Overtraining Concerns

[AirWolf]

In an effort to break through my current cutting plateau I've ramped up my cardio workouts tremendously and I was wondering if I should scale back a bit to avoid overtraining - or if I should just continue listening to my body and give it a break if it ever tells me I need one.

I've been through the diet exercise several times over on the diet board and my diets as good as its gonna get for the time being...thus the added cardio to break through this plateau.

Stats: 28, 205, ~15%bf
Goal: 10-12%bf

Workout:
M: 11am Weights - HST; 4pm Cardio - 1hr elliptical (~1000cal); 9pm Cardio - 1hr elliptical (~1000cal)

T: 11am Cardio - 1hr elliptical (~1000cal); 9pm Cardio - 1hr elliptical (~1000cal)

W: 11am Weights - HST; 4pm Cardio - 1hr elliptical (~1000cal); 9pm Cardio - 1hr elliptical (~1000cal)

Th: 11am Cardio - 1hr elliptical (~1000cal); 5pm Cardio - 1hr elliptical (~1000cal)

F: 11am Weights - HST; 4pm Cardio - 1hr elliptical (~1000cal)

S: Off
Sun: Off

Been following this routine for a week now and so far other than requiring a 30 min nap before my evening workout I feel fine.

Thoughts?

 

[anotherbutters]

At ~15%BF, it ought to be easier than you're making it. How many calories are you eating? What was your starting weight and how long has it taken to get to where you are now?

 

[AirWolf]

At ~15%BF, it ought to be easier than you're making it. How many calories are you eating? What was your starting weight and how long has it taken to get to where you are now?

My intake varies from 2200-2500 on weekdays and sometimes up to 3000 on weekends - all below what I should require for maintenance.

I started at 240 almost a year and a half ago - took 4 months to get to 205ish and have been maintaining that ever since - I'm making a push right now to get ready for summer on the lake.

 

[Sassy69]

You can make a couple other paths as well:

- introduce carb cycling to your diet - best weapon in my arsenal for competition cutting.
- include HIIT cardio instead of just steadystate cardio. I did 2 x 1 hr cardio ED last yr for competition - it is a bitch. My feet really had a hard time recovering from that much time on the machines - i rotated the machines, etc but eventually my feet just hurt too fucking much. HIIT is a nice alternative to get a kick and burn fat but not take 1 hr to do it.

 

[anotherbutters]

Congrats on the progress so far. I can't see how you cannot lose weight eating that many calories and doing 9 hours of cardio every week.

What Sassy said - having a refeed at the weekends is sensible, but you're already doing that, and trying HIIT instead of straight 1 hour sessions.

 

[AirWolf]

Thanks for the advice guys - I just tried doing HIIT this morning - got up a bit early and did:

5min warmup
25min - 1min high intensity, 1 min avg intensity
5min cooldown

On the elliptical. Burned around 600cal.

Then had my first meal.

Not too bad at all - we'll see how this works out for the next couple weeks.

 

[xblitz44x]

Get to the track for your HIIT. The easiest way to do it is slowly jog the bend then sprint the bleacher part of the straightaway; should be about 60-70 yards. Do this for 15-20 minutes.

 

[Sassy69]

HIIT is a great little tool to have in your arsenal. My trainer last yr for some reason didn't believe in it (no idea why) and i ended up doing 2 x 1 hr steady state cardio every day for nearly 2 months prepping for a show. I lost the bodyfat but honestly I also lost my "kick". I have the worst time coming up w/ burst energy these days. Its partly a conditioning thing but I think you're worse off to never do it than do it occassionally.

 

[AirWolf]

Get to the track for your HIIT. The easiest way to do it is slowly jog the bend then sprint the bleacher part of the straightaway; should be about 60-70 yards. Do this for 15-20 minutes.

You obviously haven't been to Texas in the spring/summer/fall


After my 30min HIIT session this morning I did my regular HST workout this afternoon followed by 15min of HIIT. Seemed to work well. Probably didn't hit my normal calorie burn - but it didn't take 3 hours of my day either.

 

[anotherbutters]

When I did a lot of cardio about a year ago, I tried HIIT one session and ended up burning more calories in the same amount of time (according to the machine), but it felt less painful than running at a constant speed.