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If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a question; "are you a frustrated lifter?" Hey it's o.k., so am I. To be honest, I think that most of us who really love to lift weights are somewhat frustrated or discontent in one way or another. In other words, I'm simply implying that for the most part, we would love to progress faster than slower and for our gains to come easier than harder. Am I right? Hell yes I'm right and for that reason alone I'm going to fill you in on a little secret that just might be the main reason behind your lack of progress in the gym. If you haven't already guessed by now, I'm referring to a syndrome known as "overtraining".
Training routines can only contribute to bodybuilding success if overtraining is avoided. Overtraining is produced by excesses in three main areas: volume, frequency and intensity. Very few bodybuilders train too hard, but most train too much and too often. All the components of bodybuilding need to be balanced in order to avoid overtraining and optimize recovery. Believe me, as a busy personal trainer, physique model and co-owner of the internet's premiere motivational, inspirational, educational fitness magazines, Musclejournal.com , no one knows first hand better than myself, the importance of those exact words. Working fourteen to sixteen hour days, training hard four days a week- using moderate to high reps, sleeping an average of five hours a night and creating an incredible amount of work related stress for myself were the primary reasons why I fell victim to overtraining.
To train hard in the gym and then shortchange yourself in the recovery department is to take the road to no gains. Unfortunately, it is a road that many beginners follow year after year. Regardless of how intensive your workouts are, how well you eat or how much you rest and sleep, if you train too often or too much, you are going to seriously impede your progress. At best, overtraining causes lack of progress; at worst, it can lead to injury, sickness and disillusionment. Take me for example; I eat very well, take a wide array of supplements and train with perfect form; however, the one thing I don't do is sleep enough. Consequently that one little thing is the main reason I'm riddled with injuries, and my progress in the gym has been severely limited these past two years.
During an intensive workout, the applied stress results in the breakdown and damage of muscle fibers. This damage manifests itself as muscle soreness. Following a workout, your body's priority is to recover from the systemic stress and fatigue incurred in training. In simple terms, the body's repair mechanism goes into effect, a process which, if given sufficient time, makes the damaged muscle fibers thicker and stronger than they were before the workout. This "overcompensation" by the body represents the essence of bodybuilding.
Only after it has recovered from the stress of working out can the body begin the process of overcompensation: i.e., rebuilding the muscles to be stronger than they were in order to meet the stress of future workouts. If you train again before you have fully recovered from your previous workout, you will prevent your body from overcompensating, and your gains will decrease or stop. I made this same mistake week after week until just recently when I finally realized something had to give if I expected my situation to improve. Due to my current schedule I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get any additional sleep at night, so I opted to reduce my training volume instead. Long story short, in less than two weeks my muscles filled back out; my weight went from the high 180's to a solid 195+ and many of my aches, pains and small injuries began to slowly subside!
It is believed that most real-life overtraining scenarios are due to a combination of excessive volume and intensity. In addition, many exercise programs include resistance exercise as well as some form of exercise for cardiovascular fitness. This combination paralleled with life's own stresses i.e., high-stress jobs, relationship/family demands and,
money worries, all provide the perfect environment for the overtraining syndrome to rear its ugly head.
The typical overtraining scenario usually occurs when either training volume or intensity is excessive for too long. It is extremely important to note that training volume and intensity hare inversely related. In other words, when training volume is greatest, intensity must be relatively low, and vice versa. Unfortunately, many individuals (including me) utilizing resistance exercise programs fail to realize this, and basically follow the old clich? that "more is better" for both volume and intensity. This eventually leads to performance that is either impaired, or at best less than optimal.
Over the years there have many signs and symptoms related to overtraining; however, it should be noted that not all of the symptoms will be present, and that the presence of some of the signs does not necessarily mean an individual is overtrained. The absolute
determination of overtraining is whether performance is impaired or plateaued. Listed below are a few frequently cited signs of overtraining:
Performance
Decreased performance (strength, power, muscle endurance, cardiovascular endurance)
Decreased training tolerance and increased recovery requirements
Decreased motor coordination
Increased technical faults
Physiology
Chronic fatigue
Increased basal metabolic rate
Decreased lactate response
Decreased body fat and post-exercise body weight
Altered resting heart rate, blood pressure and respiration patterns
Muscle soreness and damage
Joint aches and pains
Physiological
Sensitive to stress
Decreased self-efficacy
Decreased ability to concentrate
Decreased self-esteem
Depression and apathy
Immunological
Increased occurrence of illness
Impaired immune function
Decreased rate of healing
Biochemical
Increased serum cortisol levels
Decreased serum free testosterone levels
Decreased muscle glycogen
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