Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
Overtraining does exist but it has become such a buzzword and so many people are deathly afraid of it, that they are scared to train more than twice a week. Most of the people who are overtraining on 3-4 days a week are getting 5 hours of sleep a night, eating 70 grams of protein a day and not taking care of themselves. The body is amazingly adaptable to the stresses imposed upon it and it is possible to gradually work up to an extreme level of volume and continue to grow from it. Granted these levels of exercise must be slowly eased into.
Extra protein consumption and extra sleep, not to mention vitamins etc. can help the recovery process and allow one to handle much more exercise than they would by susisting on the "average American diet" but these safeguards cannot completely eliminate overtraining completely.
In short, what is overtraining to one is not necessarily overtraining to another and what is overtraining to Harry while he is drinking a quart of jack daniels a night, smoking 3 packs of cigs, working 12 hour days and getting 4 hours of sleep a night may not be overtraining (it may then become undertraining) to Harry when he cuts his work week back to 40 hours, ditches the booze, cigarettes, and gets 10 hours of sleep a night.
Extra protein consumption and extra sleep, not to mention vitamins etc. can help the recovery process and allow one to handle much more exercise than they would by susisting on the "average American diet" but these safeguards cannot completely eliminate overtraining completely.
In short, what is overtraining to one is not necessarily overtraining to another and what is overtraining to Harry while he is drinking a quart of jack daniels a night, smoking 3 packs of cigs, working 12 hour days and getting 4 hours of sleep a night may not be overtraining (it may then become undertraining) to Harry when he cuts his work week back to 40 hours, ditches the booze, cigarettes, and gets 10 hours of sleep a night.
