over training

[TrojanMan60563]

Can you over train on gear?

Secondly I have very hard time determining when I reach the point of over training. Are there cut and dry signs you are doing too much? I really enjoy a workout with volume. The other issues is some muscles seem to respond to high reps, and others to heavy. I don't know what is ideal for what group of muscle, or if there is a standard. Coming from a powerlifting background I tend to push for heavy weights lower reps for everything. I also tend to start each movement higher reps and work down to 6-8 reps for final set, or even 2-3 reps with said weight, and end with 2-3 more of a bit lighter weight to keep it at max effort for whole set. I typically do 15-25 sets per muscle group. Another factor I have noticed is diet...the less I am eating the weaker I feel, and less recovered between workouts.

 

[plums_jp]

I would assume you could easily overtrain on gear, your body still needs that recovery time to grow.. For me I usually know when it's time to leave the gym because my body begins to want food, I start to feel weaker, so I usually go home and eat when this happens.. I agree with what you said about the less you eat the weaker you feel.. This makes sense, you should be weaker with less food, because your muscle is unable to grow, I have a super high meta olism too so I have to be eating constantly, I eat at the very least,4000 calories a day and on workout days i still feel empty after a 1 hr. workout unless I eat a huge meal afterwards...

 

[CORUM]

overtraining is always a mystery to me. i know after a few weeks of lifting heavy all the time and high volume each workout after about 8 weeks i was burnt out. i had no motivation to do anything, and was actually getting fatter instead of building muscle. so i looked into it and i had the symtoms of overtraining. so i had to cut it back a little, but now when i am in the gym tacking my breaks and less exercises, i just don't feel like i do enough. hard thing to wrap my head around

 

[TrojanMan60563]

I hate cardio and tend to cut breaks between sets. I like that pumped feeling it gives...I wonder how counter productive that is for gaining muscle size, or even retaining it. Maybe the longer rests and heavier consecutive sets would yield better gains.

Again the over training thing is a mystery to me guys. I have been cutting back past few months on number of sets and it seems I have been growing, but I have been getting leaner too so its hard to say what is happening...maybe its time to break out the tape and compare old measurements to see.

 

[CORUM]

i know i use to hate taking too long of breaks. 30 seconds i need to lift again. i would do that for the hole 1 1/2 hours to 2. and as heavy as i could. it worked at first then no more muscle, i was just getting flabby, weaker, and lost motivation. cut it back, less exercises and longer rests. i feel a lot better, we will see how growth goes.

 

[Yanick]

I know there are some objective signs like changes in Temp (taken before rising in the morning for accuracy/consistency), resting HR and BP (can go either way as far as I know, so you need to get a baseline measurement and look for deviations). I haven't really seen much research on it but I know Dale Mabry has a little questionnaire type of thing with some subjective scales that is supposed to predict overtraining earlier. Maybe a PM would be in order, or he might see it and post it up himself.

I typically just go by energy levels, motivation, muscle aches/pains, progress as well an overall look at my program for the past month or two. When I've been pushing weights close to my max or doing 20+ set full body workouts for 4,5,6 weeks and start to tweak muscles, begin dreading the training session, feel tired all day (with adequate hydration/kcal consumption), or I feel it gets tougher to wake up in the AM (or I tend to sleep more than usual) I cut back for a week.

Nowadays though i typically just deload for 1 week every 4 weeks or so. Its not a full rest week, but I just cut the volume and intensity for a week and do a bit more cardio for the activity. So I'll come in and squat 315 for an easy single (just for explanation though my max is probably closer to 365'ish) just to keep that heavy stimulus there and then I'll do a set with 185 or so for 8 reps. I do similar things for the big movements but the key is to keep it fairly easy with low volume and give your musculoskeletal and nervous system a break from killer training.

I believe I remember Patrick (P-funk) writing some stuff about deloading on his blog or forum but can't find it. A search feature on the blog would help Pat, if you see this post.