Avoiding Overtraining

Be careful of OVERTRAINING!  You’ve seen them and mostly likely talked to them or read about them.  The huge guys or gals in the gym that spend countless hours, six days a week, maybe even more than one workout a day in the gym, right?  And they are cut and shredded, the way you want to be.  Be careful.  These are professionals, most likely on a muscle enhancer like steroids, etc.  They train to display and many times don’t work.  Don’t mimic these people.

If you try to keep up with a professional bodybuilder, you will fall into the OVERTRAINING trap and pay the price!  What price; little to no gains in size or strength and possibly even muscle loss or illness.

What are the signs of overtraining?  You may reach a plateau or a drop in your performance.  Your heart rate may be elevated most of the time, during or after your training.  You may experience more muscle soreness than you have been.  You are considering or actually skipping workouts and have lost desire to go to the gym.  You seem to be more tired overall and lack full concentration.  You could be experiencing a lack of appetite or having trouble with your sleep schedule.  You may be losing weight unintentionally.  Any combination of these can be a clue that you may be in the overtraining zone.

What is an ideal training ritual?  Here are a few suggestions from Bodybuilding.com:

- Don’t train more than four days a week.  You need to recovery to build.  I personally like the three days a week routine.

- Don’t train more than 2 days in a row.  If you are ramping up the intensity in your workouts, you need 1-2 days off in between.

- Weight training sessions should last somewhere between 60 to 75 minutes.  This is the time where you pretty much depleted your body of its resources and moving on can only delay your anabolic state.
- Free weight compound exercises will build more muscle than using machines which isolate one particular muscle.  If you have limited time, use free weight compound moves.
- Try 6 – 12 reps. Lower reps are for strength building and high reps are for endurance.  If you want to build muscle, stay in the middle.
- Always, always use correct form, concentrate, focus and squeeze at the peak!
- Refrain from drinking alcohol.
- Allow for ample rest time to recover.
- Change up your routine; vary the exercises, set and rep cycles.
- Stay mentally focused and keep emotions in check.

So, keep an eye on the symptoms and don’t fall into the OVERTRAINING trap.  Plan out your workouts and we’ll see YOU in the gym. www.MasterSgtJAQT.com (home of TEAM JAQT)