How to listen, when your body says something new?

[rocheey]

I overtrained for years, but now Im pretty damn good at getting myself just -under- that point, every workout.

But I'm reading that when someone does a cycle, they can increase the workout - either intensity, duration, etc ... how would I know I'm not over doing it again ?

[cherrydrpepper]

Overtraining is a myth for most people. I have no idea about you since I don't know your routine, but its just a fact for most people. When people do overtrain, its almost always sets related from what I have seen. My personal goal is 12 to 16 sets for a major body part, and 3 to 6 sets for certain muscles like the calves or traps. I do not count warm up sets in the equation.

You want intensity and variations in your workout. Its better to do 3 sets of balls to the wall lifting, than 4 sets of ho hum the usual. I personally don't believe in just walking into the gym and throwing on an extra 45 plate. I believe in calculated changes in the lifts, adding a 5 lb plate here or there, or maybe adding a couple extra reps. Another thing I see people do is they get so caught up in reps. "You have to do sets of 5 reps to build the most muscle and strength!" , "You want to keep it in the 8-10 rep range!". Then what happens? They come in the gym everyday never really trying to put up some extra reps.

A gym partner can be a great motivator if they are on board with what you are trying to do.

Variation; theres a lot of ways to get variation. The easiest is to change a couple of exercises after a month of lifting in that routine. Some people try forced negatives, HIIT, Rest Pause and other techniques. Some people will lift medium loads for a period of time (sets of 12-15 reps), then bring it down to heavier lifts (sets of 5-8 reps).

This is all my opinion and based on what I have read so keep that in mind. I feel we have to take all that science we bring in building our diets and whatnot and use that in our lifting as well. We have to lift smart if you will.

[_CrossroadS_]

Your strength increases on cycle, you'll usually be eating more, and having more energy, so duration (your endurance) will increase, and recovery can sometimes be shorter.

For me, I don't notice a difference in intensity, but that's a personal thing...some people get more motivated by drugs.

This is why everyone here preaches having diet and training down pat before cycling...if you don't know what makes you grow, get stronger, or what is overtraining your muscles, you still won't know on cycle, and you are adding in a new variable.