Possible Overtraining

[ckong17]

I'm 21, 185lbs. Ive been lifting serious for 7 months now. My main goal has been to put on muscle mass without adding too much fat. Ive seem to hit a plateau last 2 months with my size and strength gains. My strength seems to go up and down like a rollercoaster.. ill go in and increase my weight on each set, acheiving a new record for myself; then next time i go in im back to lifting my old weight and feel weaker. Im worried it might be overtraining.

My Supplements are;
Preworkout - Pump fuel (half serving)
Post workout - Afterglow recovery & Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Gainer (i only take these on workout days)

Heres my routine

I do 3 sets on every lift 10/8/6 increasing weight with each set. I repeat chest/back twice a week, along with arms twice a week. Is this too often?

***Monday - OFF



***Tuesday - CHEST/BACK
*CHEST
barbell bench
dumbbell incline bench
dumbbell decline bench
cable flies high
cable flies low
seated chest press machine
seated flies machine
wide pushups
*BACK
seated military press (in front)
seated military press (behind)
wide grip cable rows
wide grip lat pulldown machine
wide grip pullups
lower back extension machine
*TRAPS
face pulls with rope cable
barbell shrugs
dumbbell shrugs
behind the back barbell shrugs



***Wednesday - ARMS
*BICEPS
preacher curls with ez bar (inside grip)
preacher curls with ez bar (outside grip)
incline dumbbell curls
standing ez bar curls with cable (inside grip)
close side grip cable rows
alternating dumbbell curls
bicep chinups
simultaneous dumbbell curls (lightweight to failure)
*TRICEPS
bar cable pushdowns
rope cable pushdowns
rope cable overhead extensions
seated single dumbbell overhead extensions
dips
skullcrushers
triangle pushups
*SHOULDERS
shoulder side raises
shoulder front raises
reverse shoulder flies machine
barbell high pull
*FOREARMS
bar wrist curls (in front)
bar wrist curls (behind back)



***Thursday - OFF



*** Friday - ABS/LEGS
*ABS
incline situps (left, middle, right)
hanging leg lifts (left, middle, right)
kneeling reverse crunches (with arm sleeves on cable)
medicine ball twists
laying back on bench leg lifts (left, middle, right)
plank
*LEGS
seated leg extension
seated hamstring machine
seated leg press machine
seated calf raise machine



***Saturday -CHEST/BACK (SAME AS TUESDAY)
*CHEST
barbell bench
dumbbell incline bench
dumbbell decline bench
cable flies high
cable flies low
seated chest press machine
seated flies machine
wide pushups
*BACK
seated military press (in front)
seated military press (behind)
wide grip cable rows
wide grip lat pulldown machine
wide grip pullups
lower back extension machine
*TRAPS
face pulls with rope cable
barbell shrugs
dumbbell shrugs
behind the back barbell shrugs



***SUNDAY - ARMS (SAME AS WEDNESDAY)
*BICEPS
preacher curls with ez bar (inside grip)
preacher curls with ez bar (outside grip)
incline dumbbell curls
standing ez bar curls with cable (inside grip)
close side grip cable rows
alternating dumbbell curls
bicep chinups
simultaneous dumbbell curls (lightweight to failure)
*TRICEPS
bar cable pushdowns
rope cable pushdowns
rope cable overhead extensions
seated single dumbbell overhead extensions
dips
skullcrushers
triangle pushups
*SHOULDERS
shoulder side raises
shoulder front raises
reverse shoulder flies machine
barbell high pull
*FOREARMS
bar wrist curls (in front)
bar wrist curls (behind back)

[Brandon1943]

Your muscles grow out of the gym with proper nutrition and REST. If you don't give your body time to grow and heal than you won't see the muscle gains you want. When I tried gaining muscle mass as quick as possible I worked out 4 days a week and sometimes 5. That should be the max. Really you want 4 or 5 exercises per bodypart with about 3 or 4 sets each.

[musikguy72]

Overtraining is a separate issue from over working your muscles (not giving them enough rest to grow).
Only you would know if you are experiencing the clinical signs of overtraining.

This may help: http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/o.../aa062499a.htm

[ckong17]

Your muscles grow out of the gym with proper nutrition and REST. If you don't give your body time to grow and heal than you won't see the muscle gains you want. When I tried gaining muscle mass as quick as possible I worked out 4 days a week and sometimes 5. That should be the max. Really you want 4 or 5 exercises per bodypart with about 3 or 4 sets each.

I sleep 7-9 hours per night, and seeing as i lift chest on tuesday, that gives me wed,thur,fri, to rest and then i lift chest again on saturday. Is that too little rest between lifts?

[ckong17]

Overtraining is a separate issue from over working your muscles (not giving them enough rest to grow).
Only you would know if you are experiencing the clinical signs of overtraining.

ok so maybe i mean overworking my muscles :/ i feel like compared to other routines i may do too many exercises per muscle group in a single workout and maybe i should lift each muscle once a week instead of twice?

[Brandon1943]

I sleep 7-9 hours per night, and seeing as i lift chest on tuesday, that gives me wed,thur,fri, to rest and then i lift chest again on saturday. Is that too little rest between lifts?

You have to listen to your body. If you hit chest hard and give it everything you have than you will feel it for a couple days. Write down what happens when you lift chest twice per week for two weeks and see your results. Then workout chest once per week for two weeks and making shure you hit it hard that one day and check the results and compare them. Everybodys body is different. Also make sure you are eating enough protein,fats,carbs,calories to fuel your body to gain muscle mass

[DocF]

Ever thought about changing your routine up? Alot of the time when people hit there plateau its due to the fact that there muscles have adapted to the workouts they are doing. I would suggest giving them a good jolt by switching your routine around every other month. If you are trying to really put on mass you should think about failure sets for the stabalizer muscle groups (delts, triceps, lats, and biceps). For chest and legs you cant go wrong with 5 sets of 5 at 80% of your 1RM.

[EvilThoughts]

Maybe you need a deload week or just take a week off to let the muscle fibers and chit to recover from the hard training for the past 7~ months?

[ckong17]

You have to listen to your body. If you hit chest hard and give it everything you have than you will feel it for a couple days. Write down what happens when you lift chest twice per week for two weeks and see your results. Then workout chest once per week for two weeks and making shure you hit it hard that one day and check the results and compare them. Everybodys body is different. Also make sure you are eating enough protein,fats,carbs,calories to fuel your body to gain muscle mass

I normally am sore for 2 days after lifting chest.
my typical eating habits arent the best but close to whats affordable

Meal 1 before work; 2 pieces of peanutbutter toast

Meal 2 first break; 2 scrambled eggs and banana

Meal 3 lunch; chicken with peas and mashed potatoes

Meal 4 third break; protein bar

Meal 5 before gym; peanut butter crackers, or 10g protein nut bar

Meal 6 after gym; Afterglow Recovery Shake, Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Gainer Shake, followed by chicken & baked fries/ or frozen pizza/ ect..

[ckong17]

Ever thought about changing your routine up? Alot of the time when people hit there plateau its due to the fact that there muscles have adapted to the workouts they are doing. I would suggest giving them a good jolt by switching your routine around every other month. If you are trying to really put on mass you should think about failure sets for the stabalizer muscle groups (delts, triceps, lats, and biceps). For chest and legs you cant go wrong with 5 sets of 5 at 80% of your 1RM.

for the failure sets, what do you mean in specifics
i typically struggle, sometimes fail my last 1-2reps on my 10/8/6 sets

[ckong17]

Maybe you need a deload week or just take a week off to let the muscle fibers and chit to recover from the hard training for the past 7~ months?

i did that for a week once and lost alot of motivation lol

[Brandon1943]

I normally am sore for 2 days after lifting chest.
my typical eating habits arent the best but close to whats affordable

Meal 1 before work; 2 pieces of peanutbutter toast

Meal 2 first break; 2 scrambled eggs and banana

Meal 3 lunch; chicken with peas and mashed potatoes

Meal 4 third break; protein bar

Meal 5 before gym; peanut butter crackers, or 10g protein nut bar

Meal 6 after gym; Afterglow Recovery Shake, Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Gainer Shake, followed by chicken & baked fries/ or frozen pizza/ ect..

That doesn't look bad. What I do when I start seeing trouble in my workouts is I look at my meal plan and I count up all the macros in the food so I can see my exact numbers in calories,fats and carbs. You can get cal,prot,carb counters online to see what exactly you need to be eating to gain muscle mass. When you get that under control you can now look at your training. I think you are doing to many exercises per body part. If you hit a body part hard you should only have about 4-5 exercises per body part. Check out some of the programs on here and look at the training schedule. Personally I like phil heaths program. You can find it on muscle techs website and probably on here

[DocF]

Failure sets are achieved when you are no longer capable of lifting with proper form, your body begins to do everything it can contracting multiple muscle groups to lift the weight. Also shocking the muscles. For example finishing a 4th set of shoulder dumbbell presses then doing as many reps possible going down in weight by 10 lbs. (ex. ending heavy w/ 70 lbs then going to 60, 50 , 40, etc...) After that you shock your muscles, thinking they are getting a break after all of that find a medium weight and do some lateral raises. You can manipulate this with different muscle groups specifically the stablizers (delts, triceps, biceps, and lats)

[ckong17]

on my non-workout days what is the best time to take my protein shake? early morning or late at night?

[Voxmusculus]

on my non-workout days what is the best time to take my protein shake? early morning or late at night?

I split my intake twice -- once during lunch, and once in the evening. Makes me feel full for a long time.

[ckong17]

whats a good preworkout? i was taking pumpfuel from gnc but its been 7months and i dont feel it anymore.
i want something that works but nothing too strong to the point i become addicted to it

[MikeKK]

Is it just me or is the guy doing like 20 sets for chest, back, arms etc?? Also good to know that shoulders are a part of the arm :P
Dude I just have a question to you, do you even progress on workout to workout basis in your lifts?
My advice: if you really have to stick with a program like that have 2 main lifts for each muscle group with 3-4 sets + 1 accessory lift. Nothing more. Doing 20 sets per muscle group is just dumb. There's that fitness channel, TMW. They have much broscience but there's one thing in particular I agree with: if you can't build your muscle with 8 sets you ain't gonna build it with 20-30.

whats a good preworkout? i was taking pumpfuel from gnc but its been 7months and i dont feel it anymore.
i want something that works but nothing too strong to the point i become addicted to it

Jack3d, craze etc. If you don't feel anything then get off of it for few weeks and then take pwo again. I only take mine when I feel ****ty or when I got my low rep day (2x a week). Also take only 1-2 scoops max.

[Sinaku5]

on my non-workout days what is the best time to take my protein shake? early morning or late at night?

Whenever you want. Theres no benefit outside of personal preference.

[ckong17]

Is it just me or is the guy doing like 20 sets for chest, back, arms etc?? Also good to know that shoulders are a part of the arm :P
Dude I just have a question to you, do you even progress on workout to workout basis in your lifts?
My advice: if you really have to stick with a program like that have 2 main lifts for each muscle group with 3-4 sets + 1 accessory lift. Nothing more. Doing 20 sets per muscle group is just dumb. There's that fitness channel, TMW. They have much broscience but there's one thing in particular I agree with: if you can't build your muscle with 8 sets you ain't gonna build it with 20-30.

i thought i was doing too much. this my new routine im going to start this week, let me know how it looks.


Plan on doing 4 sets.
10/8/6/4 increasing weight with each set.


#MONDAY - OFF


#TUESDAY - biceps, back, traps
*BICEPS
Preacher Curls
Incline Dumbbell Curls
Alternating Dumbbell Curls
Reverse Barbell Curls
*BACK
Wide Grip Cable Rows
Lower Back Extension Machine
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown Machine
Wide Pull-ups
*TRAPS
Face Pulls with Rope Cable
Dumbbell Shrugs
Behind back shrugs

Forearm Wrist Curls


#WEDNESDAY OFF


#THURSDAY - Chest Triceps Shoulders
*CHEST
Barbell Bench
Dumbbell incline Bench
Dumbbell decline Bench
Cable Flies
*TRICEPS
Rope Cable Pushdowns
Tricep Dumbbell Kickbacks
Seated dumbbell overhead extensions
One arm cable tricep extension
*SHOULDERS
Seated military press
Shoulder raises
Barbell high pulll


#FRIDAY - Legs Abs
*ABS
incline situps (left, middle, right)
hanging leg lifts (left, middle, right)
kneeling reverse crunches (with arm sleeves on cable)
medicine ball twists
laying back on bench leg lifts (left, middle, right)
plank
*LEGS
seated leg extension
seated hamstring machine
seated leg press machine
seated calf raise machine


#SATURDAY - OFF

#SUNDAY - OFF

[BuffMother]

your workouts don't seem too taxing...be sure to eat enough and realize if you do the same lifting routine all the time your brain and body will get bored. There are tons of routines out there that you could use to shake it up-- AND try adding in some more LEGS to your training- SQUAT and do some DEAD for heavens sake!

[DreUd]

i thought i was doing too much. this my new routine im going to start this week, let me know how it looks.


Plan on doing 4 sets.
10/8/6/4 increasing weight with each set.


#MONDAY - OFF


#TUESDAY - biceps, back, traps
*BICEPS
Preacher Curls
Incline Dumbbell Curls
Alternating Dumbbell Curls
Reverse Barbell Curls
*BACK
Wide Grip Cable Rows
Lower Back Extension Machine
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown Machine
Wide Pull-ups
*TRAPS
Face Pulls with Rope Cable
Dumbbell Shrugs
Behind back shrugs

Forearm Wrist Curls


#WEDNESDAY OFF


#THURSDAY - Chest Triceps Shoulders
*CHEST
Barbell Bench
Dumbbell incline Bench
Dumbbell decline Bench
Cable Flies
*TRICEPS
Rope Cable Pushdowns
Tricep Dumbbell Kickbacks
Seated dumbbell overhead extensions
One arm cable tricep extension
*SHOULDERS
Seated military press
Shoulder raises
Barbell high pulll


#FRIDAY - Legs Abs
*ABS
incline situps (left, middle, right)
hanging leg lifts (left, middle, right)
kneeling reverse crunches (with arm sleeves on cable)
medicine ball twists
laying back on bench leg lifts (left, middle, right)
plank
*LEGS
seated leg extension
seated hamstring machine
seated leg press machine
seated calf raise machine


#SATURDAY - OFF

#SUNDAY - OFF

That basically the workout I'm doing right now although I suggest Squats for legs, and dead lifts for back in addition to what you have. Also, you only need 2-3 workouts for triceps and biceps, your hitting them with back and chest exercises, so 4 workouts would be too much.

[Sinaku5]

AND try adding in some more LEGS to your training- SQUAT and do some DEAD for heavens sake!

This

[TallForAManlet]

Man your workout is all over the place. There doesn't seem to be an rhyme or reason to the exercises that you choose.

-You don't need 4 exercises for curls, 4 for triceps and 6 for abs.
-For shrugs, pick one exercise and hit it hard.
-For back, weighted pull ups/chin ups and various forms of bb/db rows should be the stars in your program. Pick one or two, but feel free to switch them up from week to week.
-For legs, it's obvious that this is an afterthought for your workout program that you don't pay much attention to. I'm willing to bet that if you're going to miss a workout, it's going to be Friday. Don't be that guy. Learn how to properly squat and do RDLs.

More is not always better when is comes to working out. Pick a few key exercises to base your routine around, some accessory work to help those areas, hit 'em hard, and go home and eat.

[ckong17]

Man your workout is all over the place. There doesn't seem to be an rhyme or reason to the exercises that you choose.

-You don't need 4 exercises for curls, 4 for triceps and 6 for abs.
-For shrugs, pick one exercise and hit it hard.
-For back, weighted pull ups/chin ups and various forms of bb/db rows should be the stars in your program. Pick one or two, but feel free to switch them up from week to week.
-For legs, it's obvious that this is an afterthought for your workout program that you don't pay much attention to. I'm willing to bet that if you're going to miss a workout, it's going to be Friday. Don't be that guy. Learn how to properly squat and do RDLs.

More is not always better when is comes to working out. Pick a few key exercises to base your routine around, some accessory work to help those areas, hit 'em hard, and go home and eat.

good info.
so do you think i was doing too much not just in a single workout but doing too much by lifting each muscle twice a week? is it better to only lift each muscle group once a week?

[Brandon1943]

good info.
so do you think i was doing too much not just in a single workout but doing too much by lifting each muscle twice a week? is it better to only lift each muscle group once a week?

Try training once a week and see if you get better results letting your body recover. If you like the 2x a week approach you may have to eat more cals,carbs,protein. Also legs will help you gain weight and your leg workout routine looks the worst. Make sure you do SQUATS and LEG PRESSES. Kill squats and I bet you gain more weight. Make sure you supplement the body post workout and throughout the day

[Filmbuff81]

good info.
so do you think i was doing too much not just in a single workout but doing too much by lifting each muscle twice a week? is it better to only lift each muscle group once a week?

If you eat and sleep enough you can hit your muscles more than twice a week.

But your routine is very Haphazard as mentioned.

Why not just follow PHAT or Lyle McDonald's generic bulking routine.

Both will yield far superior results compared to what you are trying to accomplish with your Franken-Routine

[ckong17]

whats a good preworkout? i was taking pumpfuel from gnc but its been 7months and i dont feel it anymore.
i want something that works but nothing too strong to the point i become dependent on it

[TallForAManlet]

good info.
so do you think i was doing too much not just in a single workout but doing too much by lifting each muscle twice a week? is it better to only lift each muscle group once a week?

No, I don't think hitting body parts multiple times a week was the problem, but rather the sporadic nature of your workout, and the repetitiveness of your exercise selection. If you program smartly, eat and sleep enough, it shouldn;t be a problem at all.

[TallForAManlet]

whats a good preworkout? i was taking pumpfuel from gnc but its been 7months and i dont feel it anymore.
i want something that works but nothing too strong to the point i become dependent on it

Black coffee works for me.

[ckong17]

so i experience cold sweats and weakness periodically off and on throughout lifting. My skin gets very cold also.
i thought it was from lack of food before lifting but ive been eating more right before gym and that hasnt seemed to help.
just wondering if anybody had any suggestions to what this could be from and/or preventing it.