity. My legs are quite sore though and I've taken off 2 days, but they are still pretty tender.

I've been doing this amount of work for 2 or 3 months now without more than a 2 days of rest at a time (usually only 1).

Is it just time for me to take a few days off and let everything heal completely before I start up again?

[gearbox]

Yes. I would give your legs and cns a break. Everyone follows a different protocol but we all need rest at some point. Remember you grow, rebuild, and recuperate when you rest.

[boxingfan30]

Yes. I would give your legs and cns a break. Everyone follows a different protocol but we all need rest at some point. Remember you grow, rebuild, and recuperate when you rest.

Thanks. I just have issues with guilt when I'm not doing my cardio. I know ultimately it's better for me, but it's hard to just not do it.

[hellomycognomen]

You can switch to HIIT type cardio also. That can cut your time in half, lead to increase muscle mass, and not affect your hormones as much.

[boxingfan30]

You can switch to HIIT type cardio also. That can cut your time in half, lead to increase muscle mass, and not affect your hormones as much.

I've just really felt drained. Very tired all the time and I know that I'm not getting as much sleep as possible, but it's not to the point where I would be this tired before. Riding ED is probably the only thing I know of that could be causing this.

[lovbyts]

Sounds like you might have a vitamin or mineral deficiency. Make sure you are drinking enough water and taking enough magnesium and calcium.

[boxingfan30]

Yeah, I could probably do with drinking more water. It's not bad, but it's not a gallon a day like would be optimal. Right now I am taking about 3 grams of fish oil a day (pharma grade is what it said.. idk, it was rated well in third party testing for purity, etc), opti-men vitamins (recommended dose) and 10,000 iu's of D3 which I was low on when my last labs came back. How? I don't know since I was taking 5,000 iu's a day already.

[DontTaseMeBro]

I agree with luvbyts. All the water in the world won't fix a mineral deficiency. With all that cardio, you might try a recovery supplement like endurox. It has more carbs than the stuff we would normally use, but with your cardio, it might help with recovery and soreness. My background for about 10 years was endurance / triathlon, so i know the kind of achy sluggish feeling you're talking about. You might try just taking several days completely off and then laying off the cardio and doing something else moderate (e.g. yoga) for a week or so while you bump up the clean carbs a bit. Unless something else is screwed up, you should come back stronger and with more energy after a week off. Don't worry - after 3 months of significant cardio, you won't lose anything by taking a week of active recovery.

[ironbeck]

I've just really felt drained. Very tired all the time and I know that I'm not getting as much sleep as possible, but it's not to the point where I would be this tired before. Riding ED is probably the only thing I know of that could be causing this.

You could just be a little burnt out, plain and simple(It happens) You may need a hiatus for a week or so absolutely avoid the gym and just chill and "re charge your batteries"

[boxingfan30]

You could just be a little burnt out, plain and simple(It happens) You may need a hiatus for a week or so absolutely avoid the gym and just chill and "re charge your batteries"

yeah, but taking time off sucks lol

[Brett N]

I get pain if all my cardio is road work or a treadmill. I mix it up with elliptical and that seems to help. The 80 minutes is a lot of beating that your legs are taking if it is all running.

[boxingfan30]

I get pain if all my cardio is road work or a treadmill. I mix it up with elliptical and that seems to help. The 80 minutes is a lot of beating that your legs are taking if it is all running.

No running. I do all my cardio on a recumbent bike. Running is to hard on my lower back. I used to run, but sitting inside and being able to watch tv to pass the time helps. I try to keep my workouts pretty intense though.

It usually winds up at mid to high 800 calorie range (after about a 10 minute warm up on a lower setting), comes out right at 26 miles +/- 1-2 tenths. My max HR I have tried to keep a little lower so it's about 160 and average is almost always about 130. I do mix it up with 2 minutes of faster riding after each 8 minutes of steady riding. After each riding session I drink a scoop of whey in water (25g's per scoop) and then about a half hour later I eat about a cup of greek yogurt (about 22g's and 9 g's of sugars IIRC).

It has helped my total test and free test rise a lot though. My last blood work-up I was pretty happy with.