TIP#1.7 - Avoid These 5 Overtraining Mistakes

Over Training is a problem more relevant to natural fitness enthusiasts rather than in the 'enhanced' - although overtraining is still likely to happen no matter what you do. This is because overtraining has nothing to do with how you train your muscles, and everything to do with how much you train them. So, of course this makes recovery the only relevant variable in overtraining. If overtraining occurs it is because recovery from training has not been sufficient - either in time to rest or in dietary requirements or both. It may seem that you must increase your training if your results have stagnated or declined, especially if you're natural BUT in reality it is because you are natural that it may mean you are training too often and your body simply cannot recover. If you are seeing a major slow down in your results then check to see if you are performing these common mistakes:

1. Over Use of Popular Exercises

This is a common reason people suffer from overtraining, as it's completely disguised. Shoulder Press is a no-brainer to build the shoulders right? Of course...! However, the main muscles activated by the exercise are the Front Deltoids and the Triceps - the two most commonly overtrained body parts of almost any lifter. During a Chest workout, 4-5 exercises with 4 sets each, your Triceps and Front Deltoids are highly activated - that's 20 sets those muscles have performed before they get to their own isolated workout the same week. An Arm day consists of typically 3-4 Shoulder movements (the same for Biceps and Triceps) - Say, shoulder press, lateral raise, reverse fly then shoulder clean. That's at least another 3 exercises the Front Deltoid gets. Then the Triceps get stimulated by shoulder press and 2 Tricep isolation exercises typically, say Tricep pushdown then overhead extension. So, total per week the Front Deltoid and the Tricep get 32 sets of stimulation, not to mention providing muscular support during back exercises too. No matter how much you eat, this is not enough time to recover from so much volume. Sacrifice a couple sets or exercises and recovery will be easier and more effective.

2. Working Out Too Long

Sometimes Recovery is not about the time spent outside the gym, but recovery inside the gym as well. If you workout for longer than a hour you can be seriously limiting your results, due to overtraining. Building muscles is about creating an optimal hormonal environment in your body, and training too long in the gym can hurt this process. Cortisol is a stress hormone and is not optimal for muscle recovery, it is produced if the body is under too much stress for too long without a break. When workouts are short and intense (40mins) Growth Hormone, a powerful muscle recovery hormone, is at optimal levels and we make the most of it by keeping it at that way. Cortisol does not mix well with Growth Hormone and greatly reduces your recovery abilities. Get in and get out as soon as possible! More is not better.

3. When Your Workout is Simply Too 'Good'

Everyone loves feelling a bit of pain for a couple days in the muscles after a good workout. Also, we've all had that one workout (possibly more) when we trained so unusually hard that we were in pain for not only 1-2 days but for the entire week. That can be a fantastic feeling too, but it can start to become a bit of a problem when it happens every week. If your body is finding it hard to repair damaged muscle within a week, you might be overtraining. Working out a sore muscle is never a smart option so even if you leave it 7-8 days between targetting a specific muscle and the pain is still there, you are unable to handle the repair job needed to match your workout intensity. What you need is a pat on the back and a "take it easy" from one of your gym buddies. Remember, you will be repairing other muscles from other workouts too, and it could be too much for your body to cope with. 'DOMS' is not a necessity to build muscle and at most should not last longer than 5-6 days, preferably less.

4. Eating Too Much

The common phrase 'eat big to get big' is completely misleading. If you 'eat big' you will get 'big and fat' - and not nessarily put on a lot of muscle. I prefer the phrase 'Eat Smart To Get Big'. Eating too much will make you put on fat, decrease your insulin sensitivity and reduce your body's ability to absorb the nutrients it needs. The overload of calories seems to come from Carbohydrates in most cases, which is an irrelavant dietary nutrient when it comes to actually building muscle cells. Believe it or not you cannot excellerate muscle growth by simply eating more calories. You absolutely must eat smart to recover, repair and gain muscle, which means prioritising protein and fat from quality food sources. Click here for more information on optimal nutrition and diet.

5. Using Weights That Are Too Heavy

It feels unbelievable when you break your Personal Best in a movement, you feel strong and powerful and you feel like you are progressing. It might be your entire training objective to get strong, or your objective might be to build muscle - either way, training with super heavy weights (1-5 rep Max) is going to hurt your joints, hinder recovery and is the main cause of injury in the gym - which equals zero gains. By all means train hard, but re-assess your expectations, remain focused on what exactly your objective is and train smart. Lifting very heavy puts a lot of strain on your joints + tendons and does little for continued muscle gain long term; this is because improving strength is about improving muscle fibre recruitment, and doesn't create as many micro tears in the muscles over time as bodybuilding approaches (higher reps, lighter weights, slow tempo etc). Click here for more info on optimal bodybuilding training.