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.

God no, not excessive and if it helps your mental health, as it does me, you do what you need to do. I do Zumba class, pilates class and gym 3-4 times a week. You know your body

Absolutely not excessive. I imagine most sessions are 1 hour or less - not like each one is 2 hours.
I do 4x per week, two x weights and two x cardio/hiit.I am toned but not what you would call muscular. It keeps me happy and healthy. Your mate could be concerned - but she might also feel she has to keep up and doesn’t want to do 4 per week herself! Go for it.

Ignore your friend. It’s not excessive at all; in fact, it’s what everyone should be doing.

Not if you have the time.

Nope not excessive. Pre-child I used to work out 5 days a week for 1-1.5hrs each time - sometimes longer if I was doing a particularly long run. It was a mixture of running, bootcamp and strength training. Now, I only wish I could fit all that in with a 2 year old! But I still do 3-4 times a week for 30-45 mins at a time, usually 2 runs and 2 strength sessions, plus I walk every day on top of that to make sure I hit my step goals. If you have the time and you enjoy it, then go for it!

Not excessive at all. Nearly 68, I do 30 mins or so of stretching/weights exercise every day and Zumba twice a week. I'd seize up if I did less😉.

"Toned arms" are already muscley. You can't have toned muscle if you don't already have muscle. And anyway, what's wrong with having muscles and broad shoulders?

Gonna go out on a limb and say, women who make money from pole dancing do more than an hour three times a week, and many of them do not resemble men. Which is clearly what your friend is threatening you with.

I'm jealous and so is your friend

Unless you’re pushing yourself to injury or are massively neglecting other important things in your life, I don’t think it matters how much you do.

That's like the basic minimum or below. I'd add in a couple of hours of running or cycling or swimming to get it up to a healthy amount

I do 3-5 sessions a week. It's not excessive unless it's impacting other aspects of your life

I do cardio 7-8 times a week plus some light weight training whenever the mood strikes.

She sounds far too invested in your routine and what you are doing. Her concern would be justified if you were exercising multiple hours each day and obsessing over your appearance. However, by your description, you are doing what feels good and makes you happy which is well balanced.

Her concerns over your shoulders physique are also uneducated

I go to the gym 3 times a week (only do cardio for an hour), 5k Parkrun on a Saturday, then I usually end up running Junior Parkrun with our DC on the Sunday and then swimming afterwards.

I don’t think that’s excessive!

There’s a right glut of so called ‘friends’ on MN at the moment. Assuming that these sessions are about an hour, then no it’s not excessive. Someone running 4 hours a day 6 days a week might spark a concern for me but it would depend on other things too.

Enjoy your exercise and ignore her- very much a her problem not a you one.

If you have the time and the energy go for it! It's not excessive. I do several gym sessions and classes a week because I enjoy it and it's good for me and my MH.

Ideally we’d all do at least 60 minutes of being active daily, so I don’t know where your friend is getting her ideas from.