Am I training my muscles too much?

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
edited October 2 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi, I've been successful in reaching my goal weight & now I'm concentrating more on my strength training exercises. I read somewhere that it takes several days for our muscles to fully recover. Currently I do my workouts 6 days a week with circuits for 1 hr. 3 days a week. I do my circuits every other day. Also I constantly add new weight training exercises every week. Since I continue losing weight despite upping my weight training sessions, adjusting my profile to maintenance mode & upping my calories, I'm worried that I might be losing some muscle. I have no idea if I'm already overtraining my muscles & I don't give it some time to recover. Note that I want to add more muscles & I've been lifting weights for a year now. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks

Replies

  • msjac23
    msjac23 Posts: 140 Member
    No your not training your muscle too much if you are weight training 3 days a week with rest in between. Are you feed you muscles enough protein?
  • MarieNevada
    MarieNevada Posts: 395 Member
    as long as the muscle groups get 24 hours to recover, it's probably okay. try to take a week off every 8 weeks or so. continue to do some cardio in that time but don't do the circuits or lifting. and change your routines every 3 or 4 mos and you should be fine.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Hi, I've been successful in reaching my goal weight & now I'm concentrating more on my strength training exercises. I read somewhere that it takes several days for our muscles to fully recover. Currently I do my workouts 6 days a week with circuits for 1 hr. 3 days a week. I do my circuits every other day. Also I constantly add new weight training exercises every week. Since I continue losing weight despite upping my weight training sessions, adjusting my profile to maintenance mode & upping my calories, I'm worried that I might be losing some muscle. I have no idea if I'm already overtraining my muscles & I don't give it some time to recover. Note that I want to add more muscles & I've been lifting weights for a year now. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks

    If you're doing full-body every workout and the same circuit basically you may want to limit it to 3 or 4 sessions. If you're doing body splits like mon = chest / back, tue = legs / shoulders, etc, etc, you can easily workout 6 days a week. For instance here's my lifting split
    mon = shoulders (I also add in dips to work my chest a little in addition to shoulders and tri's)
    tue = legs
    wed = Back (Lat's) and Biceps (strength focus)
    thr = chest (use dips in this session too as they provide the shoulder additional stimulus)
    fri = deadlift and plymoetrics (this also gives plenty of leg stimulation)
    sat = Back (Upper Back) and Biceps (volume focus)
    sun = nada, maybe a jog
  • hazelnut861
    hazelnut861 Posts: 390 Member
    As long as you have a recovery period before working that muscle group again you should be fine. I drink a protein shake after weight training since it helps repair the.muscle and prevents losing lean muscle. As far as losing weight still,pay more attention to your body fat% and how you feel when you look in the mirror. If you eat more healthy calories you should maintain. Also the amount of weight you lift and number of reps matters if you're trying to lose, maintain or gain weight.
  • jenn53
    jenn53 Posts: 3
    I've asked some of the trainers at my gym, and they said to work any particular muscle group every other day, so legs one day, arms the next and on one of those days do your core. dont work the same muscle group more then every other day. that is what i do, but to what extent of pushing yourself, i dont really know that. i just do it until i cant. doing strength training with proper posture and weight selection is key. as long as your not pushing yourself to the point of a "bad hurt", i think you're good. i hope i helped, but i am somewhat in the same boat. good luck.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    If you are hoping to actually build muscle and not just increase strength you'll need to eat more than maintenance calories, lift as heavy as you can until failure, and give your muscles 2-3 days of rest. Rest days are when your muscles have the ability to build new tissue. Do a Google search for body/muscle building websites. Musclehack.com is a good one my husband used, but there are others that also offer free routines, meal guides, etc.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    I've asked some of the trainers at my gym, and they said to work any particular muscle group every other day, so legs one day, arms the next and on one of those days do your core. dont work the same muscle group more then every other day. that is what i do, but to what extent of pushing yourself, i dont really know that. i just do it until i cant. doing strength training with proper posture and weight selection is key. as long as your not pushing yourself to the point of a "bad hurt", i think you're good. i hope i helped, but i am somewhat in the same boat. good luck.

    You can definitely do every other day but also make sure your diet is in-gear. The split I followed up until last month went like,

    mon = shoulders / squat
    tue = chest / deadlift
    wed = back & bi's
    thu = shoulders and squat
    fir = chest / deadlift
    sat = back & bi's

    So you can definitely do it successfully, just make sure your diet is in-check.
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
    No your not training your muscle too much if you are weight training 3 days a week with rest in between. Are you feed you muscles enough protein?

    Yes & in fact I changed my diary settings increasing my protein requirements by 30%. Also I drink whey protein shake right after my weight training sessions then after an hour I eat high protein foods especially fish or chicken.
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
    If you are hoping to actually build muscle and not just increase strength you'll need to eat more than maintenance calories, lift as heavy as you can until failure, and give your muscles 2-3 days of rest. Rest days are when your muscles have the ability to build new tissue. Do a Google search for body/muscle building websites. Musclehack.com is a good one my husband used, but there are others that also offer free routines, meal guides, etc.

    I agree with eating more than maintenance calories. I also changed my profile setting from sedentary to lightly active even if I work on desk jobs (although I do move more & every day I do some non-exercise activities that I do not log here such as walking 2kms from my office to the bus station, my 20 min lunch walks, house cleaning etc.) because I don't think I will survive with the low calorie requirements for sedentary. As for the weights, I will purchase a heavier set of dumbbells, about 5-6 lbs. (right now I have 2 & 3 lb) as I don't like to get too bulky also. Though I do have the tendency to gain muscle easily & I already seeing some peeking out a little but I want it to be more visible especially around my arms & abs.
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