Question on rest and muscle growth

[Jestter]

I am on the TNT plan and I do their workouts 3 days a week, MWF. Their workouts are total body workouts that include weight lifting. On TTH I usually hit the elliptical crosstrainer (with the arms).

My questions is, does this still count as giving my muscles rest to repair and grow? Or do I really need to take the whole day off? Am I stunting my muscle growth by doing this?

Sorry, thats more than one question :-)

[Karen P]

Hopefully a professional will chime in, but I'm pretty sure you're okay doing the elliptical. I just wouldn't do anything else that would make you sore. I think doing some cardio is fine. When your doing heavy lifting, the fibers in your muscles actually become damaged and they have to repair and rebuild. That process is what makes you stronger and bigger. The idea is not to do anything else from which the muscles will have to repair. A good cardio work out should be okay, but again, I'm not an expert, so take it for what it's worth. Good Luck!

[cycomiko]

Muscle growth won't stop per se, but there is still the metabolic drain on the body as it adapts. nevermind the neural issues from excessive use.

3x weekly plus a couple of elliptical sessions aint much. But if you are not used to it, it may take a bit of getting used to.

[wannabe]

I don't think it will hurt. The elliptical with the arms, (I feel personally) is pretty hard to do correctly. Even the one without arms. I think most people get cheated by doing the elliptical because so much is done off of momentum instead of actual work. I think many choose the elliptical because of the large amount of calories it tells you that you have burned. I think if you were to spend 30 minutes on a treadmill or step climber you would exert more work and the display would say you only burned half the calories of the elliptical. But again, that's my personal viewpoint. This isn't taking into account your age, current health, or ability. Being that the elliptical is mostly momentum, I think you have nothing to worry about.

[wannabe]

wow, I said I think a lot. Sorry for that.

[cycomiko]

I dont think eliptical would be any more momentum than something like cycling.

[wannabe]

I considered that, but truthfully, I never cycled. So I didn't mention it because I don't know anything about cycling.