What SPECIFICALLY, is overtraining

[blood_drinker]

Please give the scientifical definition.

Also, will overtraining your muscles cause you to LOSE muscle, or just inhibit growth potential?

 

[Cackerot69]

There are many factors involved in overtraining.

In order for protein synthesis to occur optimally sufficient ATP and specific enzymes must be present in the muscle (glycogen provides some of the ATP which provides the energy necessary for protein synthesis). Each set you do depletes intramuscular ATP, glycogen and enzyme levels - this depletion inhibits growth. But there is also a prevalent theory of muscle growth that states that this ATP depletion is, itself, a necessary stimulus for growth. Also, each set produces muscular damage. The damaged fiber components are removed from the cell and eliminated (via the nitrogen cycle). In fact, after a workout, protein breakdown is markedly accelerated. This protein degradation is offset by the fact that the cellular damage incurred also causes the body to increase it's protein synthesis rates at the same time. So, the growth process is a balance of protein degradation and synthesis - catabolism and anabolism. Now, it is a fact that the body is capable of increasing protein synthesis rates to only a certain point (limited by substrate and enzyme availability, nuclei number, etc). So, by all of this, there definitely appears to be a point where enough ATP has been depleted to stimulate growth (if you subscribe to that theory) and the body's ability to synthesize protein has been stimulated to it's maximum. Any work beyond this point will contribute further to protein degradation but no further synthesis will be stimulated - the body simply is incapable of it.

Overtraining in a nutshell is - When so much work is performed, that more catabolism takes place than anabolism.

 

[blood_drinker]

Overtraining in a nutshell is - When so much work is performed, that more catabolism takes place than anabolism.

Thanks ! LOL !

( I undestood the rest , I'd just think this would piss you off..[or not?])

 

[GenetiKing]

blood drinker, this might help you too...


I don't have any text books with me right now (I'm at work ) but overtraining also has specific physiological symptoms that are pretty well recognizable in the real world:

Loss of training motivation, irritability, trouble sleeping, getting sick more easily (due to decreased glutamine levels), decreased performance, feeling tired, etc. That's off the top of my head from what I can remember. Maybe someone with an open book in front of them can tell you more.

 

[blood_drinker]

in the physiological sense, then, I doubt I could ever overtrain. Damn, I wish I could be in the gym training chest with growth !

 

[power-builder]

Overtraining is a term used by the slackers as an excuse to quit training hard.

 

[Belial]

p-b, I hope you're joking, really.


Because if not, that's a load of machismo bullsh!t.

 

[power-builder]

B,

My partner and I have done this for so long now that we're used to it, so to us, it's not overtraining.
I guess you could say that our bodies have grown accustomed to it.
We have to go over and above a normal routine to get sore or see gains anymore.
When we want to give ourselves a rest or take little break, we'll drop back to single sets and it seems so easy.
Like just squatting after being used to squatting super setted with deadlifts or hacks. Or just flat dummy presses when we're used to flat supered with inclines. We'll have these huge grins while we're doing it.
It's like we almost feel guilty because we're taking the easy way out. But we know that the longer we're slacking, the harder it will be to get back to the regular routine. So the breaks don't last too long.
But we do get acused by others all the time of overtraining. They don't understand so rather than try to explain it all, we just agree.

 

[MaGilicuti]

power builder, how long u been training? got pics to show your results?

 

[power-builder]

Mag,

I've trained for 20 years now, only 15 of that seriously.

No pics yet but I'll work on that.

 

[Sassy69]

Another way of describing over-training is under-recovering.... I think that's where people sometimes forget that getting "into shape" (or prep for a contest or anything in between) is training, but also diet, sleep, supplements to a certain degree, good mental state - not just hours and hours in the gym!

~ sassy

 

[tomcat]

Another way of describing over-training is under-recovering.... I think that's where people sometimes forget that getting "into shape" (or prep for a contest or anything in between) is training, but also diet, sleep, supplements to a certain degree, good mental state - not just hours and hours in the gym!
~ sassy

Good thought...

 

[GenetiKing]

Overtraining is a term used by the slackers as an excuse to quit training hard.

I agree to an extent. Overtraining is very real and very possible to achieve but the term "overtraining" has been misused and abused for way too long.

It cracks me up when I'm getting ready to a 4th or 5th set of squats and one of the skinny fucknuts in my gym tells me I'm overtraining. WTF? (And this has actually happened before.) So let's compare quads then, buddy. I see lazy people use this as an excuse all the time. Usually the people who have enough mental fortitude, willpower, drive, and discipline to train like madmen also have the dedication to their diet and rest habits so that overtraining is never an issue with them anyway. For this reason, the majority of people that are yelling "overtraining" every other word are the ones who actually like the idea that, "Too much work at too much intensity will be detrimental." Hell, that's a lazy man's ideal statement! (Although it is true... TO A DEGREE!)

I can't speak for anyone else on this board but personally, I have always trained my balls off and I have NEVER felt any symptoms of overtraining!!! In fact, I've made steady good, gains over the years (drug free) and never once quit a workout too soon or didn't go to absolute failure for fear of the overtraining boogeyman.

Most spend too much time worrying about this bullshit...they'd be better off hitting it hard and saying to hell with overtraining. Kick some fucking ass in the gym...be a man! If you begin to overtrain...
you will know it!!! Trust me, the symptoms are not hard to recognize. If you're making gains, you can forget about worrying with this overtraining crap, jeeez!

For the last time:

Is overtraining real? Yes!
How many people actually do overtrain? VERY few.

We've been over this a million times on this board...

 

[einstein1]

to keep it simple: overtraining to doing any more exercise than what is minimally required to stimulate growth. Yes, that means doing one set or one rep more than what is required to stimulate growth will constitute over training. To the exponent you overtrain, to that same exponent you are slowing your bodies growth compensatory growth mechinism.

 

[GenetiKing]

overtraining to doing any more exercise than what is minimally required to stimulate growth. Yes, that means doing one set or one rep more than what is required to stimulate growth will constitute over training.

Not necessarily.

What you just described constitutes training beyond one's optimal growth window in terms of training volume or intensity. That's not always bad.

Some hardcore training programs promote "contolled overtraining" for the first 2 or 3 weeks to reinforce, stimulate, and challenge the body's natural recuperative abilities. After this initial "break in" period, training volume is drastically reduced while the body is still geared to recuperate from the high volume workouts. The result is: Short and intense sessions + increased recuperative ability = Exponential hypertrophy.



Overtraining is a chronic condition, NOT ACUTE!!!

Let's quit scaring people with this term.

 

[Chris V.]

I agree to an extent. Overtraining is very real and very possible to achieve but the term "overtraining" has been misused and abused for way too long.

It cracks me up when I'm getting ready to a 4th or 5th set of squats and one of the skinny fucknuts in my gym tells me I'm overtraining. WTF? (And this has actually happened before.) So let's compare quads then, buddy. I see lazy people use this as an excuse all the time. Usually the people who have enough mental fortitude, willpower, drive, and discipline to train like madmen also have the dedication to their diet and rest habits so that overtraining is never an issue with them anyway. For this reason, the majority of people that are yelling "overtraining" every other word are the ones who actually like the idea that, "Too much work at too much intensity will be detrimental." Hell, that's a lazy man's ideal statement! (Although it is true... TO A DEGREE!)

I can't speak for anyone else on this board but personally, I have always trained my balls off and I have NEVER felt any symptoms of overtraining!!! In fact, I've made steady good, gains over the years (drug free) and never once quit a workout too soon or didn't go to absolute failure for fear of the overtraining boogeyman.

Most spend too much time worrying about this bullshit...they'd be better off hitting it hard and saying to hell with overtraining. Kick some fucking ass in the gym...be a man! If you begin to overtrain...
you will know it!!! Trust me, the symptoms are not hard to recognize. If you're making gains, you can forget about worrying with this overtraining crap, jeeez!

For the last time:

Is overtraining real? Yes!
How many people actually do overtrain? VERY few.

We've been over this a million times on this board...

I couldn't have said it better myself!...