"There's no such thing as overtraining, just undereating and under-resting."

[wutangnomo]

To a certain extent that is true, however, just like everything there comes a point of diminishing return. The human body can only recouperate so fast (even with the assistance of drugs).

Regarding BBF's statement, it is still very possible to overtrain with resistance weight training. Lifting heavy weight too frequently will seriously tax the nervous system and one way most people usually overtrain.

As for training each bodypart 5 times a week, the MAJORITY of people cannot do this. Some very genetically gifted people can, but most will quickly burn out doing this even when using aas. If you're able to train each bodypart 5 times a week that most likely means you're not hitting it all that intensely each training session. That is unless you have superior genetics.

 

[Lumberg]

The #1 thing about overtraining is CNS not musculature/joints

 

[Debaser]

The #1 thing about overtraining is CNS not musculature/joints

Bingo.

Over training is something that happens over time, due to cns burnout. You don't overtrain muscles--this is a common misinterpretation. Being "overtrained" is a physical/mental state, and not a good one. Difficulty sleeping, low immune system, are just a couple symptoms to speak of.

Many people on this board train to failure every workout, and this is the quickest way to lead to being overtrained.

 

[GoldenDelicious]

LoL care to workout with me for a week orb?

bear in mind my natural status, but yeah, i wouldnt mind bbf

i dont train alone by choice, i train alone because i left all my training partners behind...they talk too much crap and dont try hard enough

so yeah

 

[wutangnomo]

Bingo.

Over training is something that happens over time, due to cns burnout. You don't overtrain muscles--this is a common misinterpretation. Being "overtrained" is a physical/mental state, and not a good one. Difficulty sleeping, low immune system, are just a couple symptoms to speak of.

Many people on this board train to failure every workout, and this is the quickest way to lead to being overtrained.

Correct. It is usually training with heavy weights that taxes the nervous system moreso. For instance, if someone is constantly trying to lift their max weight every single workout they will quickly burn out.

 

[Blizzak]

Training=tissue tear. Tissues need to repair and require rest. This also depends on the severity of the workout.

 

[stevesmi]

read how Navy Seals train and then get back to me on this question.

the body is capable of doing amazing things.

with our busy lives, jobs, social situation. it is DIFFICULT to overtrain. who has 3 hours a day to dedicate to the gym anyway? or who has time as someone early in this thread said to run a marathon everyday? even a very good marathon runner would need 3-4 hours to complete a marathon.


during Hell Week Navy seals go 2 weeks with only 1 hour of sleep a day, and if you do sleep you get woken up with ice cold water. so its better not to sleep. is that overtraining?

so just try and hit the gym 90 minutes a day.. if you feel like crap or don't have the energy take a day off. but if you want to excel in this sport you aren't gonna get anywhere by going to the gym twice a week, doing 3 sets on the bench press and then socializing for 30 minutes then going home. it don't work that way, 95%+ of people at the gym UNDERtrain. which is fine for maintaining but it isn't gonna get the job done if you have the lofty goals i have

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

Navy Seals during bootcamp MASSIVELY overtrain. These men are already very physically fit and they lose weight despite eating very high calories. During hell week it is not unusual for guys to lose 10lbs while eating 6-7,000 calories a day.

That's what happens when you are tearing your body down faster than it can repair without allowing for proper rest. That is overtraining besides the actual definition of overtraining.

Every man that qualifies for BUD/s from the start has the physical fitness to become a SEAL. Whether or not their bodies can handle the massive volume of training is another matter entirely. Many chafe, blister or bleed so bad they cannot go on.

Many can't handle the repeated exposure to freezing cold water.

It becomes more a test of your mental strength/fortitude/persistence rather than your physical conditioning. Only the guys that absolutely, positively will not accept anything less than becoming a SEAL make it through the entire training process baring having to mandatorily leave by doctors orders from a medical injury or overuse injury which occurs very frequently.


Just because the body can survive certain conditions does not mean this is ideal or safe or that overtraining is not occuring.

I once went on a cocaine binge and stayed up for 4 days straight while eating very little. Sure I survived it, but my body was not happy with me for doing it.

You also have to keep in mind that activities like running, swimming, cycling primarly increase in intensity by greater cardiac output vs acute muscular contraction. You are moving your limbs faster and faster, but the strength or force you are producing is not really sufficient to cause an overload in the form of increased size and strength in the muscle or response from the cns.

A person can do set upon set of pushups every day without tearing down much because after you reach a certain proficiency in them you run into lactic acid build up and hit failure without maximally taxing the muscles or cns. Back in bootcamp I remember doing probably a couple hundred pushups a day.

Now try doing a max bench or squat 1x each day. After half a week to a week you will hit a wall from your cns and muscles being taxed to the hilt regardless of how much you sleep or eat.

AAS does greatly affect the human bodies tolerance to the effects of training and really changes the whole equation, but even then you can overtrain when on AAS, but it is significantly harder to do.

When you look at a typical gym 95% of the lazy bodies just going through the motions undertrain both in intensity, volume and frequency.

95% of the serious lifters in gyms OVERTRAIN both in misuse of intensity, volume and frequency.

 

[kagenical]

I believe the title quote to be true within reason for weight-lifting biased exercise... However there is certainly a third variable at play. Too much time in the gym typically means too little time at rest, so it's very hard to separate the two. I think the notion of overtraining is greatly exaggerated for the vast majority of the BB crowd. However, for those of us that spend 2+ hours in the gym or work out daily, and really give it their physical "all" (often times fatigue/weakness are mental) or train to failure frequently... it may very well be a different story. Again though, even if this is your normal routine, adequate rest should heal all wounds (or more correctly, micro-trauma I suppose) and I think very few of us fall into this super-intense lifting group.

And of course, heavy intense cardio and other sustained catabolic exercises don't apply here. It's certainly easy to surpass your body's ability to regenerate by frequently engaging in these types of activities.

 

[stevesmi]

Navy Seals during bootcamp MASSIVELY overtrain. These men are already very physically fit and they lose weight despite eating very high calories. During hell week it is not unusual for guys to lose 10lbs while eating 6-7,000 calories a day.

That's what happens when you are tearing your body down faster than it can repair without allowing for proper rest. That is overtraining besides the actual definition of overtraining.

Every man that qualifies for BUD/s from the start has the physical fitness to become a SEAL. Whether or not their bodies can handle the massive volume of training is another matter entirely. Many chafe, blister or bleed so bad they cannot go on.

Many can't handle the repeated exposure to freezing cold water.

It becomes more a test of your mental strength/fortitude/persistence rather than your physical conditioning. Only the guys that absolutely, positively will not accept anything less than becoming a SEAL make it through the entire training process baring having to mandatorily leave by doctors orders from a medical injury or overuse injury which occurs very frequently.


Just because the body can survive certain conditions does not mean this is ideal or safe or that overtraining is not occuring.

I once went on a cocaine binge and stayed up for 4 days straight while eating very little. Sure I survived it, but my body was not happy with me for doing it.

You also have to keep in mind that activities like running, swimming, cycling primarly increase in intensity by greater cardiac output vs acute muscular contraction. You are moving your limbs faster and faster, but the strength or force you are producing is not really sufficient to cause an overload in the form of increased size and strength in the muscle or response from the cns.

A person can do set upon set of pushups every day without tearing down much because after you reach a certain proficiency in them you run into lactic acid build up and hit failure without maximally taxing the muscles or cns. Back in bootcamp I remember doing probably a couple hundred pushups a day.

Now try doing a max bench or squat 1x each day. After half a week to a week you will hit a wall from your cns and muscles being taxed to the hilt regardless of how much you sleep or eat.

AAS does greatly affect the human bodies tolerance to the effects of training and really changes the whole equation, but even then you can overtrain when on AAS, but it is significantly harder to do.

When you look at a typical gym 95% of the lazy bodies just going through the motions undertrain both in intensity, volume and frequency.

95% of the serious lifters in gyms OVERTRAIN both in misuse of intensity, volume and frequency.

I think you read the first 2 lines of my post and totally ignored the rest.