Dan Foreman
Personal trainer
I spend a great deal of time in the gym working with clients. During that time, I often find myself watching other people and observing what they are working as well as how long they work any given muscle. This is where the problem of overtraining begins.
The lifter gets frustrated when he or she is not seeing the results they expected. So what do they do? They start working the same muscle more often and for longer periods of time.
This will not make the muscle grow more. The reality of it is that in order for muscle to grow, you must rest and eat, not just lift.
The hard part as a trainer is most people do not understand that overtraining is a real problem and they don’t believe that you can work out too much, but you can.
When a beginner just starts to hit the gym, the best schedule is about three to four hours a week. That is plenty of time and allows ample time for the body to heal and the muscles to repair and begin to grow.
More than that and they are in danger of overtraining syndrome (OTS). This is a clinically recognized condition that is experienced by athletes and competitors in every sport, not just bodybuilding and powerlifting.
Some of the symptoms of OTS are fatigue, depression, increased cortisol levels (stress hormone), decreased blood-glutamine levels, as well as lower testosterone levels. All of these are directly related to and maybe caused by overtraining.
Also note that OTS is a progressive condition, so if you don’t stop and allow for the healing to occur, the condition and symptoms will get worse.
Here are a few tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of OTS:
• Each muscle group should not be worked more than twice a week with at least two days between lifts.
• Limit your training sessions to one hour. This time does not include warm-up or post work-out stretching.
• No more than five training sessions a week.
• Also, about every three months, you should take a week off from training to allow the body a full week of rest.
I hope you found this information as valuable as I did. Overtraining is a serious problem but is easily avoided.
Using this information can help you enjoy your time in the gym a little more and reduce your risk of injury or, even worse, burn out.
Hope these tips help you on your quest for a healthy lifestyle. And it is exactly that, a lifestyle.
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at dan4mantx@yahoo.com.
Just reference the article in question and I will be more than happy to get back to you.
Dan Foreman is a personal trainer at DCS Fitness.
