I need to learn how to not overtrain

I've been working out for about 12 or so years. I'm 51 years old. I workout 6 days a week usually. I get plenty of sleep and I eat very healthy, so I figured 1 day a week off is good enough for me.

The past 3 years I will get sick allot usually every 10/12 weeks and usually a cold that sometimes turns into a sinus infection. I get sick more during the in winter months. I've went to different doctors about this and they can't really find anything wrong. I have been researching over training and that has to be my problem.

When I go to the gym, I usually workout for a good hour, then do cardio for a half hour on the treadmill, so I am in the gym for a good 1 and a half.

I don't lose motivation by going to the gym too much and I rarely get sore, but I think my immune system is really suffering from this. I'm not giving my body enough time to recuperate. I think I am going to cut to working out 5 days a week and only do cardio 3 times a week. I mainly do cardio for my cardio vascular system and not weight loss.

My current routine is:
Chest/Tries
Back/Bies
Legs
Shoulders
Tries and Bies.
Day off
Repeat

I could change that to:
Chest/Tries
Back/Bies
Off
Legs
Shoulders
Off
Repeat. I would remove arm day completely. I don't think I need a dedicate arm day.

I'm just looking for some input. I hate taking time off from the gym, but I have to do something. I can't keep getting sick like this.

Yep, sometimes less is more. Rest is important especially if you are training intensely.

My split age 45

Delts & tri's
Off
Legs
Off
Back & traps
Chest & bi's
Off (maybe calves, core & cardio)

Do you supplement vit-c? How about fruits and vegs?

I do eat a decent amount of veggies and fruit. I also take supplements like zinc, vitamin C, ZMA, multi and a few others. My job is pretty sedative, I sit at a desk all day, so to me working out 6 days a week shouldn't be an issue since I sit 8 hours a day.

Try going to an every other day schedule for awhile. I'm almost 56 and at some point you have to realize that you're not recovering and gaining like you did when you were young. I take at least 1 day off between sessions now. Hardly ever do consecutive days. My weights continue to go up. I have fewer injuries and random colds or illnesses. No matter what you want to believe more is not always better, especially as we age. You may really enjoy going to the gym but if you're doing more harm than good something needs to change.
I benched 585 back when I was in my mid 30s. I've done 600 in my 50s. My training today would be considered minimalistic compared to 20 years ago. I spend maybe 50-60% of the time training now as I used to but I'm still gaining. Train smarter and you'll be much happier with the results.
Also if you're catching a bunch of colds back off the everyday cardio. You may like doing it but it can be very counterproductive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 600@50

Try going to an every other day schedule for awhile. I'm almost 56 and at some point you have to realize that you're not recovering and gaining like you did when you were young. I take at least 1 day off between sessions now. Hardly ever do consecutive days. My weights continue to go up. I have fewer injuries and random colds or illnesses. No matter what you want to believe more is not always better, especially as we age. You may really enjoy going to the gym but if you're doing more harm than good something needs to change.
I benched 585 back when I was in my mid 30s. I've done 600 in my 50s. My training today would be considered minimalistic compared to 20 years ago. I spend maybe 50-60% of the time training now as I used to but I'm still gaining. Train smarter and you'll be much happier with the results.
Also if you're catching a bunch of colds back off the everyday cardio. You may like doing it but it can be very counterproductive.

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Could not have said it better myself. I've trained EOD for probably a dozen years now and it's the absolute best thing I've done as I've aged when it comes to overall health and continuing to make reasonable gains.

Personally I train as follows:

Monday: Chest, Bi's and Tri's
Wednesday: Legs
Friday: Back and shoulders

I don't do cardio but you can see how easy it would be to insert it on your days off. I'm always fresh and ready for workouts and you actually can have more of a life. Less is definitly more as we age. Stop beating yourself to deat Izicc!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Back In Black

Yep, sometimes less is more. Rest is important especially if you are training intensely.

My split age 45

Delts & tri's
Off
Legs
Off
Back & traps
Chest & bi's
Off (maybe calves, core & cardio)

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Great minds think alike *coff*coff*

I have same split :) Just diff order

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lzicc

I do eat a decent amount of veggies and fruit. I also take supplements like zinc, vitamin C, ZMA, multi and a few others. My job is pretty sedative, I sit at a desk all day, so to me working out 6 days a week shouldn't be an issue since I sit 8 hours a day.

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No it shouldn't be an issue. Since taking vit-c 3x a day and I do a smoothy with vegs/fruit/flax/spirulina and others I dont get sick and I feel much better. I used to run my body down.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kelkel

Could not have said it better myself. I've trained EOD for probably a dozen years now and it's the absolute best thing I've done as I've aged when it comes to overall health and continuing to make reasonable gains.

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This advice also helped me tons.

I train

mon/wed/fri/sat/sun

During the week I do eod.

I need to learn my lesson from you guys and just do it. The other things I have noticed about myself is I fall asleep ok, but get up in the middle of the night and get back to sleep. I also constantly have brain fog. These are 2 additional things that point to over training. I think I am going to start 2 days on, 1 day off and see how that goes. If there are still issue's, then I will go over to taking a day off every other day.

Now what about cardio? I only do 2 miles a day, should I do that on my rest days or after my workouts? I would be happy with 3 days a week of cardio. I just need this for my cardiovascular system.

Might be time for full blood work to include a hormone panel. Take a look in the Finding A Doc sticky in the HRT Forum for a good list.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lzicc

I need to learn my lesson from you guys and just do it. The other things I have noticed about myself is I fall asleep ok, but get up in the middle of the night and get back to sleep. I also constantly have brain fog. These are 2 additional things that point to over training. I think I am going to start 2 days on, 1 day off and see how that goes. If there are still issue's, then I will go over to taking a day off every other day.

Now what about cardio? I only do 2 miles a day, should I do that on my rest days or after my workouts? I would be happy with 3 days a week of cardio. I just need this for my cardiovascular system.

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check out Marcus' Dungeon in the Lounge, in regards to lifting

brain fog, how is diet/nutrition?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 600@50

Try going to an every other day schedule for awhile. I'm almost 56 and at some point you have to realize that you're not recovering and gaining like you did when you were young. I take at least 1 day off between sessions now. Hardly ever do consecutive days. My weights continue to go up. I have fewer injuries and random colds or illnesses. No matter what you want to believe more is not always better, especially as we age. You may really enjoy going to the gym but if you're doing more harm than good something needs to change.
I benched 585 back when I was in my mid 30s. I've done 600 in my 50s. My training today would be considered minimalistic compared to 20 years ago. I spend maybe 50-60% of the time training now as I used to but I'm still gaining. Train smarter and you'll be much happier with the results.
Also if you're catching a bunch of colds back off the everyday cardio. You may like doing it but it can be very counterproductive.

---

You are a cool cat. I take a lot of stuff you say uber seriously. Lot of experience there. Good job by the way. I will never get where you are but damn that must have taken some serious work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Obspowerstroke

You are a cool cat. I take a lot of stuff you say uber seriously. Lot of experience there. Good job by the way. I will never get where you are but damn that must have taken some serious work.

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Thanks Obs. It's all come with a price. There's not a day that passes that something doesn't hurt. I've learned a lot over the years and there's so much I'd do differently if I could do it over again. But seriously man thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lzicc

I need to learn my lesson from you guys and just do it. The other things I have noticed about myself is I fall asleep ok, but get up in the middle of the night and get back to sleep. I also constantly have brain fog. These are 2 additional things that point to over training. I think I am going to start 2 days on, 1 day off and see how that goes. If there are still issue's, then I will go over to taking a day off every other day.

Now what about cardio? I only do 2 miles a day, should I do that on my rest days or after my workouts? I would be happy with 3 days a week of cardio. I just need this for my cardiovascular system.

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You would probably do well with a deload week every 6 weeks or so. You can cut back on weight or volume or just take the week off from the gym. It'll go a long way with recovery.
2 miles a day of cardio will wear you out along with weights. You must learn to cut back. Trust me your body will appreciate it. I'm with Kel on cardio. I hate it and seldom do it but if you insist on doing cardio at least only do it on non-weight days and don't hit the 2 miles hard. Cut back for awhile and give your body a break.

Throughout my years of training I was the king of overtraining. I wanted to be good at many things (natural too) like both sambo and lifting, other times kickboxing and lifting, and other times all three. I also have a physically demanding job.

If you lift heavy and go to failure like me then you have to limit the amount of sets you do. You will notice strength gains will come easier because your CNS isnt overtaxed. For example two to three working sets per exercise, and two exercises per large muscle is enough. One exercise for small muscles like biceps and triceps since they get worked with presses/pulls also. There are exceptions though but this will vary depending on your composition and your frame. For me I only do one set of deadlifts. For squats if its low reps, like 1-5 reps I do 3 sets. If its 10+ reps I do a single set there too. These exercises can burn you out quickly. Actually my first cycle I kept hitting such PRs week after week that by the week 11 of the cycle I burned myself out, the optimism made me forget I might overtrain. I ended up needing a week and a half to get my appetite back and two weeks to get my strength back.

I'm with 600@50 on deloading. And everything else lol.

When going heavy I recommend 5 sets of 5 at least. Say you're benching 495, do 5 then do 10 at 405 as it feels really light after doing 495. So I'd start at 185 for 5, 225 for 5, 315 for 5, 405 for 5, 495 for 5 then 405 for 10 then I'm all done with that.

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