How intense do you consider this plan? page 2

[Neckhammer]

^No doubt that'll do it

[Reventon]

Nobody knows how hard you are pushing but you. There is a huge difference between a hard workout and a debilitating workout. Your body will tell you.

Never a truer word said. Learning to listen to your body is a crucial thing because as similar as we all are, we're all totally different too.

Like you said, Cierra, the extra intensity means you hammer yourself quickly, but IMO the endorphin high from a quick, high intensity workout is way better than from a long protracted one. Once you're past the nausea anyway.

The only tip I'd add is to vary your rest days and training days based on what your body tells you. Sometimes I know my body is just not feeling it. Maybe I'm short on sleep without being aware of it, maybe it's a bit deficient in something, maybe it just wants a rest. When this feeling hits me, I chill. I allow myself a cheat meal if I've got a craving. I reward my body for looking after me. I might go for a walk and do some stretching, I might not even bother with that and just have a siesta.

On the other hand, sometimes I'm halfway through my session and ready to laugh maniacally because I feel utterly invincible and unstoppable. "Gym have puny weights! HULK LAUGH!!!"

At this point, it's time to start smashing myself. Supersets and dropsets on lifting days, extra time or intensity during HIIT/sprinterval sessions. Whatever the method, I make sure that when my body is bringing its A game, I challenge it to the utmost.

This has me happier at the gym now than I have been forever. It may be you don't enjoy the variance, but I find it exciting.

[lyn c nito]

I was going to suggest a shorter, harder HIIT session. Glad you discovered it yourself. I'd also change the lifting exercises every few weeks as it gets too routine. I lift 4 days a week, do hiit almost every day and throw in two long walks a week. Believe it or not, the long walks really seem to make a difference. I used to work out much more (weights every day, long demanding cardio and HIIT) and got better results when I cut back some. I had some seriously messed up bloodwork which went away once I abandoned over working.

[TTBlue21]

...but IMO the endorphin high from a quick, high intensity workout is way better than from a long protracted one. Once you're past the nausea anyway.

HIIT brings the most intense endorphin high. I tried explaining it to people and they won't even try it.

[heatseeker]

Doesn't look too much at all. What are your goals?

If they are to become stronger I would trade in your five mile runs for 10-12 all out 50-100m sprints as well as
recommend some compound barbell movements ie squats, deadlifts, thrusters, snatch, c&js in place of your interval body building machine routine.

If you don't feel like you are overtraining you are not overtraining.

+1 to this whole post. I did basically your exact weekly routine when I was your age, and it got me nowhere. Switching my HIIT to short 10-15 minute workouts, doing the barbell lifts mentioned above instead of isolated lifts, and adding 10x10sec sprints once a week changed my strength and fitness levels, and my body composition, dramatically.

I do a comparatively higher volume of exercise than most people I know, and it feels good to me, so I see no reason to pull back. You will know if you're overtraining, believe me.