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I recently starting using a treadmill desk. I just hate sitting for long periods of time, and I'm so much more productive and alert when I'm using my treadmill desk. I'm walking about 4-8 miles a day. I've noticed I'm having a hard time making some strength gains and the leg workouts in particular are harder at the gym lately. Although I have noticed that as my body is getting used to all the walking, my legs aren't as tired by the time I get to the gym. Do I just need to take in more calories (already am eating 500-1000 calories more per day since using the treadmill desk), or is all this walking tiring out my muscles before the gym and hindering my gains? I also do HIIT on my days off from lifting which is about 3x per week. When I first started all this walking, I actually couldn't even squat my normal working sets, but after a month of using the treadmill desk and getting used to all the walking, my squats are back where they were before I started using the treadmill desk. Except now I can't seem to increase my squat at all from where it was.
I know too much cardio can hinder strength gains, but walking at 1.5 mph for four hours isn't really cardio, right? I take frequent sitting breaks too.
Do you need more calories? Who knows? Are you losing weight?
The walking in and of itself shouldn't be a problem. If you are lifting 4 days a week, HIIT 3 days and walking 8 miles on top of that you might overall just be overdoing it. How much sleep do you get?
Do you need more calories? Who knows? Are you losing weight?
The walking in and of itself shouldn't be a problem. If you are lifting 4 days a week, HIIT 3 days and walking 8 miles on top of that you might overall just be overdoing it. How much sleep do you get?
I typically get as much sleep as my body needs, which is between 7 and 9 hours, 9 usually the nights after heavy deadlifting.
I did some more reading on the subject, and my hunch is that all the walking did initially hurt my strength gains, but only because it was fatiguing me since my body was not used to all the walking. Now that I'm more used to all the walking my lifts are back where they were. The HIIT could also be a culprit and I am possibly overtraining.
I am being careful to start sitting when I start to feel tired from walking.
It's hard to tell if I have lost weight - I do weigh about 1.5 pounds less, but that's small enough that it could be attributed to fluctuations in body weight. Still, it's very possible I'm just not eating enough calories. I'll try adding another 500 calories per day for a couple of weeks and monitor my weight and strength gains.
Yes, you need to stand still for the rest of your life, except when you are working out or you will lose all your strength.
Some bodybuilders really think along these lines, and think any sort of physical activity outside the gym will cannibalize their efforts in the gym. But low intensity physical activity can be an asset in the toolbox of any lifter.
Some bodybuilders really think along these lines, and think any sort of physical activity outside the gym will cannibalize their efforts in the gym. But low intensity physical activity can be an asset in the toolbox of any lifter.
Or you could just do heavy manual labor outside and build actual useful muscles as opposed to pretty gym muscles.
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