Overtraining??

[Michael007]

I have been working out for about 4 months now and have seen
some results from my training. I also have a good diet and consume
the correct amounts of protein. I was wondering if Im working
the muscles too much , too little, or just right. Any help would
be appreciated.

mon - Chest/back
tues - bi's/tris/shoulders
wed - legs
thur - chest/back
fri - bi's/tris/shoulders
sat - rest
sun - rest

also I do 30-40 minutes of cardio everyday

[P97Hydra-Shok]

im on the same routine but 3 days a week

mon. Chest & Back

wed. Arms and shoulders

Fri. Legs

When i started it was 3 on 1 off and the personal trainers said to only work out 3 days total. I can lift a lot more when i work out with all the rest but does anyone work out (Lift) more than 3 days?? Is that enough??

[AllenP]

the same routine as Hydra's is the one i am doing right now, except that i do the arms and shoulders on thursday (actually just started it) and then followed by Legs on Friday's or Saturday depending on my schedule and how i feel. I thought that taking more days off after my Monday routine of Chest and Back would give my body more rest before i go on and tear them again. Since during the Monday workout, i also worked on some of the other body parts that is why i thought that more rest is needed before hitting them again. By the way, i am training for about four months now and i have gained an inch in my arms, about 2 inches around my chest. And at 5'7" i am currently at 182 lbs. body fat around 15%

[Dan101]

Personally I feel you should not workout 5 days in a row and should spread your days off across the week. This will effectively break your workout up a bit.

Also ensure your diet is good, with you consuming plently of calories and nutrients, namely protein. Keeping your body constantly fueled and nurished is a barrier against over training.

[Boa]

Originally posted by Dan101
Personally I feel you should not workout 5 days in a row and should use spread your days off across the week. this will effectively break your workout up a bit.

Also ensure your diet is good, with you consuming plently of calories and nutrients, namely protein. Keeping your body constantly fueled and nurished is a barrier against over training.

I agree. Training for more than three (or possibly four) days per week will not pay off in the long run. There's nothing wrong with occasionally throwing in an extra day during the week to hit one or two bodyparts again. You might do this because you consider it a weaker bodypart that needs some extra work, or it could be the opposite. Maybe you're feeling particularly strong and fully recovered in a particular area and want to see if you can squeeze a bit more out of it. The important thing to remember is not to make a habit of it.

When you train with high intensity and focus, using predominantly basic mass building exercises, your body will NEED these days off in which to recover, recupirate and grow. And it's not just your body - your mind needs a break too. Train too often for too long and you may find your enthusiasm fading to the point where you give up altogether. It's been said many times before in relation to bodybuilding but I reckon it's worth saying again - "you can't sprint a marathon" - train hard, train with intensity and focus, and then go home and grow...

[Irishman]

I agree. I do the same routine right now - chest/back, arms/shoulders, and legs. I workout 3 days a week and am having good gains since I cut back from 5 days a week. I usually do arms/shoulders on tuesday, legs on thursday and chest/back on saturday. If I've got extra time one week, I'll split my chest and back day into two seperate days, giving me a 4-day split.

[Ice Man]

I work out 5 days a weel but I do a different group everyday. I only spend like 45 minutes in there though. I've become so much more efficient since doing this. I went from 190-227 using this type of workout since May. I rest on Sun and Mon. I personally don't think you need to train each body part more than once a week. I feel that just means that you didn't train efficeintly the first time. But hey everyone is different.

[masswithclass]

I've found one day on, one day off works the best, you only do three days a week of training, I changed to this routine about five months ago and people are freaking out saying that I must be juicing or something, its great, i also do an hour of cardio on my days off weights.... here's my split formulated for maximum recovery and growth:

Day 1: Chest/shoulders
Day 2: Rest (cardio)
Day 3: Back/Biceps
Day4: Rest (Cardio)
Day 5: Legs/Triceps
Day 6: Rest(cardio)
Day7: Repeat cycle....

[Koolg_guy41]

His routine is overtraining, He is doing chest and back one day. so i'm assuming your going to do somebenching, which also uses your tri's. And the next day your working out your tri's so they don't have a day to recover. I did this once a long time ago. You have to remember that you almost always use other muscles when training you upper body

Originally posted by Michael007
I have been working out for about 4 months now and have seen
some results from my training. I also have a good diet and consume
the correct amounts of protein. I was wondering if Im working
the muscles too much , too little, or just right. Any help would
be appreciated.

mon - Chest/back
tues - bi's/tris/shoulders
wed - legs
thur - chest/back
fri - bi's/tris/shoulders
sat - rest
sun - rest

also I do 30-40 minutes of cardio everyday

i believe it is the 30-40 minutes of cardio everyday that is hindering your gains. try cutting back to 20-30 mins 3 times a week or just drop the cardio.
your split would be more effective if you take a rest day after chest/back both times per week instead of off on the weekend.

and if you hit a wall in progress, then up your cals 500 and protein by 50 grams till progress resumes.

[Boa]

I reckon BMF's got a good point. Whilst there can be no doubt that doing a bit of cardio is great for your overall health and fitness, and may actually HELP gains by increasing blood supply to muscles and strengthening the heart, enabling harder training, Michael007 is definately doing too much.

Cut down to two or three days per week, 20-30 minutes LOW/MEDIUM intensity like the man says. If you overdo the cardio you're giving your body mixed messages. On the one hand you're training hard in the gym, encouraging your body to produce extra muscle to compensate. But then you're confusing it by doing all this cardio. At the end of the day it will have to split it's resources between the two - meaning you put on less muscle.

Look at the pro's...they cycle their training emphasis between mass building and cutting - you need to do a similar kind of thing...

[SyNeRgY]

I train 5 days a week.... might bump it up to 6 however w/ work and school its tuff... but I have seen good results from targeting a bodypart a day w/ bis & tris on one day.. But I will be switching my routine around soom

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[ToddG]

I still do 5 days/wk, although I have switched around the body parts over the last 6 months. Initially day 1 was back and biceps. With a good workout I never had the energy to do much bicep work. I would really like to do back and quads only on their days, however, can't fit the splits in that way.

I currently perform the following splits which seems to give me plenty of energy for each group. I do switch the order of the bodyparts every other week (ie calfs before back on wk 2). The only ones that really seem to make a difference on the switches are shoulders and triceps.

Day 1: Back/calfs
Day 2: Bicepes/hamstrings
Day 3: Chest/abs
Day 4: Shoulders/Triceps
Day 5: Quads

[philipejerit]

I have this issue also, overtraining. I've been in gym for almost 7 months now and shifting from heavy to light lifting. my routine is like this

Day 1: Chest, Bi - Heavy
Day 2: Abs - Heavy and legs - light
Day 3: Back, Tri - Heavy
Day 4: Tri, Abs - Heavy
Day 5: Chest - Light
Day 6: Back - Light, Abs - heavy
Day 7: Depends on the mood but usually active sports (kickboxing, boxing, capuera, sometimes pilates)

Need your oppinion on this.

[Opies]

there is no way in hell anyone in this thread is overtraining. period.

OP, why not just go like this:

mon - Chest/back
tues - bi's/tris/shoulders
wed - legs
thur - rest
fri - chest/back
sat - bi's/tris/shoulders
sun - rest

makes no sense to work 5 days in a row then rest 2 days when you can break it up more for better resting, less fatigue, etc.