Is exercise 4x a week excessive?

[Passitontheleft]

I have been through some personal things recently which caused me to stop all my exercise and sport hobbies back in April. I’m coming out of the other side now and in the last few weeks started picking things back up. Before my break, I did badminton, yoga, and pole once a week.

Now I do those three still and I’ll be doing pole twice a week now and starting Reformer Pilates this week.

A friend has expressed concern and thinks I’m “overcompensating” for the break I had and feels it’s excessive because I’m “already fit and healthy.” She thinks that doing pole twice weekly now will make my toned arms muscly in combination with the other active things and that I’ll develop broad shoulders.

Does anyone else do exercise 4-5x weekly? Is this excessive? I wouldn’t say I’m making up for lost time as such, but I stopped everything for 4 months and was depressed tbh and getting back into pole, for example, is harder after such a break. I also don’t want to neglect my exercise and fitness again despite being “fit and healthy” currently.

She thinks that doing pole twice weekly now will make my toned arms muscly in combination with the other active things and that I’ll develop broad shoulders.

Reply to her 'better that than soft and flabby ehh'

You are doing fine. Daily exercise if great for your physical and mental health and as long as you are enjoying it and not seeing it as something you HAVE to do, then great. I get you, I was a competitive swimmer and had to take time out when my gran died and I just couldn't face training and competing. I did continue to exercise though and I needed this for ME. People said similar - you are trying to prove a point. They didn't see that for me, exercise was NORMAL as is brushing me teeth. My life was on its head and taking that way too would have made me suffer more.

Not excessive. She's probably jealous. Also it takes an enormous amount of effort and dedication to get "bulky", I doubt a couple of extra sessions a week will cause this. But if you want to bulk, bulk away. Sod what she thinks! (I do 3 runs, 3 strength sessions and 3 classes a week minimum...)

Not at all. I am not very fit, but usually do three bootcamps and one yoga class each week as well as going on a few family walks. That keeps me at basic fitness level given my sedentary job.

Enjoy yourself. I think that is such a positive way to work through challenging times. Also pole must need a huge amount of upper body strength which women don't tend to have, so two classes will help build the muscular ability more quickly.

It sounds quite a lot to me and if your friend mentioned it, and she knows you, I'd guess you already know she's onto something.

But if you're genuinely happy in the rest of your life and don't think you have a problem then carry on.

(PS to add context, I run three times a week and cycle to work and back three times a week).

Not excessive, no. I do 15 classes a week (weights and yoga) because I teach them. Although I’m in pretty good shape, I’m by no means super muscly and still have fat on my body.

I do classes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday usually. On 3 of the days I do 2 classes back to back so of course I don't think you're doing too many

We had a remarkably similar thread recently.
She clearly doesn't know much about exercise if she thinks 4x a week will broaden your shoulders and make your arms muscly unless you are going for hours each time, have a regimented training plan, carefully crafted diet to build muscle etc...
Also... what's wrong with looking that way.
Are you talking or thinking about it a lot (more than you would any hobby) or getting anxious over food etc? Or just a normal amount of conversation (as I know some people who think turning down biscuits every time you see them means you are 'obsessive over food'...)

It is quite excessive and probably counter productive from a health point of view, but the choice is all yours.

it is not about how many times per week but also most importantly how many hours per day. 1 hour 5 times per week is not too much especially if it is varied type of excercise

No where near excessive, a lot of people will work out this many times per week, some even more. She sounds jealous.

Not excessive at all. When I’m in a good exercise streak I do something pretty much daily and feel great for it.

DH and I exercise 4x a week each for about an hour, I think that's the minimum people should be doing really but obvs more isn't realistic for most of us, between work and DC and everything else.

I go on my cross trainer at least 5 times a week, i really need to improve my fitness and lose weight. Might relax to 4 times a week when i've shifted another stone or so.

You must ignore your friend as she clearly knows little/nothing about how women build muscle. She’s not someone to take exercise advice from.

It’s the great myth and used by many as an excuse not to do any kind of resistance training (wah, I don’t wanna look like a man, wah) and also to try to stop other women from looking toned. Who really wants bingo-wings?

In conjunction with your exercise, just make sure you eat well and are well fuelled and allow yourself recovery time (important).

Only way pole is going to make your shoulders broader is if you pop them out of their sockets.

And if you get tired or it's too much, you'll soon know and can adjust.

Your friend's got something going on at her end – could she use a bit of an endorphin rush herself? Maybe invite her to join you for a pole class?

Not excessive, and what’s wrong with muscley arms and shoulders anyway?

I used to do pole and some of the girls who were really into it, who were at classes most days, had muscular arms and shoulders. They looked bloody great. Not bodybuilder kind of muscle, but strong, able to lift their bodies into inverts, so IMO OP if you're going to build more muscle from pole, bring it on!

Your friend is talking cobblers. I suspect she doesnt have any reason to be considered an authority on this.

4 times a week is not excessive and you're not going to get hench with what you have listed. Toned and fit yes, but not suddenly take on the shape of a body builder.

It would be understanding if/how it is linked to why you took time off. When you are used to exercising a lot it's very easy to use it to compensate for other stressors in life(and often hand in hand with eating habits)

I say this, not because I think it's too much(I do more hours of an endurance sport and the supporting gym work/pilates for it), but as I know that's something I do myself. When I am particularly stressed I fall into the habit of under fuelling and over training, and see it in many other sporty friends too.

If not, your mate is a tit.

You don't need to follow fitness advice from someone who worries that pole will make women's shoulders broad and muscley. Is she full of other advice like "running gives you bad knees"?

If you've had a long, consistent base of fitness, then returning gradually after a few months off is not usually a big deal. Your mix of exercise is varied which means that you're not always using the same muscle groups in the same way.

Overtraining is a thing, but if you listen to your body, fuel it well and build up gradually it's not often a problem and society's bigger issue issue is most people doing too little. The more muscle mass and bone density you build/ maintain, the more your body will thank you through life and into old age.

No, it's not too much. Though if you've had a few months off you might want to ease into it.

Are you making time to do other things though? See friends, eat out, etc?
She may be more concerned about the balance in your life as presumably she knows about whatever you've just come through.

why would regular exercise be counter productive from a health point of view?

Muscles need some time to recover between exercise sessions to grow and recover. Too frequent exercise and they cannot do this and you increase the risk of injury.

It's an old wives tail that exercise makes women over muscley.
It's actually very difficult for women to put on noticeable amounts of muscle and those who do work out very hard with heavy weights.