questions about hard-gainer-ness ...

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Is there such a thing as being a "hardgainer" in non-lifting sports,
like cycling and ice hockey? If so, is a hardgainer wrt weights also
a hardgainer wrt these other activities? (Not sure how to identify
them, as they're not necessarily aerobic; in hockey, for example,
you're pushing yourself as hard as possible for a minute or so at a
time.) And finally, if you're a hardgainer, do lifting and these
other sports take up the same slots in your workout routine? That is,
if you're only supposed to be doing N workouts a week, does that mean
you can only do N total for both lifting and the other stuff, or can
you lift N times and also do some other activities?

Last year, I was playing ice hockey and mountain biking to a total of
5
or 6 activities a week, maybe more; for a while I was hitting my goal
of
biking every single day ... felt great at the beginning of the summer,
but had what seem to me the classic symptoms of overtraining by the
end.
Couldn't sleep, frequent, prolonged colds, injuries, loss of strength
and endurance ...

Anyoo. When I tell my husband that I believe I was overtraining last
year, well, he just poo-poos it. See, when he was in high school, he
was a swimmer and trained roughly four bazillion hours a day, so he
figures if it worked for him and the rest of the swim team, I must be
wrong. I'll admit that I did what, in retrospect, seems to have been
a very dumb thing -- I was trying a low-fat diet at the same time as I
was cranking up the exercise. I read a book on nutrition, and it said
a lot more than just "don't eat too much fat," but I latched on to
that one piece of advice ... so in the end, I think I was starving
myself for fat. And I'm sure that didn't help. But I still think
that, for my body, I was probably overtraining ...

Thoughts?

The theory I've heard is that because swimming isn't weight bearing, you
can do a lot more of it without overtraining. Biking's not a lot
different - many hours per day, every day, is common. But you won't
find runners training that way. Sounds to me like you've got it pretty
well figured out.

Steve "swimming teacher at the local YMCA" Freides
http://www.kbnj.com

"Steve Freides" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Is there such a thing as being a "hardgainer" in non-lifting sports,
like cycling and ice hockey? If so, is a hardgainer wrt weights also
a hardgainer wrt these other activities? (Not sure how to identify
them, as they're not necessarily aerobic; in hockey, for example,
you're pushing yourself as hard as possible for a minute or so at a
time.) And finally, if you're a hardgainer, do lifting and these
other sports take up the same slots in your workout routine? That is,
if you're only supposed to be doing N workouts a week, does that mean
you can only do N total for both lifting and the other stuff, or can
you lift N times and also do some other activities?

Last year, I was playing ice hockey and mountain biking to a total of 5
or 6 activities a week, maybe more; for a while I was hitting my goal of
biking every single day ... felt great at the beginning of the summer,
but had what seem to me the classic symptoms of overtraining by the end.
Couldn't sleep, frequent, prolonged colds, injuries, loss of strength
and endurance ...

Anyoo. When I tell my husband that I believe I was overtraining last
year, well, he just poo-poos it. See, when he was in high school, he
was a swimmer and trained roughly four bazillion hours a day, so he
figures if it worked for him and the rest of the swim team, I must be
wrong. I'll admit that I did what, in retrospect, seems to have been
a very dumb thing -- I was trying a low-fat diet at the same time as I
was cranking up the exercise. I read a book on nutrition, and it said
a lot more than just "don't eat too much fat," but I latched on to
that one piece of advice ... so in the end, I think I was starving
myself for fat. And I'm sure that didn't help. But I still think
that, for my body, I was probably overtraining ...

Thoughts?

The theory I've heard is that because swimming isn't weight bearing, you
can do a lot more of it without overtraining. Biking's not a lot
different - many hours per day, every day, is common. But you won't find
runners training that way. Sounds to me like you've got it pretty well
figured out.

I wonder if it doesn't have more to do with the statement
"when he was in high school". When I was in high school I
wrestled, did judo, played competitive hockey, and lifted weights
on the side. I can't remember ever feeling burnt out. Now I'm over
forty, and I do the same activities ... except at about a quarter the
intensity, and paying a lot more attention to training cycles. And
I still burn out from time to time ... as you get older your body
just doesn't recover as quickly. And its not just because most
of us spend most of our time behind a desk; read up what
professional athletes say about the long season once they
get past their early 30's.

-JS2

"John Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Steve Freides" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Is there such a thing as being a "hardgainer" in non-lifting sports,
like cycling and ice hockey? If so, is a hardgainer wrt weights
also
a hardgainer wrt these other activities? (Not sure how to identify
them, as they're not necessarily aerobic; in hockey, for example,
you're pushing yourself as hard as possible for a minute or so at a
time.) And finally, if you're a hardgainer, do lifting and these
other sports take up the same slots in your workout routine? That
is,
if you're only supposed to be doing N workouts a week, does that
mean
you can only do N total for both lifting and the other stuff, or can
you lift N times and also do some other activities?

Last year, I was playing ice hockey and mountain biking to a total
of 5
or 6 activities a week, maybe more; for a while I was hitting my
goal of
biking every single day ... felt great at the beginning of the
summer,
but had what seem to me the classic symptoms of overtraining by the
end.
Couldn't sleep, frequent, prolonged colds, injuries, loss of
strength
and endurance ...

Anyoo. When I tell my husband that I believe I was overtraining
last
year, well, he just poo-poos it. See, when he was in high school,
he
was a swimmer and trained roughly four bazillion hours a day, so he
figures if it worked for him and the rest of the swim team, I must
be
wrong. I'll admit that I did what, in retrospect, seems to have
been
a very dumb thing -- I was trying a low-fat diet at the same time as
I
was cranking up the exercise. I read a book on nutrition, and it
said
a lot more than just "don't eat too much fat," but I latched on to
that one piece of advice ... so in the end, I think I was starving
myself for fat. And I'm sure that didn't help. But I still think
that, for my body, I was probably overtraining ...

Thoughts?

The theory I've heard is that because swimming isn't weight bearing,
you can do a lot more of it without overtraining. Biking's not a lot
different - many hours per day, every day, is common. But you won't
find runners training that way. Sounds to me like you've got it
pretty well figured out.

I wonder if it doesn't have more to do with the statement
"when he was in high school". When I was in high school I
wrestled, did judo, played competitive hockey, and lifted weights
on the side. I can't remember ever feeling burnt out. Now I'm over
forty, and I do the same activities ... except at about a quarter the
intensity, and paying a lot more attention to training cycles. And
I still burn out from time to time ... as you get older your body
just doesn't recover as quickly. And its not just because most
of us spend most of our time behind a desk; read up what
professional athletes say about the long season once they
get past their early 30's.

I'm sure you're right, and it all matters - the sport, one's age,
nutrition, etc.

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