Posted by Alex
What is overtraining?
One of the biggest mistakes bodybuilders make is over training. This is often due to our enthusiasm and passion to build better physiques, causing you train longer and more frequently without considering the consequences of this. Unfortunately, this isn't how the human body and muscle building process works. After a certain point is reached you will no longer benefit from continuing to train it, and in fact could actually be preventing the muscle from growing.
When are you over training?
It's difficult to say what the indicators of over training are as its different for every weight lifter, but instead it's more of a learning process you will get better at recognising as your bodybuilding experience grows. Many experts try to measure over training by looking at certain factors such as a loss of strength, increase in blood pressure, rise in body temperature and loss of appetite.
So what is the answer to overtraining?
There is no real immediate answer other than experimenting with your training and forcing yourself to cut back on the number of sets and volume of training you do, no matter how hard that may be. Try to maximise the intensity of what you do in less training. Limit yourself to no more than 1 hour per training session and if you are going over that hour you will be training too much. In the long term the time you spend now discovering what is the right amount of training for you will pay of massively in the future, and remember more is not necessarily better!