Overtraining Overview: Should You be Concerned?
If you peruse boards or forums that have to do with weight-training, you’d get the feeling that overtraining is something that’s plaguing practically everyone that lifts weights! But that’s NOT the case. Let me explain a bit more about overtraining.
Though it may not quite be how textbooks would define the terms – I look at recovery and overtraining this way:
There are 2 basic types of recovery – local and systemic.
Are you overtraining?
Local recovery has largely to do with the myofibrils (muscle fibers) themselves and whether or not they have ‘healed’ and adapted from the microtrauma caused by the latest training session (that involved that body part).
Systemic recovery (outside the muscle) primarily involves the CNS (central nervous system) and, to an extent, even the endocrine system.
The body has to recuperate both locally and systemically in order to progress. Inadequate recovery can build up to the point of overtraining.
Although textbook overtraining involves primarily the CNS, I would also include chronic, inadequate muscular (local) recovery as part of overtraining. This could occur if, for example, someone bench presses 3 times per week (and too often to failure) and does a couple ancillary exercises to ‘help’ their bench press. Even if they probably aren’t overtraining in the truest sense of the word (since their overall exercise volume is low), they could still overtrain the muscles (i.e. chest, anterior delts, and triceps) involved in the bench press.
Even though this ‘muscular overtraining’ wouldn’t have as many side effects (like increased resting heart rate and lethargy) as systemic overtraining, it would still decrease performance (on the bench press in the above example).
The above is simply my overtraining paradigm – the way I look at it. So don’t go arguing with your exercise science teacher based upon my working defintions of overtraining.
The point is…the VAST majority of the population is NOT and WILL NOT overtrain. Sure, it can happen but most people need not be concerned with it.
Lastly, the body can tolerate way more than we tend to think…IF you ease into higher volume and intensity workouts. Marathon runners don’t start by running 26.2 miles. They start with something more like 2 miles, then slowly but surely work up to the full distance. We should ALL approach weight-training in such an intelligent manner.
Best,
Dr Clay
Dr. Clay, What you were describing with chest training sounds like a good recipe for planned, short-term overreaching followed by time off or at least cutting out or reducing chest work to a bare minimum for a brief phase (while training the rest of the body) before returning to training the entire body regularly.
As you noted, the human body is remarkably adaptable, so we can build up to some amazing volumes and intensity levels of work when we are smart about our developmental progression.
For a general rule of thumb, would you say that it is accurate (for the most part) to say that beginners/”elower-level” intermediate lifters are more likely to overtrain by volume (due to relatively underdeveloped work capacity/being less robust from a structural development standpoint) and that “higher-level intermediate/advanced lifters would be more likely to run into CNS issues if pushing the gas pedal down too hard and for too long, since they have the capacity to recruit a lot more fibers?
Jack, that’s a very good question!
I would say that as a general rule that’s probably accurate. I think part of it, however, has to do with something slightly more simple: most beginners do not yet know how to train “all out.” Thus a beginner – intermediate doing 9 sets for chest may be just right, yet I can (if I wanted to) do a LOT of CNS and muscular damage to my chest in just 9 sets, so much that it’d be overkill. But I (and other training vets) can practically kill a muscle in no time by ramping up the intensity.
You can either train long or you can train hard. If you try to train long and hard, you will overtrain.
In closing, I must point out that individual recuperative abilities vary TREMENDOUSLY! Thus I’d never say x number of sets is too much etc. Whether genetics or nutrition, some can tolerate more work, some less. Taking that and other things like you mentioned into account is where things can get confusing. But I’ll continue to do my best to keep you all pointed in the right direction.
Best,
Dr Clay
ok so im really skinny , and im doing pushups for almost an hour everydday, is that overtraining?
and how can i grow my muscles faster?
Yeah, I’d say that’s overtraining for sure, Jim. Or you’re at least overtraining your chest and triceps, that’s pretty safe to say. As for how to grow muscles faster, that’s a large part of what this site is all about. So I’d encourage you to read, read, read – both here and at TMuscle.com – the best site for training and nutrition information.
Stay tuned! But until then, keep working hard.