OVERTRAINING? When to say when...

[A_Nice]

Right now im working out 6x a week with Saturday off.

My Split is like this:

Mon: Chest
Tues: Back
Wed: Bi and tri
Thur: abs and calves
Fri: Shoulders
Sat: OFF
Sunday: Legs

My problem is my shoulders and traps are starting to feel fatigued like, almost sore and tight.. Doesnt happen every week but I think im gonna rest them today that way they wont see any action until probably monday.. Anyone else get this problem sometimes?

Oh I forgot to mention, I play raquetball as cardio for 30-45 mins after each workout except legs.. Im thinking that may be stressing my shoulders as well since they are a secondary muscle used in many movements anyway.

[Shredz]

6x a week of weight training IMO is way to much. Remember you grow while you rest. While training 6x a week in reality when are you resting...MORE IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER.

It seems to me that you shoulders are pre-exhausted since you are doing them later in the week. If it is shoulders that you want to concentrate on put them earlier in you trainer. "Priority Principle"

I used to do I workout similar to yours but it seems that since I have changed my work out schedule almost a year ago my progress has increase 10 fold.

My training goes like this

Monday. Chest and bis
Tuesday Off
Wed. Back and Tris
Thursday Off
Friday Shoulders
Saturday Legs
Sunday off

With this it seems that my body expecially the upper body is always getting a day off in between work outs. And then the upper body gets 2 full days off before I start all over again with chest and bis on monday.

give it a try. I used to prefer to stick with one body part per workout but you get used to adding the bis and tris in with it.
try it out and let me know what you think.

[bex]

I have heard a number of suggestions andideas about how to train, but there are a number of principles that can't be disputed. Generally speaking, over-training varies from individual to individual depending on genetics--fast and slow twitch muscle fibers. Look for the signs of over-training. Briefly, they are: not sleeping well, muscle soreness stretching out to several days, lack of progress, irritability, etc. Also, workout routines should vary and choice of exercise does make a difference. Use a variety of techniques and be aware that there are certain exercises that are contra-indicative (they invite injury or should never be done or one should learn proper technique).
One last point, the amount of time you spend in the gym does make a difference. Research does indicate that your level of testosterone during a workout does make a difference in what kind of results you can expect. For most men, testosterone peaks in the first hour and then begins to diminish thereafter. It has been concluded that if you get your exercise in during this period of time, you will see the best results. So, working out more than hour and a half is not very productive for almost everyone.

[Canes4Ever]

6x a week in the gym lifting weights is too much for me too. I lift weights 4x a week.

[silverfox]

3 things can lead to over training, not enought sleep, not enought food and too hard and or often workouts. Ideally i think most ppl should cycle their training, say 8 weeks super hard and heavery, then maybe a few weeks bit lighter more volume etc.. just keep mixing it up. If you sleeping enought and eating enought pretty hard to overtrain i think. One of old timmers said something to effect " no such thing is overtraining just under eating" something along that line.

[chris245]

lifting 6 times a week is something similar to one of Arnolds advanced workouts(yes i bought the book). let me just say,a few months ago when i tried just one week of lifting monday-saturday,i felt burnt out,and was often in a grumpy mood.

in my opinion i'd cut back to at least 3-4 days a week so you have time to get well rested.

right now im training 4x a week,and its working wonders for me. 3lbs of mass this week (just thought i'd throw that in there)

[A_Nice]

Oh by the way, started my new split it goes:

Monday: Chest/Tris

Tues: cardio/off

Wed: Back/Bi's

Thurs: Cardio/off

Friday: Shoulders

Sat: Off...

Sunday: Legs

What do you think about that split? I thought pairing Chest/Tris back/Bis same day since they get a secondary workout those days anyway and they sorta pre-exhaust the muscle. Heh, until I tryed to do french curls after I finished chest with the weight I was doing when it was a 6 day workout... woops!

Let me know what you think

[BigD]

I think I had read that training chest/tris and back/bi's is not the best thing to do, since while doing chest you are putting strain on your tris and when doing back you are putting strain on bi's. That way when you start doing your tris and bi's you have already partially exhausted those muscles so you are unable to get the best workout for them.

I read this in I think last months muscle development, they said to "blast" your arms to new levels make a separate day for bi's and tri's.

With me I have time constraints so I dont have time to double up and do a major with a minor. I divide my workouts, chest, back, shoulder, arms, legs. Not necessarily in that order but basically I lift 5 days a week and that gives me 2 off days I can play with. Meaning if I feel exhausted or whatever one day I use that as my off day and typically the next day I’m ready to hit the weight again.

[Fat4Now]

I was in the same boat as you A_Nice, I was training 7 days a week w/ two sets of cardio each day. I did this for two and a half weeks and never felt worse! After doing some reading and research (alot of it here) I began taking days off (as hard as that was mentally). I know have two days off during my week and my cardio (HIIT) is only three days a week. The first week I tried the new workout I began to see gains and they are only getting better. Add that to not seeing any gains the old way, having no energy, grumpy and pain, I am much happier with the new workout. Good luck

[superbeast]

I train six days a week with no problems. I spend 30-45 minutes of extremely intense work on each bodypart. I train each bodypart only one time per week. I honestly think the only way you can overtrain is by working a muscle that is still sore form the last workout. If you are eating enough good, clean calories and getting enough sleep, you're not going to be overtraining. Especially if you are "on".

[Iwan2bsolid2]

Originally posted by superbeast
I train six days a week with no problems. I spend 30-45 minutes of extremely intense work on each bodypart. I train each bodypart only one time per week. I honestly think the only way you can overtrain is by working a muscle that is still sore form the last workout. If you are eating enough good, clean calories and getting enough sleep, you're not going to be overtraining. Especially if you are "on".

I'm with you on that superbeast. If your still sore- don't go train that muscle again- obviously it's not fully recouperated. I train 6 days a week, and do not train a bodypart again till it's fully recouped. It depends on the person, just listen to your body. Arnold would train 6 day's a week hitting each muscle group at least 3 times, calves and abs everyday...so do what works for you.