Is weightlifting 6x a week overkill?

It depends on many things, e.g.:

Your training age : for a novice lifter, that's probably too much unless they are short sessions with good splits.
Your max recoverable volume : if you're lifting with intensity (low RIR, high RPE) and also high volume, you may be accruing fatigue, leading to stagnating progress and feeling irritable, etc.

If you're an advanced lifter and you know your MRV, 6x is probably fine for you.

rcnfcyjjjg wrote: »

yirara wrote: »

Need more info. Muscle building happens during the pauses and not during training. Thus if you train the same muscles every day then you likely won't get anywhere. If you do a sensible split: well, if you have the energy and fuel your workout appropriately then why not.

So do you think a full body split 6x a week (1.5 hours each session) is not sensible? I’m just wondering because I think I may switch to full body soon.

I think 6 days a week full body workout with each set taken to failure is indeed excessive. As mentioned, the gains happen when your muscles recover. If you are doing full body strength workouts, three days a week would be better with a day off (or active recovery or cardio) on in between days. For an upper/lower split or other types of splits six days may not be excessive, providing each muscle group gets enough rest.

Also, since you are in a deficit it is harder for your muscles to repair or build new muscle mass. In the past, I had great newbie strength gains while dieting in a deficit and working out six days a week. But only three of those weekly sessions were strength training. I alternated with cardio, yoga, or just general activity. I exercised 6-7 days a week but the activities, impact, and intensity varied. (If I did a 7 day it was usually hiking outside or more active recreation than a workout).

PPLPPL = Push / Pull / Legs / Push / Pull / Legs / Rest

Most sets will stop short of failure. If my goal is 10 reps, I should use a weight I can move about 12 times, but stop after 10, with a couple reps unused, or "in reserve". If I feel I could have done 5 more instead of just 2, I'm not lifting heavy enough; if I get to 10 (or less) and simply cannot do a single rep more, I am lifting too heavy. Takes a little tweaking to find that sweet spot, that Goldilocks zone of "not too heavy, not too light, but just right", and be aware that zone may change from one day to the next, one week to the next. Doesn't matter if my aim is 3 reps or 15, use this "goal +2 reps" concept to ensure you work hard enough to gain but not so hard to encourage injury or overuse.

rcnfcyjjjg wrote: »

yirara wrote: »

Need more info. Muscle building happens during the pauses and not during training. Thus if you train the same muscles every day then you likely won't get anywhere. If you do a sensible split: well, if you have the energy and fuel your workout appropriately then why not.

So do you think a full body split 6x a week (1.5 hours each session) is not sensible? I’m just wondering because I think I may switch to full body soon.

That would likely be counter-productive, not merely less effective.

Recovery - the time between workouts - is where the magic happens, i.e., building back better.

You've gotten good advice from others: If you want to work out 6 days, use a split that's designed for 6 days, paying attention to sensible reps/sets and intensity (weight, RIR). Or do full body 3 days, alternating with some other activity that helps achieve more well-rounded fitness and functioning.

More isn't necessarily better. Overtraining - strength or cardio or a combination - is likely to cause over-fatigue, under-repair, increased risk of overuse injury, and more. Training smarter is more effective than just unthoughtfully training harder.