The term "overtraining" is the most abused, overused, and misused term on this board. Once you have entered the severly catabolic state of overtraining, YOU WILL KNOW IT.
Overtraining is characterized by several symptoms: inability to sleep, higher than normal resting heart rate, weakened immune system (due to lowered glutamine levels), irritability, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, loss of training motivation, erectile impotence, etc. Of course, not all these symptoms are mutually exclusive. Some overtrainers may experience only a few while someone else may feel the brunt of most of them.
Basically, endogenous testosterone plummets, blood cortisol levels (stress hormone) rise, and the body's hormonal environment becomes extremely catabolic. So much so that further training, even at low volume/low intensity levels only exacerbate the situation. Extended rest is the only solution for the overtrainer.
I have seen very few who actually reach this state. It takes an an athlete with incredible drive to do so. In fact it is much more commonly seen in professional-level athletics than weekend warriors. Overtraining is chronic in nature, not acute. In other words, you can't just "overtrain" one day at the gym. It takes months, sometimes a few years of overtaxing the body's recuperative abilities to achieve this. Of course, the the rate at which an athlete will become overtrained is depedent upon a host of variables. Genetics, body type, metabolism, nutrition, AAS usage, periodization schemes, recovery time, training volume, training intensity, mental stresses, etc all contribute to how quickly one will become overtrained given that the body cannot recover from given exercise stimuli over the long-run.
"Overreaching" is what most people mistakingly refer to as "overtraining." Overreaching is acute in nature. That is, one can easily overreach within one workout. When an athlete trains beyond their optimal training zone in terms of volume (which will be set primarily by the above mentined factors), that athlete has overreached. Will they suffer the symptoms of overtraining? No. If these training habits continue? Yes. Again though, it may take some time for these symptoms to become evident.
Which makes it difficult to answer your question. It sounds like you are more concerned with overreaching than anything. Many times, people will post questions similar to yours, asking if they are overtraining or not when in reality all they want to know is if they are training optimally for hypertrophy (tissue growth) or not. Again, it's hard to say. It will depend upon the above variables which are all unique to you. No one else will have the same genetics as you , no one else will eat just like you, and no one else will train exactly like you.
Bodybuilding is a journey is self-discovery.
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