What I'm about to share with you is something that I wish someone would've shared with me when I'd first started training. I'd spend countless hours in the gym, pushing myself so far, working every single muscle in my body until I literally couldn't take any more. Unsurprisingly I saw absolutely no gains and felt run down and generally shitty. I had no idea about overtraining or the process that your body undergoes when you over train. It became so simple and so straightforward when I had it first explained to me; yet for some reason I couldn't reach that conclusion on my own. The definition of overtraining is simple, its a state where you push your body further than you should and the result is detrimental towards your goals. It doesn't just stunt your progress towards your goals however, it also weakens your body and makes you more susceptible to illness and that's going to affect you in other places rather than just the gym.
In more detail, overtraining is a simple science. When you overwork your muscles, it creates a negative nitrogen balance within them, and your muscles enter what is known as a catabolic state. A catabolic state is caused by a higher than normal production of cortisol within the body. Cortisol is a biological chemical which breaks down protein into amino acid form and transfers them to your liver to produce glucose. Cortisol is usually produced as a result of a high intensity training session, obviously the purpose of cortisol is to produce more glucose for energy. However this glucose is being produced from protein in your body, and after the unused protein in your body has been used, the cortisol will then begin to work on the protein within your muscles, therefore decreasing your stored protein levels and sometimes even decreasing muscle mass. Basically, the longer that you train at a high intensity for (You should always be training at a high intensity) the more cortisol you produce, and the more you run the risk of breaking whatever muscle you have down. You need to make sure that the cortisol you produce is only breaking down the protein that hasn't yet been fed into your muscles, the only way to do this is by cutting down the amount of time that you spend in the gym. It may not seem like a lot, but 45-60 minutes in the gym is really all that you need. I would never recommend doing more than 60 minutes worth of high intensity training because after that you really run the risk of over training.
Over training is dangerous in the long run due to the taxing effect that it has on your body, you don't want to run the risk of damaging yourself just because you haven't been well informed. To make sure that you don't run the risk of over training, try and ensure that you increase your protein intake pre and post workout, and also increase your carbohydrate intake before a really intense session, give your body enough nutrients to turn into energy, don't force it to take the protein from your muscles. Its important to plan your workouts specifically, aim to only work two major muscle groups maximum when executing a weightlifting session. Make sure you get enough sleep every night to utilize your body's natural hormone balance. Also, I know its a cliché - but listen to your body! Make sure that you allow yourself enough time to recuperate between sessions; I'm not saying don't try to power through minor pain; but if your body is in major pain, and you feel run down - Don't force yourself into the gym! Be logical with your decisions, after all, only you know what's best for your body. I'd also recommend taking a week off from training every 12 weeks or so, to give your body some real recuperation time - more often than not you'll see some muscle gain during the recovery period if you've been training right.
Well I hope that this post has helped and opened some people's eyes to the dangers of over training and the benefits of getting smart about your sessions. It really helped me to understand this with regard to my training, I began to saw so many more gains after heeding this advice and I can guarantee that you all will too. At the end of the day its just logical and I'm just trying to point out the logic. Regardless of what I've said, its your body and you're free to use it however you see fit, but you might find some of the things that I've said useful. I'll try and get another post up soon. As always you can find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wrightyx or you can tweet me - @Wrighty__ or just leave a comment in the space below this post. So until next time,
Keep Testing The Limits!
Alex.
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