Quads failing to recover!

[Mike Dura]

It's kind of weird. After legs day I used to recover in about 3 days. Now I'm still sore a week later. I do alot of cardio so my legs are getting their endurance fibers worked daily but this wasn't an issue last year. How would you explain this?

[MuscleScience]

Your more than likely overtraining your legs. Cardio will hit the same fibers as when you are lifting weights. Take a day or two off after legs and see how that effects you. Overtraining isnt an acute condition but sometimes it takes time for the effects to wear on someone. I train and test an endurance runner that just finished in the top 25 at the boston marathon. His typical running schedule is about 120 miles a week. Over time say 3 months he will start to decrease in his time when we test. We then cut back his running to something like 70 miles a day and progress back up to the 120 again. I do the same with his weight routine. I see an almost direct effect in decrease in running times and decrease in his strenght. Since your so highly trained as it sounds you may be experiancing the same thing as he does. This is the hardest point to get to endurance athletes especially when their times start do decrease after doing the same routine its more than likely time to cut back on some training intensity. Runners for the most part will try to run more and often became even more frustrated when they dont improve.

Hope this helps.

MS

[Mike Dura]

I was suspecting the same and it does help to hear with someone else. I've always done this and never overtrained before. I guess my body can't take it like it used to. Plus, I'm on steroids too. I would expect superior recovery but I guess I'm just mortal after all. Thanks. Mike

Your more than likely overtraining your legs. Cardio will hit the same fibers as when you are lifting weights. Take a day or two off after legs and see how that effects you. Overtraining isnt an acute condition but sometimes it takes time for the effects to wear on someone. I train and test an endurance runner that just finished in the top 25 at the boston marathon. His typical running schedule is about 120 miles a week. Over time say 3 months he will start to decrease in his time when we test. We then cut back his running to something like 70 miles a day and progress back up to the 120 again. I do the same with his weight routine. I see an almost direct effect in decrease in running times and decrease in his strenght. Since your so highly trained as it sounds you may be experiancing the same thing as he does. This is the hardest point to get to endurance athletes especially when their times start do decrease after doing the same routine its more than likely time to cut back on some training intensity. Runners for the most part will try to run more and often became even more frustrated when they dont improve.

Hope this helps.

MS