Hi, I work out about 5/6 times a week to exercise dvd's. They generally tend to be all over workouts consisting of squats, lunges, abdominals and 5lb dumbells. After browsing this site for a few weeks I have noticed that the general rule seems to be work one muscle group one day then rest it and work a different group. Does this rule just apply to those who are weight lifting or does it apply to everyone. In other words is it alright for me to continue to work my whole body (using all over workout dvds) every day with only one or two rest days? I understand that those who are weightlifting do fewer repetitions with larger weight to exhaustion, which is not what I do.
I hope you can understand my waffle :rolleyes:

When you exercise you tear your muscles and you need to take a rest so they can heal up which makes faster results. So working out like 5/6 times a week isn't always the best because i used to do the same. as for the weights, if you want to be more shaped/ cut you would do less weight and more reps. for bulkiness you would do more weight and less reps. hope that helps

Thanks for your advice Whatever11, I guess I need to sit down and come up with a schedule of some sort so that my muscles get the rest they require.

The best plan is to stagger workouts, not necessarily to use a "split". You only need to use a split if you're aiming for mass and lifting heavy, but some rest is needed for muscle recovery from any exercise. If you have one or two rest days (ideally placed throughout the week, not back to back) that really ought to be enough for the type of exercise that you do. As long as you don't feel tired, exceptionally sore, or abnormally sick, you should be just fine.

Thanks Naxis.

I don't feel tired and I've actually noticed that I have a lot more energy since working out and really look forward to each session.

I was getting worried because I have been exercising at least 5/6 times a week since the beginning of December and haven't really noticed any change on the scales although I feel firmer I haven't had any noticeable change in how my clothes are fitting. I have kept a record of the workouts I have been doing and I have been doing a minimum of an hour sometimes I will do another workout at night bringing the total to 2 hours. I also do yoga most days as well. I'm 32 years old (female), 163cm (5ft 4inches) and weigh 137 lbs, so I am looking to lose about 25 lbs

However I hadn't really changed my eating habits, they are not terrible but they are not what you would call 'clean' either. Which is something I have started to work on.

So if I do an all over workout on say Monday does that mean that I can only do cardio on the Tuesday or is it ok to do cardio and some squats even if I have done squats the previous day, and then Wednesday back to the all over workout?


:confused:

You can do any workout on any day you like. Just put rest days on say,Thursday and Sunday. The "small tears" of micortrauma only occur in significant amounts with heavy lifting - it's part of the mass building process. This doesn't really happen with yoga or exercise videos that use some strength training, but focus mainly on cardiovascular work - no weights. So you really don't have to worry about which muscles to work on which day. Just listen to your body, and if you're sore or fatigued, take the day off.

Definitely clean up the diet. No amount of exercise will compensate for a crappy diet. Once you get eating properly down, you should see significant progress, especially since you've already gotten yourself conditioned. Good luck!

Thanks Naxis, I really appreciate it :)