Overtraining is a myth!

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  • UltraRunnerGale
    UltraRunnerGale Posts: 346 Member
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    Over training in not a myth, it happens to people every day. At the very least, you can get burned out. Your body needs to rest. I am a long distance trail runner. I run five days a week and take two off. I am working with a coach, so I am not pulling this out of my butt. B)
  • mattyc772014
    mattyc772014 Posts: 3,543 Member
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    Sure you have to train hard but I would look to my diet first. 80% of it is your diet on where you want your body to look. Rest is just as important as all the other factors. I would think 2 days a week rest is ok. Make sure you get enough calories for the extra workouts. Listen to what everyone here says...you need appropriate rest when weight training. Listen to your body. Lots of luck.
  • shabaity
    shabaity Posts: 791 Member
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    Well I'm not going to say I'm over training grappling 3 days in a row this week but I'm certainly going to feel this Thursday morning. Specially as I'm still exhausted from the doubles over the weekend.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    I think most gym users would find it hard to overtrain and especially not on an hour or two a day.
    At least one rest day per week is important.

    Look up some articles on overtraining and it becomes obvious when its happening becaise you listen to your body and it neither feels good plus your performance drops off.

    I did hear an interesting slant which is that you cna't over train, but you can under recover, which I think is a pretty good rule of thumb.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    You definitely can overtrain and I should think there are a large enough number of gym goers doing it.

    Its all about the level you push yourself and for the period of time of each workout.

    When you workout on a regular bases pushing at a heart rate of 70% + for a few hours a day then you are doing your health no favours.

    You will become 'fit' pushing yourself to these levels, but you do it at the cost of future health.

    Give yourself adequate rest and sleep between workouts to let your body repair and glycogen levels to replenish.

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    Even professional athletes rest.

    Rest is paramount to ensure your body can heal to make progressive. If you continuous work the same muscles over and over, you are more susceptible to injury.
  • badbradclark
    badbradclark Posts: 47 Member
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    How many years can you sustain a 7 day-a-week work out regimen? 1, 2, 25? The early-twenties physical specimens cannot sustain 25-30 years of 7 days-a-week working out. And if they can, what kind of boring life is that.

    Live life. Take a rest to day once or twice a week to do that.
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
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    I find this discussion interesting. I rest two days a week at least. Not to prevent overtraining (I have been there and done that as a young person, it's not a mistake I will repeat in my middle age.) but so that I have time to live my life - raising kids and doing volunteer work and getting the occasional mani/pedi. Rest is, as someone said, for the body, mind, and spirit. I lift at about 80% of my capacity when I lift. And I do splits, currently the Jamie Eason Livefit program.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
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    I think 'over training' can comprise any mixture of physiological and psychological components, with a lot of individual variation. As a young woman whenever I over trained I recognized it immediately as minor flu symptoms that didn't develop into anything more. When my cross country running daughters over train small nagging injury 'hot spots' start to emerge. You may just need a days break... Take it! Active rest days are particularly nice: grocery shop on a cruiser bike, walk around a local lakeshore, take a kid to one of those jumpy places where everyone can get on the trampolines. Mix it up!
  • Carrieendar
    Carrieendar Posts: 493 Member
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    A lot of elite runners use longer cycles rather than the typical 7-day. So, they might have 11 straight days of running before a day off so that key workouts are more spread out and more mileage can be attained with proper recovery run days. That is an option if you want to work out more days straight; start thinking outside the 7 day schedule.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
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    The basis of all fitness is balancing 4 things:

    1. Intensity (how hard)
    2. Duration (how long)
    3. Frequency (how often)
    4. Recovery

    Recovery is not quite the same thing as complete rest and doesn't necessarily mean sitting around doing nothing. However, for a number of reasons one day complete rest is recommended particularly for beginners as well as planned recovery weeks where you reduce the amount of training you do.

    So, you can train every day but how much recovery time you need depends on the make up of 1-3.

    Over training is not a myth but I think most people are far more in danger of over reaching their current abilities (and therefore getting injured.)
  • Mayor_West
    Mayor_West Posts: 246 Member
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    FoodFitnessTravel wrote: »
    My results are fine, I have been doing 3x a week for years but i was never fully satisfied with my body composition.

    In this case OP, you should focus more on your diet and less on your training.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited August 2015
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    Mayor_West wrote: »
    FoodFitnessTravel wrote: »
    My results are fine, I have been doing 3x a week for years but i was never fully satisfied with my body composition.

    In this case OP, you should focus more on your diet and less on your training.
    Agreed. Fat loss is made in the kitchen, not the gym.

    If you really want to listen to your boyfriend and start working out every day, don't do full body and cardio every session. For one, recovery is at least as important to the actual lifts. I personally run and lift on alternating days. For one thing, I just don't have time for that much exercise at once so this allows me to accomplish everything in an hour per day every day. I have a day between each type of workout to recover and then have one weekend day off where I do no more than walk.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    SueInAz wrote: »
    Agreed. Fat loss is made in the kitchen, not the gym.

    Whilst I will agree the most important area to start with is controlling consumption, exercise can still have a role to play in actual weight loss. It doesnt have to be exclusively the kitchen.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    Oh and just a question for everyone thats commenting.

    How often do you train and how much training do you do? Think you are going to be hard pished to overtrain as a typical gym user especially if you take 1 or 2 days a week rest.
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,779 Member
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    I've read your responses and it sounds like you've already hit on a way to get the results you want while investing the time you're willing. Why is your boyfriend so concerned with how you work out? If you're mentioning insecurities and he's providing what he sees as a solution, that's one thing. But if he's got a Pygmalion thing happening here . . .
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    999tigger wrote: »
    Oh and just a question for everyone thats commenting.

    How often do you train and how much training do you do? Think you are going to be hard pished to overtrain as a typical gym user especially if you take 1 or 2 days a week rest.

    I train 6 days a week with 1 rest day. Although, I either golf or work on the house.

    Sunday - Chest & Shoulders
    Monday - HIIT & Abs
    Tuesday - Back & Arms
    Wednesday - Yoga/Flexibility training
    Thursday - Legs
    Friday - HIIT & Abs

  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    sorry psule i meant how often have people overtrained? I am coming from the angle of I think its hard to do and your average gym user on 60 -90min sessions isnt goping to get close. What msf74 posted above is a good way of looking at how much exercise any person is doing.
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,779 Member
    edited August 2015
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    999tigger wrote: »
    sorry psule i meant how often have people overtrained? I am coming from the angle of I think its hard to do and your average gym user on 60 -90min sessions isnt goping to get close. What msf74 posted above is a good way of looking at how much exercise any person is doing.



    ETA: Except in the beginning (or thinking I could keep up in a new class), no
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    barbecuesauce wrote: »
    999tigger wrote: »
    sorry psule i meant how often have people overtrained? I am coming from the angle of I think its hard to do and your average gym user on 60 -90min sessions isnt goping to get close. What msf74 posted above is a good way of looking at how much exercise any person is doing.

    Is overtraining the same as DOMS?

    No. From the wiki


    Doms is
    Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), also called muscle fever, is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise. The soreness is felt most strongly 24 to 72 hours after the exercise.
    Overtraining is Overtraining can be described as a point where a person may have a decrease in performance and plateauing as a result from failure to consistently perform at a certain level or training load exceeds their recovery capacity.[1] They cease making progress, and can even begin to lose strength and fitness. Overtraining is also known as chronic fatigue, burnout and overstress in athletes....] It is important to note the difference between overtraining and over-reaching; over-reaching is when an athlete is undergoing hard training but with adequate recovery, overtraining however, is when an athlete is undergoing hard training without the adequate recovery.

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