Is it true you can't overtrain doing bodyweight exercises?

[Dorian'sDisciple]

I have noticed that many gymnasts and military men,some boxers have decent physiques...not freaky mass but a moderate amount of muscle and excellent conditioning.

A lot of them do pushups/dips/pullups every single day. Why do they not overtrain doing this? if they do overtrain they still make strength gains and don't suffer muscular atrophy.

finally, my pullup strength is very poor. Could i fastrack my pullup strength by doing them 5/6 days a week like these guys?

 

[Dial_tone]

None of those people are concerned with *maximizing* muscle size or size. They're after muscular endurance; the size is more or less an unintended by-product. Look at track cyclists. The sprinters have huge thighs and they ride nearly every single day for months on end.

 

[psychedout]

In short, yes you can ovetrain doing bodyweight only exercises.

 

[Dorian'sDisciple]

None of those people are concerned with *maximizing* muscle size or size. They're after muscular endurance; the size is more or less an unintended by-product. Look at track cyclists. The sprinters have huge thighs and they ride nearly every single day for months on end.

That is not the point. The fact is by product or not they still get some size and improve on the exercises.. ergo: they don't appear to overtrain.

Thus, would it not be useful to increase my pullup strength by doing them 5-6 times a week

 

[Dorian'sDisciple]

In short, yes you can ovetrain doing bodyweight only exercises.

Well I'm afraid that's too short to be useful

 

[guldukat]

That is not the point. The fact is by product or not they still get some size and improve on the exercises.. ergo: they don't appear to overtrain.

Gotta disagree here, DD--that's a leap in logic. One could certainly attain some size before they were quagmired in overtraining; I see examples of that pretty much every time I step into a commerical gym.

You can only conclude the gymnasts et al. definitely aren't overtraining if they continue to grow, which is rare (not to mention too general...all gymnasts aren't created equal).

 

[psychedout]

Well I'm afraid that's too short to be useful

Well, ill put it like this. You can do chins and dips all day long, everday of the week, and you might gain some size.

But if you give yourself 4-6 days of rest between them (or hit each bodypart once a week) id be willing to be my life savings you would gain more size.

 

[bignate73]

it depends on your recovery time. would you get better at pullups, yes, your CNS and muscular system would adapt to that workload. would you plateau, yes as well. if someone cant do pushups, then doing pushups every day could help them improve, but they run the risk of overtraining because they are weak. for someone who can bang out pushups all day long, that wont overtrain them....they are conditioned to it.

 

[Dial_tone]

That is not the point. The fact is by product or not they still get some size and improve on the exercises.. ergo: they don't appear to overtrain.

It is exactly the point. Think about how much bigger they could be if they were resting every other day. Their sports involve technique that needs to be practiced everyday. Do you know any top powerlifters squatting 4-5 days a week?

 

[lavi]

I don't see why it matters if the weight comes from your body or iron...

 

[Dorian'sDisciple]

Thanks for all the replies guys.I understand and agree with what has been said (I understood this already though). I guess I was rather vague ,what I really mean is this:

My pullups are really rather weak,I beleive that weighted pullups are THE BEST back exercise. Therefore,surely it is better to do them all the time ,for a short period because it will pay huge dividends in the LONG TERM . Thus I could do them 5 days a week and get better at them -like the guys who train with them regularly- and when I returned to doing them once a week i would be much stronger and able to do them with a plate or strapped to me.

This would be short term training not worrying about mass for a long term gain (which would ultimately deliver more mass) and hopefully avoiding overtraining.

Any thoughts guys?

 

[WalkingBeast]

I believe heavy weights are the way to growth. With BW exercises the only progressive resistance you get is adding reps. That may keep you conditioned and build endurance, but I dont see it leading to much size. Even if you did BW exercises everyday for hours, Id see it as a form of undertraining. You can stress the muscles so much more with weights. If I were to switch from my heavy chest training, to doing push-ups Id lose ALOT of my size and strength.

 

[Dorian'sDisciple]

I agree bro..... totally. It's not a size matter it's pure ego,i just want to get more bw pullups and want to do them everyday just for shit n giggles. I just don't want it to mess up my hypertrophy program.

 

[NYBodyguard]

why post a question if you already decided what you want to hear and will argue with everyone who says anything different?

I dont get it

 

[Debaser]

It is exactly the point. Think about how much bigger they could be if they were resting every other day. Their sports involve technique that needs to be practiced everyday. Do you know any top powerlifters squatting 4-5 days a week?

There are quite a few olympic lifters squatting 4+ days a week. I have more respect for an olympic lifter squatting 700-800+ lbs ass to the floor RAW than a powerlifter going just to parallel with 18 pieces of gear on.

 

[Dorian'sDisciple]

why post a question if you already decided what you want to hear and will argue with everyone who says anything different?

I dont get it

My guess is you 'don't get it' a lot of the time.

Asking people's opinions and comparing them to your own is not arguing...it's a form of dialectic,a debate ...if everyone just says the same thing this stops being an interactive message board.

Also,I am interested from my own observations whether certain trainers can thrive on doing daily bw exercises