Often it is the belief by many beginners who have just started weight training or muscle building that the best thing you can do is to train as much as possible as surely that results in more muscle! However, Vince Del Monte and other experienced trainers know that this is actually one of the worst things you can do and it is vital to train hard but also for a set period and with adequate recovery time. Many people will over train in their life if they are regularly using weights and while this is inevitable, it is important that the mistake not be repeated throughout your personal exercise program.
Overtraining is serious and can lead to injury, chronic fatigue and if done too much will actually result in muscle loss rather than gain. What this means is that while it is important you still consistently work out and keep up the intensity you also need to allow yourself recovery time. It is important to find a balance between progressively using heavier weights or workouts that are more intensive and giving yourself a longer recovery period, this can counteract the increased stress so you do not end up overtraining. Other ways that overtraining can affect you is by the following symptoms, often people plagued by overtraining have a weak appetite, weight loss, trouble sleeping and high blood pressure which can be extremely dangerous, especially if you are older and more prone to heart disease. Furthermore, overtraining can actually see a decrease in your testosterone levels and can heavily affect your metabolic system, which will in turn massively hinder your muscle-building program.
In order to prevent overtraining then it is important to look at several aspects. First, you need to make sure that with each workout you are surpassing your previous best. If you are failing to do as well as you did in your previous workout you are probably overtraining and would need to have a longer recovery period before your next workout. Furthermore eating the right foods, never skipping meals and ensuring that you eat when you are hungry (every two to three hours is a good time frame) can ensure your body is generally in an anabolic state. Eating a large meal within an hour of your last work out can also help with your recovery and prevent overtraining. Finally with your recovery periods, be sure to get at least 7 hours sleep every night and work on a regular schedule, exercising on certain days and having other days set just for recovery. Also be sure to avoid training the same muscle groups on adjacent days, spread the different groups over the week so they have time to recover before the next work out.
Leave a Reply