Overtraining?

deanconnors3
deanconnors3 Posts: 22 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey All,
I work out 5 days a week, Mon Tues Thurs and Fri are a HIIT routine and Wed is 30 minutes on the elliptical. My HIIT routine consists of one minute drills, (max you can accomplish in one minute), rotating through upper, core and lower body, (for example one minute of pushups, one minute of core, one minute of legs) with no break in between exercises. I do a minimum of four rotations, take a one minute break, and then shoot for a minimum of four more rotations. Some of the exercises have resistance included. Is it possible to be overtraining with a routine like this? I've been doing it for around three months now, dropped 15 pounds and gained back a lot of my strength, but recently I've noticed I'm not recuperating as quickly or well, have a lot of discomfort and am actually going backwards in reps accomplished per exercise. I didn't think you could really overtrain doing primarily bodyweight calisthenics. Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

Replies

  • bubblygoldfish
    bubblygoldfish Posts: 215 Member
    Three months is a long time to be doing the same thing. Take a week off to do something lighter, let yourself heal. Go hiking, biking, whatever. Then start up with your routine. If you still feel discomfort or pain, go talk to your doc.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    So your HIIT routine is a total of 20 minutes, including breaks? What you're doing is fine, but after 3 months, it might be time to take a week off for Recuperation. It also depends on if you're eating enough to recover
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    You are showing the classic signs of overtraining. Personally I think doing HIIT 4 times a week is a long-term losing strategy, but if you are going to do it, you need to be sensitive to the signs of overtraining and prepare to respond, or else routinely build in recovery weeks.

    Just like someone who wants to work out every day, the effects of the volume can be managed, but you have to utilize the appropriate strategy.
  • Grimmaz
    Grimmaz Posts: 1 Member
    Keep in mind that diet, if not dialed in properly, will affect your performance when exercising. If you have not already, make sure to know your proper macros for your body and set them up in the settings area of MFP. The above advice is good. After three months I would take a week off of your routine but no more than that. Stay active during that week but take it easy. Hope this helps and keep up the hard work!
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    At your age, and assuming you are eating at a deficit, I would say yes, it's possible you might have exceeded your ability to recover.

    Lyle McDonald has a long but useful series of articles about overtraining and overreaching (degrees of the same phenomenon, with overtraining being more catastrophic). Here's the first one:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/overtraining-overreaching-and-all-the-rest-part-1.html

    In the case of most beginners, a two-week break fixes the problem. He explains why it's two weeks in that series. In the future, you might want to start either eating more or giving yourself more rest days between workouts.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    That's a lot of HIIT, and those are signs of overtraining. You could do strength training on Tues and Friday, keep doing cardio HIIT two days a week, or substitute easy cardio for two of your regular days of HIIT/body weight training, and do easy cardio on Wednesdays. Congratulations on your weight loss, and on keeping up a rigorous exercise program.
  • crandos
    crandos Posts: 377 Member
    Symptoms of overtraining are lack of motivation,tiredness,insomnia,easier to get sick and generally feelin like crap after big workout. I had all these few weeks ago and didnt feel like my body was getting any leaner so i cut back from 5 days of heavy lifting to 3 days. Now my results are alot better than before. So just be aware of overtraining too much sometimes isnt the best.
  • Winston1717
    Winston1717 Posts: 184
    I do HIIT training and was doing Karate twice a week and doing double workouts on those days. It comes to a point where yiu need to listen to your body and ease up...gjve yourself a rest day. Also I switch up my routine every 3 weeks to keep my body guessing. Good luck.
  • deanconnors3
    deanconnors3 Posts: 22 Member
    Thanks for the input, everyone, I do appreciate it. Guess I'll take a little break for a week or so and re-evaluate my routines. Thanks again.

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