Thread: Possible Overtraining

Hello all.. Haven't posted in awhile, but felt the need to come back with a quesiton, in hopes that you guys could answer it.

Recently I signed up for the Navy, and for the BUD/s training course. I've been in good shape my whole life, playing football and basketball. However, I've hit a whole new peak of my athletic abilities.

I've been training the past 3 months with a retired SEAL Chief, who's job it is to actually train us before we goto boot camp. He burns us every day, Monday through Friday.. Hundreds of push-ups, hundreds of situps, hundreds of pullups.. Running 10+ miles daily, Swimming 2+ miles daily.

When I first started this routine, my basic mindset was "Oh he's a SEAL chief, he knows how to train us.. Knows the best way to get us in shape.. There's no doubting that!".. However now, 3 months in, I'm noticing only slight performance increases. The run and the swim, I can easily perform now. That's not the problem. I *know* my endurance has increased, and my ability to perform these workouts hsa gotten easier when it boils down to the endurance side. But now I look back and it seems as if I forgotten, or been forced to forget, a general rule to building strength. That is, Muscles NEED rest. My chest is never not sore, my abs always strained, my tendons no matter which way I move them are sore. I've increased my push-ups, and situps, thats true. But not as much as I think I could do with more proper rest.

When I started the program I was pretty big (muscular) weighing at 215 with about 18-20% bodyfat. Now I'm weighing in just under 180 and about 6-7% bodyfat. I eat like a HORSE, everything I can possibly consume I'm shoving in my mouth just to maintain my weight. My daily routine basically consists of waking up, eating, working out, eat, working out, eat, working out, eat, workout, eat, workout, eat, sleep. Nothing else. I don't even rest over the weekend, I mimic his routines and am usually working for my dad (until I leave) on restoring homes.

So the question sits, should I take a day off here and there? Or just suck it up and listen to the chief? I'm not complaining, no. I'll remain and do these workouts day in and day out.. I just want to be at my maximum performance when I goto BUD/s, and nothing short of my best.

Any responses would be great. Thanks alot guys =)..

Oh and just to show you how little I've improved. When I first started doing push-ups with him I could pop off 45 straight pretty easily. Now I'm up to around 60 pretty easily. Situps, use to be able to do about 50 easily, now I'm popping off 100+ quite easily (but I contribute that to lost upper body weight). The only thing I'm really impressed with is my ability to perform pull-ups, which also could be contributed to weight loss. I use to be able to barely whip out 3 pullups, now I'm doing sets of 15..

So again, input, please.

I say complete in what you are doing for a while ,if you can take 2-3 days of rest then start again.... endurance will help you to build much strength when you are back to strength training....