Explain Overtraining - Can you overtrain on AS?

[boatyj]

Well, overtraining is a concept I never totally understood.

How do you overtrain yourself exactly.

From what I gathered, its just when you dont give your muscle enough time to heal before exercising or breaking it down again.

You cant overtrain a muscle in the gym by doing too many sets or anything can you?

[Kaz]

you are right about not getting enough chance to heal, and no you cant overtrain as such in one session in the gym - BUT....

if you persist in overdoing it in the gym, train to often (like 6 days a week) then after a period of time you WILL be overtraining - its accumulative so the longer you do it the worse it gets. its not per body part either, but an effect taken from the whole of your body and its related system - remember when you hit the weights like we do you also knock the crap out of your nervous system etc - that ALL needs rest to heal

some people CAN train 6 days a week - i can train 5 with no ill effects, but not everyone can do that, and i dont keep it up for months on end - i take a break when i feel i need it

you will know you are overtraining when you are too tired to train, you cant be bothered to train, you have trouble sleeping, you lose your appetite and you stop growing

the ONLY cure is to lay off for a bit and take some time away from the gym! IMO everyone benefits from a week off here and there anyway - when i do that i always get bigger while im off and then go back with a vengance, feeling great.

in answer to your Q yes you CAN overtrain while on AS but you are not lilkely to realise it until you actually finish them and are running on only your own natrual test levels again - thats when you will realise how much you have been over working in the gym

Prime Rule - LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!!

when it tells you its too tired LISTEN!

[testprop]

yes, you could overtrain on AS, but its unlikely, given that you eat and rest enough

[jbrand]

Overtraining is a result of cumulative microtrauma and is distinguised by a loss of strength/size. The most common ways to "overtrain" are to not allow the body to sufficiently recover between workouts or training with too high a degree of volume/intensity. One must realize that training is a negative stressor on the body and that the CNS as well as the muscles necessitate recovery.

Please note that progressive overload is still manditory. Ways to improve recovery would be to give specific bodyparts adequete rest and to appropriate post-workout nutrition. Overtraining one bodypart will impair the body as a whole. Consider your body as a system, as one glitch in the system will impair its function as a whole.