overtraining?

inability to sleep through the night, fatigue, soreness, consistent negative progress. Everyone will have a bad w/o every once in awhile but if you are seeing steady declines in strength or progress than you could b overtrained. All of these are some symptoms
calebx23 said:
how do i know if i am overtraining... i.e. symptoms
 
exactly all the things thick said.. plus the big main one the nasty cold virus ..ive done this and i know lotta people that have 2 , its pushing your self so hard that u completely ware your body out and you get very sick the flu or a cold ..when u over train depeniding how over trained u are u can become very ill...other than that if u eat very well and healthy and say follow a workout schedule of say 3 days on 2 days off and workout say 40 -50 mins session ur body shouldnt be too over trained ... but if u feel like shit rest up for a bit ..that way u can get your strength and determination back then u can go back too the gym and lift weights with a vengance !!!
 
Yeah, I get the dumbell flu if I try to hit everything twice a week. I end up on a 9 or 10 day cycle... nothing sacred about 7 days, but like you said, I need more rest than 1 week, but don't grow unless I hit the parts quicker than only once a week. I guess I hit them 1.5x a week.


rollinsband said:
exactly all the things thick said.. plus the big main one the nasty cold virus ..ive done this and i know lotta people that have 2 , its pushing your self so hard that u completely ware your body out and you get very sick the flu or a cold ..when u over train depeniding how over trained u are u can become very ill...other than that if u eat very well and healthy and say follow a workout schedule of say 3 days on 2 days off and workout say 40 -50 mins session ur body shouldnt be too over trained ... but if u feel like shit rest up for a bit ..that way u can get your strength and determination back then u can go back too the gym and lift weights with a vengance !!!
 
Might just be me, but I know I am overtraining when I get sore in my forearms (noticable whilst wking out). Ideal sessions are 40 -50 min like mentioned above. Anything more is usually overkill.
 
Boy this is a mouthful. About 7 years ago I was training too much but didn't realize it. I was having trouble sleeping, lost my appetite, etc.

All of the sudden I got hit with a throat infection and a 105 flu whereby I was hospitalized. It wasn't until a year or two later when I training with Mr. South Africa here in LA and he explained the principals thick mentions.

If you don't feel strong/healthy, your body is talking to you.

Good Luck Bro!

.
 
calebx23 said:
how do i know if i am overtraining... i.e. symptoms

How right the guys that answered your post are. I used to overtrain for yrs . I actually made gains but only because I have good genetics but had tons injuries, every cold that hit North America .
I work out way less now made way more gains and no injuries. I did get a cold this yr though heeheee but my wife had a killer cold I was bound to get it.
It only lasted 3 days in my overtraing yrs it would have lasted 2 weeks.
If your muscles arent growing or have the hardness( overtrained muscles arent as tight,full looking,they get like "softish")you dont feel like working out just that fire/drive is not what it once was you might be overtraining .

Darter
 
Most of you guys are describing "overreaching", not overtraining.

If you are making gains, you're not overtraining.

Overtraining means that you are actually regressing; getting smaller and weaker. If you are bigger and stroner, even by a single OUNCE, then you aren't overtrained.

If you are weaker at every single exercise this week, than you're overtrained.

Also, overtraining happens over the course of many weeks...it can't happen in one day, or even one week.
 
Freddy said:
Most of you guys are describing "overreaching", not overtraining.

If you are making gains, you're not overtraining.

Overtraining means that you are actually regressing; getting smaller and weaker. If you are bigger and stroner, even by a single OUNCE, then you aren't overtrained.

If you are weaker at every single exercise this week, than you're overtrained.

Also, overtraining happens over the course of many weeks...it can't happen in one day, or even one week.
And overtraining also cant be remedied in a few days or a week or a lot of times even for a month or more.
 
Seriously?

What's the cure, complete layoff? High reps? HST?


Bob Smith said:
And overtraining also cant be remedied in a few days or a week or a lot of times even for a month or more.
 
Neodavid said:
Seriously?

What's the cure, complete layoff? High reps? HST?
Take a week or two off and refocus on a new routine. Don't even do pushups, let your body relax.

I do this anyway ever month or two. I love it.

d
 
Very few athletes today are ever "overtrained". It simply takes too long and everyone is so paranoid about doing it that it rarely happens.

And, you shouldn't fear "over reaching". In fact, you need to over-reach to some extent at least part of every training cycle. Thats why you guys thought that you were "overtrained" yet were actually making some pretty good gains.

The best athletes in the world over-reach for at least a few weeks of every few months of their training.
 
Freddy said:
Very few athletes today are ever "overtrained". It simply takes too long and everyone is so paranoid about doing it that it rarely happens.

And, you shouldn't fear "over reaching". In fact, you need to over-reach to some extent at least part of every training cycle. Thats why you guys thought that you were "overtrained" yet were actually making some pretty good gains.

The best athletes in the world over-reach for at least a few weeks of every few months of their training.
Freddy you're the man, but I disagree with these statements mostly because the way you're explaining them.

I think it is quite easy to "overtrain". I've seen countless newbies banging away 20 sets of chest 2/3 times a week and wondering why they can't sleep, eat or grow. Most of them think they're in a plateau and keep going forward until they end up with the mystery "flu".

This is overtraining. Hitting a plateau is not overtraining. IMHO

If you still disagree with me, I'd like to challange you to a full contact oil wrestling match, g-strings only - that's not gay is it? :o
.
 
Dart said:
I think it is quite easy to "overtrain".
Its really not. True overtraining, as Freddy has described it, is rather difficult to achieve. A week or two off from the gym wont cure it, nor will changing up your routine or eating better. Its not uncommon to be forced to take at least a month off from the gym and other activities before someone who is truly overtrained can begin training again. Sometimes it could be 2 or more months.

Dart said:
I've seen countless newbies banging away 20 sets of chest 2/3 times a week and wondering why they can't sleep, eat or grow. Most of them think they're in a plateau and keep going forward until they end up with the mystery "flu".
They dont gain for a few reasons, and rarely are any of those reasons overtraining. Shitty program and terrible nutrition are two main culprits. A redesigned program with some intelligent training and these people would start growing right away.
 
Bob Smith said:
Its really not. True overtraining, as Freddy has described it, is rather difficult to achieve. A week or two off from the gym wont cure it, nor will changing up your routine or eating better. Its not uncommon to be forced to take at least a month off from the gym and other activities before someone who is truly overtrained can begin training again. Sometimes it could be 2 or more months.


They dont gain for a few reasons, and rarely are any of those reasons overtraining. Shitty program and terrible nutrition are two main culprits. A redesigned program with some intelligent training and these people would start growing right away.
You always wanna ruin an argument with your stupid "reason" and "logic"!
 
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Bob beat me to the punch here. He responded with exactly what I would have.

Remember, if you're staying exactly the same strength at exactly the same weight...you're not overtrained.

To be overtrained, you have to see a decrease in performance. That means you are weaker, and your lean body mass is getting smaller.

Anything else one might experience, while it might not be good per se, still isn't overtraining.

If your limit strength is staying the same, for example; you can bench 350 for a 1 rep max today, just like you could 2 months ago, and your anaerobic endurance strength is the same, for example; you can bench 300 for 5 sets of 5 reps, just like you could 2 months ago, and you weigh 225 pounds at 12% bodyfat, just like 2 months ago...its impossible for you to be overtrained, regardless of how shitty you feel.
 
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