recovery time and bodyweight excercises

"TheGist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

So, I have been doing some traditional bodyweight excercises mostly just
for fun and to add a little something to "cardio-only" days.
I qonder though, I am under the belief that bodyweight excercises done in
moderation do not require the same recovery times as excercises with
weights. Is that true?
I do some dips and pullups and pushups and situps on cardio only days and
don't really notice that I am expereincing any fatigue and weakness on
days that I life but I am wondering if I am somehow setting myself up for
reduced gains by doing this?

It's all relative - you can leverage your body in ways to make bodyweight
exercises plenty hard - just look at gymnasts.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

TheGist said:

So, I have been doing some traditional bodyweight excercises mostly just
for fun and to add a little something to "cardio-only" days.
I qonder though, I am under the belief that bodyweight excercises done
in moderation do not require the same recovery times as excercises with
weights. Is that true?
I do some dips and pullups and pushups and situps on cardio only days
and don't really notice that I am expereincing any fatigue and weakness
on days that I life but I am wondering if I am somehow setting myself up
for reduced gains by doing this?

Prolly not. In general, optimal recovery time is on a sliding scale,
proportional to the intensity of the exercise. There is no magic
number.

TheGist said:

So, I have been doing some traditional bodyweight excercises mostly
just for fun and to add a little something to "cardio-only" days. I
qonder though, I am under the belief that bodyweight excercises done
in moderation do not require the same recovery times as excercises
with weights. Is that true?

I imagine that depends. Bodyweight exercises certainly aren't
magical. If you are doing a lot of work, the fact that you are only
using body weight doesn't really help. For example, one armed pullups
are a body weight exercise, but I imagine that if you do a pile of
them your arms and back aren't likely to be too useful the next day.

Not that I have first hand experience, I can't do a one armed pullup.
The point is that body weight doesn't necessarily equate with "easy."

Quoted message said:

I do some dips and pullups and pushups and situps on cardio only
days and don't really notice that I am expereincing any fatigue and
weakness on days that I life but I am wondering if I am somehow
setting myself up for reduced gains by doing this?

Who knows? The only real way to figure this out is to write down
everything you do and how you feel and try and look for long term
trends. We're all different, and a workout that would kill me might
be just right for you. It sounds like it's working for you though.
Are the weights still going up? If so, that's generally a good sign.

Jason

[good helpful info snipped for brevity]

Quoted message said:

Who knows? The only real way to figure this out is to write down
everything you do and how you feel and try and look for long term
trends. We're all different, and a workout that would kill me might
be just right for you. It sounds like it's working for you though.
Are the weights still going up? If so, that's generally a good sign.

I sort of figured that that is the best answer I'd get.
Makes perfect sense of course. Yes, the weights are still going up
AND I am able to get more reps in on the bodyweight stuff. I am most
impressed by how quickly I have been able to add reps. I am
thinking about adding some weight to my dips through one of those belts
that you can hang plates from but haven't yet because then I am getting
away from "fun thing I do with cardio" to "something I care enough about
to add to my usual workout". The dips seems to be the best triceps
workout I have come across. Feel dumb for not having done them more in
the past.

TheGist said:

So, I have been doing some traditional bodyweight excercises mostly just
for fun and to add a little something to "cardio-only" days.
I qonder though, I am under the belief that bodyweight excercises done
in moderation do not require the same recovery times as excercises with
weights. Is that true?

Bodyweight exercises aren't all created equal. It depends on the
intensity, i.e. degree of difficulty of what you do. As you said
moderation is the key word.

TheGist said:

[good helpful info snipped for brevity]

Quoted message said:

Who knows? The only real way to figure this out is to write down
everything you do and how you feel and try and look for long term
trends. We're all different, and a workout that would kill me might
be just right for you. It sounds like it's working for you though.
Are the weights still going up? If so, that's generally a good sign.

I sort of figured that that is the best answer I'd get. Makes
perfect sense of course.

I suppose I could have told you that for three easy installments of
$39.95 I would tell you the optimal way to mix body weight exercises
in with your weight training 🙂. I don't really know that an
"optimal" mix exists, but for nearly $120 I am sure I could make
something up.

Quoted message said:

Yes, the weights are still going up AND I am able to get more reps
in on the bodyweight stuff. I am most impressed by how quickly I
have been able to add reps. I am thinking about adding some weight
to my dips through one of those belts that you can hang plates from
but haven't yet because then I am getting away from "fun thing I do
with cardio" to "something I care enough about to add to my usual
workout". The dips seems to be the best triceps workout I have come
across. Feel dumb for not having done them more in the past.

Getting fired up about setting new PRs is also a pretty good sign that
you aren't overtraining. Anyway you slice it dips are a good
exercise. I really wish I had a dip station.

Jason