October 2010

Hello friends,

I am back with another workout tip for all of you. This is something you don’t hear much of. But some of us might be doing too much exercise. How can this be? I wake up in the morning, get  my breakfast, do what I got to do, and I head to the local YMCA here in Bradford. I usually do 60-65 minutes of straight hardcore cardio exercise. I usually raise my resistance up pretty high, and lower it when I am really exhausted. After my workout, I head home and do some things around the house. Hardly any sitting is involved in my lifestyle. It gets to be 1:00p.m and I head back to my local YMCA and workout for another 45-55 minutes. This usually consists of 30-35 minutes of cardio (running, stairclimber, high resistance on the arc trainer, etc). I get done with the cardio exercise and head to the weight room. I hit 2-3 body parts a day with weights. Usually 3-5 sets of 12 (low to high weight). I get done, and I get ready for work. I am active ALL through out my whole work day. I usually end up playing basketball, football, volleyball, ect. I work with younger teens, so they have TONS of energy. The work day gets done, and I head home and crash.

Where am I going with all of this? Here is a lesson I have learned. Yesterday, my wife and I went out and did a run/walk session of cardio. More walking was involved than running. It took us about an hour and a half to get done. I counted that as my exercise for the day. I went to work, played some football with the kids, and walked a bit more with them. At the end of the day, I was still a bit tired. I got home and turned on The Vikings vs The Jets game. I went to bed afterwards, and I woke up at 7:30 in the morning. But something felt different. I wasn’t as tired when I woke up. I noticed I wasn’t forcing myself to get out of bed, and head to the gym. I felt GREAT! I went to the YMCA, exercised for an hour by doing some cardio, and did 15 minutes of weights. I feel good right now. The lesson is, I have been overdoing it. I have been exercising way too much! Is it okay to do two sessions? Yes, if you are medically cleared and able, then yes, it is okay to do 2 sessions a day. But I wouldn’t recommend doing them everyday. It finally hit me when my wife looked at me and said “Do you have to workout twice, everyday?” I thought to myself, “No, I don’t.” It has been robbing me with time I could be spending on my relationship with her. It is robbing me of helping her around the house more. Will I workout twice a day? Yes I will, but I won’t do it as often. You shouldn’t feel tired constantly from doing your daily workout. Take some time and enjoy life! It’s what I was missing. I am thankful that God has placed that on my heart. No need to kill myself over something that nearly killed me once. It may take a little more time to reach that goal weight, but I will do it.

Moral of the story: Don’t overdo the working out. I recommend no more than 2 hours a day. Sometimes 50 minutes to an hour is just enough. You will have to listen to your body and find your balance.

-Justin Willoughby
(One Step)