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 Training Discussion Board
 Don't under-estimate the power of OVERTRAINING
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| Author | Topic: Don't under-estimate the power of OVERTRAINING | ||
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Elite Bodybuilder 
Posts: 663 |
I notice that a lot of people say that they don't believe in overtraining. Well you couldn't be more wrong! You must take under consideration... Even with plenty of rest and proper nutrition, training is just like anything else. All the rest and nutrition in the world is not going to help someone who tries to squat 500lbs when they are not ready for it. Leg press at 500+ lbs when your not ready will cause a number of problems. Undue stress and possibly a fracture, muscle tear, ligament problems, tendon problems. These are all quite real and are all caused by somone doing too much too soon... which is where the term has derived, "overtraining". Taking under consideration that most of us here have been training for quite some time and are aware of our limitations/expectations to reach our goals. We in this catagory can tend to do more because we have conditioned ourselves to progress that way. But... "Overtraining" is still a reality for us as well. If we get to eager and try to do too much to fast, or try something new but use heavy weights because we think we should be able to handle it, could in-result, cause us to pull a muscle. That is "overtraining". A runner gets achilles heel or tendonitis because he/she has "overtrained" themselves and will need treatment and/or rehabilitation to help repair it. This is not specific to just active sports but any activity that requires a physical response. You may not believe in it now or think that it will be much of a reality to you, but... If you experience a pulled back muscle, A shin splint, Sore knee's, tender or sore elbows, I've got news for you... For one reason or another, your a victom of "Overtraining"! It is a reality and it does exist. So don't under-estimate the power of Overtraining! Especially if your a newbie to training. Peace ------------------ Rock On!     | ||
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Cool Novice 
Posts: 26 |
I think that I severly overtrained last semester here at isu. I went down to the weight room everyday and made sure i was the most intense down there. Even when I was sore. in result my gains were not coming and I felt tired all day long...Im not on AS, do you think more restdays are needed...would that hurt my routine? | ||
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Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 1004 |
When clean I try to keep the training to just 4 days a week. It also is possible to have too much intensity in the weight room. What I mean by this is that always training to muscular failure actually pushes down your GTI threshold (point at which body calls it quits). Honestly, progressively handling bigger and bigger weights is what will work. Busting your blood vessles to get one extra half rep won't garantee growth. Just look around your gym...the guys who are always screaming and turning purple while benching are often the scrawniest dudes there. just a pet peave... If there are HIT people here, sorry. | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder 
Posts: 139 |
RockMan, "Overtraining" is a condition that exercise physiologists refer to when an athlete has engaged in an activity (an exercise stimulus) over a period of time so that the body is unable to comprehesively recover from this stimulus. It's something that arises from weeks of overburdening the body's recuperative abilities. It doesn't happen overnight. It has more to do with training volume (# of exercises, sets, and reps) than with improper technique or bad judgement concerning poundages. Like any other condition, it is identified by specific symptoms such as irritability, decreased enregy levels, loss of training motivation, strength loss, a weakened immune system (presumably from the lowered glutamine levels in the body), etc. Basically, it is someone trying to do too much for too long. I've never said I don't believe it's possible to overtrain. However, I do think it's a term thrown around a little too easily nowdays. The human body will do whatever it can to meet the demands placed upon it, unless of course you don't train correctly like you have mentioned, and injur yourself. But torn ligaments and pulled muscles are a different problem than overtraining. Although these injuries are much more likely to occur while one is attempting to exercise while in an overtrained state. I believe it's much harder to overtrain than people realize, especially for seasoned athletes eating and resting properly. Of course, AS will open up your window for optimal growth even further, enabling one to train much less or much more (in terms of training volume) and still remain in an optimal training zone for growth and recovery. ------------------ | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 262 |
can someone list the pros and cons of "overtraining" assuming u work each major bodypart once a week,let me give an example with legs,assume u usually do 315 for you first set of squats pretty easily for 12,now lets say u did alot of running,staircliming etc 2-3 days before your next squat workout(1 week later),is it better to do that squat workout even if u dont feel "fresh",and on your first set u are struggling to get 9 reps when u use to do 12 easily,and recover the week after( 2weeks later) and do 315x12 again ,or is better to take that week in the middle off,and do less reps due to undertraining,say 315x9 not because your feeling like u are not recovered but because u have not done shit for 2 weeks? what im trying to say is,for example if u work legs on monday,and for some reason they are not recovered by the next monday,your target day would be around wednesday(9days later) but,u cannot do it on wednesday because wednesday u work another body part,so your only choices are to work legs on monday even though u cannot do the same reps or weight as normal because you are not recovered ,or to weight till the next week ,which is waiting too long( at least for me,i have bad genitics) and do lesss reps due to undertraining,not due to not being recovered
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Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 242 |
You can live in the gym if you want to and train till you are blue in the face, but your body needs rest!!!!!! You GROW when you recover, when you rest. Not when you are in the gym pumping iron and feeling a good pump. You must eat, and sleep in order to grow and reach maximum results. Too many people spend way to much time in the gym! You have to be able to give yourself rest days and make sure you are eating plenty of protein, fat, carbs, good 4 u calories, and SLEEP. We all make sure we get the training in, but sometimes are diet and rest are not what they should be and that inhibits potential growth  | ||
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Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 663 |
**Chillin... In that case what I would do is completely change up the leg routine. If you are not up to your normal routine for legs by the next leg day, then try a completely different routine. By doing this... you will need to start out with a different weight probably not as much as you would your normal routine. This allows you to still get an optimal workout for your legs by way of challenge in a different routine. For example, if your normal routine was like this... try this... By doing this you allow each leg to get a great workout independently. You will need to reduce the weight, but you will still benefit because you're training in a completely different mind set (remember, you must train mind and muscle connection). You should then be able to switch back and forth more easily allowing you to work legs appropiately to your schedule. **Genetiking, I too believe that the term and/or word overtraining is used much too loosely. There is actually two catagories that people get confused. Overtraining (which by my post was just to point out that it does in fact exist), and then there is Burn-Out. Burn-Out is very real too. If you are exhausted by your workouts and don't have the energy both mentally and physically, that would fall into this catagory as well. I think a lot of people experience this and blame it on overtraining. A major cause of Burn-Out is not getting enough rest, not eating properly and hitting the gym too much and too frequently and as a result, not being able to perform to the standards you believe you should be. I believe that Burn-Out is a pre-curser to Overtraining. ------------------ Rock On! | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 100 |
Every time you push the yourself in the gym you are overtrained.When you breakdown the muscle fiber you are overtrained. Given a good diet and plenty of rest the body will recuperate and strengthen itself as to cope with the stress it has been put under. However if nutrition is poor or not enough rest has been had before the next workout, the body will still be overtrained from the previous workout. If this is repeated then most people will become chronically overtrained. This is quite a serious state to be in, and will take months to recover from. However this mainly happens to those whose discipline is cardio based. | ||
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Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 1001 |
Rock_Man - what a great post. Overtraining? Yes, I believe in it. I think I've reached it a few times over the years. Recently, I hit it after my last competition. Gosh, it was so hard to get "focused" again. I took about a month off which was all I could stand! haha Then, I went back slowly, and once again, I'm focused on new goals, opportunities, ideas for the new year! ------------------ | ||
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Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 822 |
Great post Rock_man. Chillin, do you know what a full stop is? |
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posted January 29, 2001 02:12 PM