Overtraining

[fifteyfive91]

As you can tell from the number of posts I have, I don't post often, although I've been coming to elitefitness for almost two years. I don't have studies to back up my claims, only anecdotal evidence from approximately sixteen years of lifting. Overtraining may work on paper, but in reality it is a very select few who could get benefits from it.

The greatest thing about the iron sports is that they are all geared towards individual achievement. With experience each will find what techniques and diet works for them, and there are almost no absolutes in wieght training. The operant word here is "almost". If one engages in true overtraining, (the type of training where intramuscular breakdown is not given time to repair before the muscle is broken down again), it is virtually impossible to grow. It is not logical that you can grow. (How can a man build a brick wall while another smashes it with a sledghammer?) The growth others may think they are experiencing from "overtraining" is simply training at a level of intensity they have not worked at before. They are still recovering between workouts. It may come from a new diet, supplement, or experimentation with chemical enhancment. This is what I was talking about above-you find what works for you. It is impossible to overtrain on a regular basis and expect to grow from it. (Putting aside the physical aspect-psychologically when you overtrain you're going to loathe going to the gym, and even when you're recovered you 're going to be lazy)

I think this would be a good time for veteran lifters (veteran=at least five years lifting experience) to add ideas about what less experinced lifters should look for, and what they should avoid. (I wish I had something like this when I started. All I had were Joe Wieder's bullshit magazines)

 

[Thaibox]

Good post bro

I still have all those crappy old weider mags in my parent's loft Along with books of Arnold's, Kennedy, Darden, etc. Those, and the few big fuckers around were my only medium.

The reason I am one of the guys that comes down hardest on the overtraining posts, is that my body overtrains easily. After about 10 years of lifting I have learned how many days a week I can lift. I can walk into the gym and upon the first rep of my lift, I can tell that if I go any further that day, I am going to get sick. It took years of plateauing, being sick, ups and downs, etc., until I found my personal median between over and undertraining. People just need to realize that rest is more important than training sometimes. Overesting can be good, but overtraining can easily be destructive.

Individualization is what makes many posts on this board invalid. Its amazing how differently people's bodies can react to the same stimuli.

 

[Jacob Creutzfeldt]

How can someone not know whether a program works or not? You collect data to draw conclusions like any other research. If you are dieting to lose fat then take caliper pinches and record macronutrient intake. If the fatfolds are decreasing then you are losing body fat. The same thing works with an exercise program. If you are trying to gain strength then record your weights and reps from session to session and compare them. If strength is going up, then your program is successful. If increasing muscle size is your goal, then combine bodyfat caliper readings and bodyfat % conversions with scale weight. If your lean mass is increasing, then your program is successful.

 

[lemur]

but Jacob, there are so many variables that it is again individualized... training, diet, form, genetics, intensity... I believe the point is a program that works fine for you may totally wreck my CNS.

what you say makes perfect sense, but like I said, say the SSalex routine might give you awesome gains, but it might totally wreck my arms and make me unable to work out for a month. too many variables to say "this program will provide optimal result to strength trainee".

 

[lemur]

great post, btw.