What are your guys' opinions on this? How much exercise is too strenuous? What would be signs to know the amount of exercise I'm doing is bad for me?
I think that any pro or good level amateur can do two sessions of physical activity a day, for five or six days in a week. But I am pretty sure no one can make those sessions balls-to-the-wall, grueling, all-out sessions: anyone who tries will stop improving and get injured.
If you do train a couple of sessions a day, most days, some sessions will be almost entirely technical or skill-based, some might involve very low intensity things like mobility work, some might be done at such low intensity that it qualifies as "active recovery". Sessions which are balls-to-the-wall will be carefully planned and sequenced. And overall the selection and sequencing of sessions will be very smart. (A caveat, I guess- if you are actually doing competitive events you probably won't quite be able to keep this up.)
Of course, if you are just doing stuff casually (like lifting a couple of times a week, jogging once, taking martial arts classes twice a week) if you tried to jump to a schedule like that right away it would probably wipe you out, even with all the low intensity/recovery sessions. But if you build up to it you should be fine.
The way to tell it is actually too much is simple in principle: you stop improving at a satisfactory rate, and/or you get injured, even though you are training smart, and your rest and nutrition are in point. In practice it's harder because when things stop working, it's hard to say for sure it is because you are doing too much, rather than the wrong things. But, if you are improving at what seems like a decent rate, not getting injured all the time and are enjoying it, then it is pretty safe to say you're not doing too much.
