How often do you work out? Is it bad to work out every day?

[lisiflex]

So I am wondering how often I could workout so that it is best for progression?

I am in gymnastics training 4 times a week for a total of about 8 hours (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday). Thursday and Saturday are really tough days, as I do a lot of bar work on those two days (like giants, free hip to handstands etc) which require a lot of strength. We don't do a lot of strength in the gym, just some hollow rocks and push ups at the beginning!

Anyways, so far I have been working out every second day, doing the same exercises (leg lifts, pike push-ups, dips, pull-ups, squats and squat jumps, a hard core circuit, reverse leg lifts and sit-ups and some pike and straddle presses at the end) My goal is just to get more reps in all those exercises and I do not feel sore anymore, sometimes a little stiff in the shoulders, but that's it. 

The thing is, I usually feel "strongest" when I am a little sore from the workout the day before or at least I can "feel" my muscles because I am tired. Then I am really motivated! If I do nothing for one or two days, because I want to give my body some rest, I feel much weaker the next day, as if my metabolism would slow down and my arms and legs feel like noodles! AAArghh I hate that! When I want to work out then, I feel weak and lightheaded and it's just awful!

So in my opinion, the hardest part of my training is the skill training at the gym, like the tumbling and bars. Because I need to concentrate it is physically AND mentally exhausting!

So I thought I could do the strength part maybe 5 times a week and just rest on Saturday? Or is this a bad idea?

So like that:

MO: 1 hour basic tumbling (at home), 1/2 active and passive flexibility, 1 hour strength

TUE: 1 hour gym, 1/2 active and passive flexibility, 1 hour strength

WED: 1 hour basic tumbling (at home), 1/2 active and passive flexibility, 1  hour strength

THUR: 2 hours gym (bars), 1/2 active and passive flexibility, 1  hour strength

FR: 1 hour gym (tumbling), 1/2 active and passive flexibility, 1 hour strength

SAT: 2 hours gym (bars), 1/2 active and passive flexibility

SUN: whatever (jumping trampoline, cycling, swimming, meeting friends...) 1/2 active and passive flexibility, 1 hour strength

What do you think, is this a bad idea? Will I overtrain if I do strength 6 days a week? At the moment, I am in the 5-10 range of each of the exercises I am doing (leg lifts, dips, pike push-ups...) and my goal is to get to about 15 reps or a little more (except the pull-ups, I want to do 10).

So what is your opinion on that? How often do you work out? How can I decide wheter to workout more often or not? I am sure I will feel tired and maybe won't get that much reps in the first 2 weeks or so...but will I adapt? Hope you guys can give me your experiences here!

Thanks!
 

[Ivan Pavlovic]

You need to understand that strenght isnt just in muscles and felling sore isnt good thing at all. You need to find out yourself how much times in week can you train without getting sore. Most of guys train 4 days in week and rest 3.

Strenght training 6 times in week is very bad idea unless you're some kind of superhuman.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Paf

[GoldenEagle]

I typically have one or two workouts per day, five days a week. Saturday and Sunday are always rest days.

[Alessandro Mainente]

I do GST 6 days/ week, there is what works for you and only for you, it's called specificity . it depends on your personal capacity of recover from a previous session.

[Farid Mirkhani]

I workout either 3 days a week or 4. I've tried 5 and I was not ready!

[Jean-Rene Losier]

Why not just try it and actually find out how your body responds to this type of training? We might say something based on our experiences, but maybe your body is different than ours. So we'd basically be giving you bad advice. Get the experience, and then determine what your body is telling you.

 

That's just my take on it anyway...

[Christoph Pahl]

The loss of strength after several rest days is the result of decreased muscle tension. Muscle tension takes ~ 2 days to change significantly - to decrease after some hard work, or to increase again after a visit in the sauna.

 

You can overcome this problem by a longer and thorough warmup, starting with light resistance. I'd prefer the term "tone-up" - getting the blood flowing is important, but increasing the muscle tension is the central preparation for hard work.

[Alfredo Fatale]

The body can take it, it's just a matter of properly working up. If an individual is only training 3-4x a week and decides to jump to twice a days six days a week, they're going to very quickly bury themselves into a hole recovery wise. But with slow buildup, adding like for instance one extra session every 2-3 weeks so that the body has time to adapt, then yeh, the sky is kinda the limit. Above all listen to the body and slowly increase volume over time. To see an extreme case, check out the Bulgarian Weightlifting method created by Ivan Abajiev. They worked up to a max effort snatch, clean, and front squat basically 3x a day SEVEN days a week!

[Coach Sommer]

This is incorrect and correct at the same time.

 

Some people are indeed able to build up to and profit from more volume and frequency in their training.  Others are not.  It is extremely individual based on your bodies' individual recovery abilities.  There is nothing magical about doing 'more' if your training does not benefit from it.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Luka Kopusar]

im currently reorganizing my regime, emphasize on H series - 3x a week and F 2x, where i will put 1 rest day in the middle of week and rest on sunday.  

[Alfredo Fatale]

Coach Sommer, I'd really love if you could elaborate more on the above. The two athletes that immediately come to mind being Aly Raisman vs Mckayla Maroney. I've heard countless times of how Aly trains basically all day, while Mckayla is only on about 3 hours of training a day. Quality and quantity(overall volume) come in to play, as well as recovery...but given two athletes, so long as recovery isn't an issue, how would you go about maximizing their training volume? My gut instinct says, all things equal, the athlete getting more practice over the weeks/months/years would excel more. Am I missing something? Thanks ahead of time for any and all advice.