Too much exercise?

[paulapalooza]

This summer, I got into weightlifting, and I was able to loosely follow the Stronglifts 5x5 program. I gained quite a bit of strength during the two months I trained seriously.

 

However, as the semester began, I ran out of time and energy to lift 3 times a week. I was able to find time to lift twice a week, but progress was slow. Why? One reason could be is that the time I found was right after ballet class, and boy was that a bad idea. Also, I dance for 11 hours a week (3 hours of it are ballet, and the other 8 are team practices, which are less intense), and I have a 1-hour tumbling class twice a week. So basically, that sums up to ~14 hours of exercise per week (added an hour for all the biking on hilly terrain I do to get to places).

 

Because I have so many other physical activities, I'm questioning whether or not I can keep strength training. If I can, what is the optimal way to do it? I love dancing, and I love weightlifting, but I'm afraid that I can't pursue both goals at once. I found a good time to lift (Saturday because it gives me one rest day to not do intense physical activity). Is it possible to make progress if I lift only once a week?

 

On a side note, when I squat heavy, it's like I'm pushing with one leg and then the other, which seems like a great way to get injured. Any tips on how to fix that?

[Mad Hatter]

Strength training will help you prevent dance injuries so you should definitely keep doing it. Especially since you love it. Not sure how to best add it to your training schedule though. I recently came across this blog that talks about dancing and strength training, maybe it will help.

 

If you post a video in the form check section I'm sure you'll get great advice on how to fix your squat.

[Timmy M]

definitely post form checks, from the front/back if you're favouring one side, also what's your eating/sleeping like? there's a lovely saying that goes 'there's no such thing as over training, just under sleeping and eating' (or something like)
 

Mad Hatter's right, the strength training will help prevent injuries, just make sure you're doing it right

[paulapalooza]

Yup, I think the sleeping and eating could be the culprit, especially the sleeping. I take a heavy courseload and have lots of extracurricular commitments, so time is very limited and sleep is sacrificed. Not much I can do about that. I'm doing the best I can with eating given that dining hall food is often shitty (and most of the options are grains, which I don't eat much of), I'm on the 8 meal plan, and sometimes I underestimate the amount of groceries I need to buy for the weekend. That college life.

That being said, I think I'll drop the weight for the next session and work my way back up since deloading at a plateau is part of StrongLifts. That still leaves one question unanswered: can I make progress if I lift only once a week?

[Timmy M]

once a week is pretty damn hard to build on... but simply as injury prevention it could be could be ok you'll just have to take into account the fact that you'll have very slow gains, also if you're only doing one a week then chuck the bench, do ohp, rows and alternate squats and deadlifts and that should suffice to keep everything together

[JPrev]

So the literature says lifting once a week generally isn't sufficient to see continuous improvements.  However, I think your level of activity is worth noting.  It's not like your muscles are just chillin' on the couch for the other 6 days.  It almost makes me wonder if lifting three times per week would push you towards over training!

 

As others are saying, once per week is still doing something for you, even if it's not shooting your gainz into the stratosphere.  I wouldn't despair over that.  It sounds like you have plenty of things to focus on - dancing and coursework - and you're doing all you can to keep it balanced.  If adding another lifting session comes at the cost of much needed rest time, it's not worth it!

[CombatBoot]

I can't say anything about weightlifting, but what could be a strength-training option for you is the GTG (Grease The Groove) method. 

It's described pretty well here.

[cobaltflash]

cut back a bit and see what happens maybe do a 4x4 instead of a 5x5 and if that causes a change you just might be over training but if you still feel the same you might need to check your form as it could be causing you unneeded pain.

[Vintage]

One thing that might make things a little more complicated here is diet. I'm guessing that as a dancer you're not aiming to put on much muscle and thus not deliberately eating at a caloric surplus (plus the constant activity is probably burning through a lot of activity). This doesn't make strength training pointless, but it will slow down progress. Combine that with only lifting once/week and results might be painfully slow in coming.

 

But I get it... I love strength training. If you pay attention to how you're feeling, there's no real reason you can't give it a try. Pick a few compound movements and really focus on form and technique to maximize your progress.

[Timmy M]

i do feel like this needs to be reiterated tbh... it's obscenely hard to legitimately over train, there's staleness which is more like mental fatigue due to doing loads of stuff without a break to think (which is the most likely in this case, especially with you studying right now, though saying that the training could be a welcome break, it depends on the individual), there's an increase chance of injury if you don't take time to stay on top of any tweaks and minor strains, which are part and parcel of any training regime (if they're tendon/ligament related then they may well require rest but its usually possible to train around such things (probably harder for a dancer if i'm honest)) and of course there's my first comment of under sleeping/eating which lowers recovery times.

 

the human body is much more capable than people give it credit for, maybe not straight away, but your workload is manageable... you never know... you might even thrive on it

[paulapalooza]

Alright, so I got the idea that it's hard to overtrain, and that makes me pretty happy. The other exercise that I do doesn't exert nearly as much effort as lifting weight does, so I'm definitely not overtraining.

 

I'm not that worried about gaining muscle mass. In fact, it would be nice. My main fitness goal is to get stronger and more flexible. It would be nice to gain some muscle definition (result of losing fat and gaining muscle, I guess). I'm particularly interested in gaining upper body strength, where I am the weakest (I want to be able to do a god damn pull-up and someday getting onto the second floor balcony just by jumping, grabbing an obtrusion, and pulling myself up and over the side).

 

Calories are hard to come by on some days, but I try to make up for the lack of food by drinking milk and slathering my carrots in nut butters, which are calorie dense and super duper delicious.

 

I'm okay with not being able to add 15 pounds to my squat every week like I did during the summer. In fact, I would be happy to maintain my current level of strength until I have more time.

 

To make the most out of my next lifting session, I will fix the following mistakes that I've made in the last few weeks:

• Lifting right after ballet class, when my legs are tired from all those developpes and arabesques.
• Lifting while recovering from sickness.
• Lifting on a day that I didn't eat enough yet.
• Lifting on a sleep deficit.

Pretty stupid mistakes, huh?

[alienjenn]

just wanted to say... I go to the gym and lift once or twice a week (MOST weeks it's once )

 

 

and I have seen gains... not as fast as I want... but fast enough I am happy