Last of the Sane Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 Hey there, Can someone tell me what the negative effects of overtraining are? Cause I really like to work out like 5-6 times a week and everybody keeps telling me that I should train less, because of overtraining, but nobody can tell me really what is so bad about it. It's true that I'm not really increasing muscle size but I am getting stronger and that is my goal. Sacco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last of the Sane Posted May 13, 2006 Author Share Posted May 13, 2006 I just now saw that there's already a threat on overtraining.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 Part of getting stronger is allowing your body enough recovery time. If you are working each body part only once a week, then maybe 5-6 days of training is alright, but probably may lead to overtraining. Do you mean you lift weights 5-6 days a week? Or are you counting other types of workouts as well? If you lift the same amount of weight as in previous workouts or, especially, less, that's a pretty good sign of insufficient recovery. Some signs of overtraining are fatigue and/or insomnia, lack of interest in working out, constant aches and pains. If you do a web search on "overtraining symptoms," you will find some info and articles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CollegeB Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 Kathryn is right, it will hinder your progress. I think though that if you set up the right program you could do the 6 day training week and not have a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 The problem with the philosophy of training different body parts is that for the most part it relies on isolation training, which is considerably less effective than compound movements. I do not see the need to train more than 4 times a week. I train three times a week, and am making very good progress, both in strength and size. It really is very easy to overtrain. Even with training three times a week it's easy to fry your CNS. You have to recognise when you are knackered, and don't push yourself to the point of injury Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last of the Sane Posted May 14, 2006 Author Share Posted May 14, 2006 Thanks for the reactions! The weird thing is that I have none of the symptoms.. Part of getting stronger is allowing your body enough recovery time. If you are working each body part only once a week, then maybe 5-6 days of training is alright, but probably may lead to overtraining. Do you mean you lift weights 5-6 days a week? Or are you counting other types of workouts as well? I lift weights, and the whole routine each time I train. If you lift the same amount of weight as in previous workouts or, especially, less, that's a pretty good sign of insufficient recovery. I'm still getting stronger. In fact, I'm thinking about not increasing the weight any more because I train using only free weights and I think more weight will put too much stress on my joints. Some signs of overtraining are fatigue and/or insomnia, lack of interest in working out, constant aches and pains. Never fatigued, sleeping like a rose, still interested, not really. So.. can I conlcude that as long as I'm feeling fine I can continue this way? Or are there some nasty long-term effects? Greetz,Sacco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last of the Sane Posted May 14, 2006 Author Share Posted May 14, 2006 it's easy to fry your CNS What's a CNS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 The beauty of slowly but progressively increasing the weights is that your joints and connective tissue greatly increase in strength so it's not really something to worry about. CNS stands for central nervous system. Basically the neural pathways that cause muscle fibres to contract. It's easier, as far as I can gather, to overtrain your CNS than your muscles. You mention in your first post on this topic that strength increase is your goal. Well to increase strength you have to be working sometimes at very close to your 1 rep max. Subsequently working out 5-6 times a week will certainly result in overtraining, given time, and your strength increases will come to a grinding halt. As I said before, 3-4 times a week is optimal, with 3 actually being better. This comes not from me, but some of Scotlands top strongmen that I have chatted to. The key to strength increase is training hard, but not too frequently, eating likea a horse, and resting. Good luck with your training and feel free to PM about anything regarding strength training Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last of the Sane Posted May 15, 2006 Author Share Posted May 15, 2006 Okay, thanks for all the info. Sounds weird though, less training for better results. But I'll give it a try for a couple of weeks, see what happens. Sacco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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