If you have been to the gym and done a bit of weight training you more than likely have experienced over training at one point or another. Over training symptoms can include fatigue, injury and muscle break down.
Body builders are particularly susceptible to over training because they think training as much as possible will net them better results and training a muscle to death will help them get better muscle gains.
However, this couldn’t be further from the truth, training at too high an intensity or for too long will only lead to over training and inevitably seriously hamper your ability to build muscle.
Don’t get me wrong, you still have to put in the effort if you want to build muscle naturally, you still will need to train hard and consistently to get the results you desire. Nothing for nothing right? If you want to see slabs of lean muscle added to your frame you need to progressively overload the muscles by increasing the weight and or intensity of every weight training workout. The trick here is to find the right combination of workout intensity to volume and get a sufficient amount of rest and recovery time.
Let’s take a look at some of the effects of overtraining in bodybuilders and see how you can prevent it from happening.
Symptoms of Over Training on the Nervous System
Both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are effected in the following negative ways:
- Elevated heart rate
- Poor appetite
- High blood pressure
- Weight loss
- Irregular sleep patterns
- Increased metabolic rate
- Irritability
- Fatigue
Effects of Over Training on Hormone Levels
- Decrease testosterone levels
- Decrease thyroxine levels
- Increase cortisol levels
It is well documented that over training negatively impacts the levels of hormones as well as hormone response in the body. Considering hormones are vital to building muscle naturally this can be quite a set back in your training.
Increased levels of Cortisol as well as decreased testosterone levels lead to muscle break down, this is something you want to avoid at all costs because we are trying to gain muscle not lose muscle.
Effects of Over Training on the Immune System
Potentially the most worrying effect of over training is the negative effect it can have on the immune system. The immune system can be lowered and the levels of antibodies and lymphocytes decreased making you far more prone to illness. When you are sick you cannot train and this too can be a negative impact on your goals.
Effects of Over Training on the Metabolic System
- Micro tears in the muscle
- Excessively depleted glycogen levels
- Weak muscle contractions
- Depleted creatine phosphate stores
- Accumulation of lactic acid
- Extreme DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)
- Tendon and connective tissue damage
So you must get the point by now… Over Training effects the entire body, and can seriously impact the results of your muscle building program.
There are different types of over training, you can over train with cardio or weights. Which is worse? Definitely the weight training so you need to be that much more careful if you are a weight lifter.
Here are some of the reasons why:
If you want your muscle to grow you need to allow it to recover from the last workout, if you are over training and work the muscle before it has had a chance to recover the muscle tissue will break down before it has rebuilt making it very difficult for it to grow.
Over training with weights makes you far more susceptible to the effects mentioned above like immune system, nervous system and hormone issues which can be detrimental to your health.
Ultimately it is a lot easier for the average person to over train while weight training than if you were running, swimming or any other cardio exercise.
So how can you prevent yourself from overtraining?
It’s not the easiest to gauge, there is no digital meter or alarm that goes off when you have worked out enough. To combat this you need to take a mulit-faceted approach. You need to eat a healthy diet, determine the right training intensity and volume for you (don’t spend to much time in the gym) and allow your muscles to recover.
Determining the correct Training Volume and Intensity?
If you are just starting out this can be difficult to determine, you need to use your own judgment and don’t be to hasty. You can base these on your ability and time to recover following your workout. Your goal is to slightly improve the amount of weight you are lifting or intensity on every workout. Remember to listen to your body and what’s it’s telling you, if you a not recovered for the next session don’t break down the muscle fibers further. You are not helping your body to build muscle in this way and may cause yourself an injury.
The number one tip I can give you to avoid over training is to get enough rest, hydrate and allow tour muscle to recover. Make sure you get at least 7 hours of sleep every night and try to be consistent. Make sure that you give yourself off days between your training to allow the muscle to recover and never train the same muscle group on consecutive days!
Click here to for a program designed to maximize your gains and avoid over training, it comes highly recommended.
Stay Focused
-Richard
Tags: Build Muscle, Get Stronger, over training, Performance, Recovery, rest, Training Intensity, Training Volume, Weight Lifting, Workouts
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