Am I Overtraining?

Training
21

[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
Many athletes workout 3 days a week and are extremely successful. As long as you put all you have into those 3 workouts you are doing fine.[/quote]
While I do agree that solid progress can be seen training three days a week, it needs to be three well-designed days. The program you listed is not well-designed.

You’re very obviously prioritizing your arms (three exercises each for bi’s and tri’s), which is more than you’re doing for larger bodyparts like back and legs. And you’re wondering why they’re still sore two days later? Even without knowing what sets and reps you’re doing, I can say it’d be better if you changed that up.

You’ve gained 45 pounds in 6 months, which is great, because you were tremendously underweight before. But if you have to stick with three days of lifting, you need a better plan.

I would point out that, since your goal seems to be to add muscular bodyweight, there’s plenty you can learn from bodybuilders.

In any case, what are your current specific goals?

22

[quote]HolyMacaroni wrote:

[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
You were all beginners at one point, you weren’t born with a dumbbell in your hand. [/quote]

i was[/quote]

are you curling an invisible DB in your avi

23

My current goals are to get bigger and stronger. However I’m starting to learn that hose two don’t necessarily go hand in hand. Ve been using a pyramid scheme for my reps, sets of 10,8,6

24

Getting bigger and getting stronger do go hand in hand.

The only time this changes is at the advanced level when the goal is conditioning, shape and symmetry and a greater mind/muscle connection can be created with those lighter weights…but again that is after already being really strong.

It bothers me that newbs now think strength isn’t that important or that size is some completely separate entity.

Most people won’t even get to a size where lighter weights are used in that way…and most won’t ever get as strong as the really big guys got before they started doing sets with that lighter weight and really getting something from it.

25

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Getting bigger and getting stronger do go hand in hand.[/quote]

Fuck that I want to put on 25lbs of non-functional muscle this year

26

i think 3x a week will make you more sore than training more frequently. training more frequently would help promote bloodflow recovery etc.

lolz at the person who thinks they can’t study productively and train more frequently. i mean, really. you think things will get easier once you get a family later and have a proper job etc? lmfao.

don’t take up oly lifting for sure.

27

Eventhough the OP seems to be talking a lot of shit, cut him some slack.

I mean he likes working out and wants to get bigger and stronger which he probably will do, it’l take some time etc.

But like he said, he doesn’t wana be a bodybuilder or anything etc.

Its like giving shit to some one who plays golf at the weekends, saying they’l never be a pro… give up now!

Why the fuck should he? If its just a hobby.

HOWEVER…

OP your posting on the wrong fucking site if this is your attitude.

As they say… you can go hard or you can go home.

28

[quote]Marzouk wrote:

HOWEVER…

OP your posting on the wrong fucking site if this is your attitude.

As they say… you can go hard or you can go home. [/quote]

That’s the whole point. He is asking for help when he really doesn’t want to work that hard.

Why would we give advice about how to not reach goals optimally?

I would never recommend any beginner train only 3 days a week unless they weren’t trying to grow much…which begs the question of why they are even worried about it.

If he’s in it just to make a little progress…then plodding along and making minimal progress means he reached his goal.

29

i don’t like how people are putting words in my mouth. I never said that I don’t want to work hard. If you knew me you would know that is the complete opposite of what I’m all about. I pride myself on my hard work and discipline, I put this into every aspect of my life. Call me misinformed, call me stupid, tell me I know nothing about weight lifting, but DO NOT call me lazy and insult my work ethic.

I started lifting cause I didn’t want to be skinny that was it. Now that I take lifting more seriously I want to be as muscular and strong as I can. I cannot go to the gym on teusdays and thrusdays because I commmute over an hour to school on monday, wednesday, and friday. The gym near me is quite expensive and I wish to take advantage of the one I’m already paying for.

Also I didn’t start talking shit, I merely stood up for myself when someone else disrespected me. Idk about you guys but even when I’m wrong I don’t let others talk shit to me because I have pride. If professor had told me everything he has in friendly manner I would have listened respectfully to what he had to say. I understand you guys have been lifting for far longer than me and thats why im here, I want to learn. Just don’t treat me like shit

30

Also the reason I began lifting 3 days a week is because I am a firm believer in Mark Rippetoes program and philosiphies. It is also what I was advised to do by people in my life.

31

[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
i don’t like how people are putting words in my mouth. I never said that I don’t want to work hard. If you knew me you would know that is the complete opposite of what I’m all about. I pride myself on my hard work and discipline, I put this into every aspect of my life. Call me misinformed, call me stupid, tell me I know nothing about weight lifting, but DO NOT call me lazy and insult my work ethic. I started lifting cause I didn’t want to be skinny that was it. Now that I take lifting more seriously I want to be as muscular and strong as I can. I cannot go to the gym on teusdays and thrusdays because I commmute over an hour to school on monday, wednesday, and friday. The gym near me is quite expensive and I wish to take advantage of the one I’m already paying for. Also I didn’t start talking shit, I merely stood up for myself when someone else disrespected me. Idk about you guys but even when I’m wrong I don’t let others talk shit to me because I have pride. If professor had told me everything he has in friendly manner I would have listened respectfully to what he had to say. I understand you guys have been lifting for far longer than me and thats why im here, I want to learn. Just don’t treat me like shit [/quote]

A friendly manner?

Dude, no one disrespected you. You are speaking to people who took more hours than you in college (unless you are also taking 19 hours in a semester with classes like Biochem and physics hitting the roster), people who have worked several jobs at once and still lifted…people with kids and people with real hard jobs. That means when you come in claiming you “don’t have time”…expect the response you got.

I’ve been broke…and worked out at the YMCA. I’ve gone out with the girl at the front desk at a gym so I could workout free. It isn’t like the people you are speaking to had it easier than you. I am betting in many cases, some of us had it way harder.

I know some people who would drive an hour to workout…but they’re freaking huge and look like they put the time in.

You weren’t called lazy. It was stated you don’t want to work thatb hard…and YOU DON’T.

You DON’T want to drive an hour to the gym.

You DON’T want to find a gym near you (of course there aren’t any at all).

You DON’T want to pay for a membership.

Cool.

But don’t flip out when we just point out the obvious.

I wanted it bad enough to find a way to do it.

You don’t.

That’s just a fact, kid.

Face it.

32

As most people here have pointed out you’re not overtraining you’re probably undertraining. I would agree that going to the gym daily would sort out most of your problems. However, your training programme isn’t fantastic. You’d do better to concentrate more on the compound movements and sack off the mountains of accessory work that is probably making you ‘still kinda sore’ without providing much gain. Saying this, being a little sore shouldn’t be something that troubles you, everyone trains with some type of pain you just need to know when it’s serious (this pain isn’t). Regardless of whether you can train daily or not there are plenty of exercises that you can do in your bedroom that will probably help with the soreness and provide some extra training stimulus.

33

Btw your body does not need 4 days rest. Frequency = gains

34

You really need to take a step back and absorb what all these people are telling you. They’re not just saying this cause they’re douches, they’re just being honest with you. Not too long ago I posted a thread about not having time and people also came at me. I started thinking about it, and realized how much time I was wasting doing things that didn’t benefit me in the classrooms or in the gym. Like everyone else said, if you really want it, YOU got to figure out how to make it happen.

35

Nah I understand, I truly do. SO far through this thread I have learned what I wanted and more. Next fall semester I will schedule my classes so that I have access to the gym everyday. Hopefully over the summer I can make it everyday and will have the money to pay for a membership near me. I do work on a farm and have long hours of haying over the summer though, some days 8am to 9pm, and IDK if you guys have every hayed but that shit is hell. Haha for real though if you want to lose weight fast and put yourself through something that will make you want to drop dead that is the way to do it. I just wanted you guys to understand that the reason I’m not going more than 3 days a week isn’t because im lazy, its because I have been told any more than 3 isn’t necessary. Once again I want to learn from you guys which is why I’m here I Just don’t like being disrespected. Haha and yes I am a science major and have to deal with bullshit classes like those, just a different focus.

36

[quote]Professor X wrote:
(SNIP)

You DON’T want to drive an hour to the gym.

You DON’T want to pay for a membership.

(SNIP)

[/quote]

Shit, either do I.

37

[quote]sexyxe wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
You DON’T want to drive an hour to the gym.

You DON’T want to pay for a membership.

[/quote]

Shit, either do I. [/quote]

Me either. That’s why I grew up and bought a house down the street from one.

LOL.

I still will drive over 30min to get to the one I really like though depending on how I feel.

I talked my way into the gym many times when I first started. That was also a lot easier before they literally had you sign in with your finger print like they do at 24 Hour Fitness now. You used to just have to know someone and look built.

38

Have one more quick question, what is optimal rep range for bulking and getting stronger fastest. I have heard 3-6, is this true? I have been doing 10, 8, 6 but feel I may need to drop it down. Don’t want to go below 3 though cause I’m still perfecting my form on a few exercises

39

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]sexyxe wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
You DON’T want to drive an hour to the gym.

You DON’T want to pay for a membership.

[/quote]

Shit, either do I. [/quote]

Me either. That’s why I grew up and bought a house down the street from one.

LOL.

I still will drive over 30min to get to the one I really like though depending on how I feel.

I talked my way into the gym many times when I first started. That was also a lot easier before they literally had you sign in with your finger print like they do at 24 Hour Fitness now. You used to just have to know someone and look built.[/quote]

Finger print scanners? Holy shit. It isn’t the White House.

BulkNcut - Lower reps = strength, middle reps = both about the same, higher reps = hypertropthy then endurance.

40

[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
Have one more quick question, what is optimal rep range for bulking and getting stronger fastest. I have heard 3-6, is this true? I have been doing 10, 8, 6 but feel I may need to drop it down. Don’t want to go below 3 though cause I’m still perfecting my form on a few exercises[/quote]

3-6 is not a bad range to work in if you’re trying to take a balanced approach and work on strength while still putting on some mass. However, I do think that if you want to OPTIMIZE either strength or mass gains, you’ll need to shade your efforts toward one of those pursuits.

In order to affect maximum strength gains, I believe that the emphasis should be on the big lifts with very little isolation work (unless you need to correct serious weak points, like not feeling your chest on bench at all)- and these lifts should be performed for power, with a very strong/explosive start to the concentric part of the movement. In order to explode effectively on every rep, you’d probably need to work in the 1-3 range primarily.

For optimal mass gains, I find that MMC matters much more than the weight used. Isolation work is more important here, as it becomes a tool to really focus on learning how to feel individual muscles working. I still think that the money lifts for gaining size are the big lifts, but when using these lifts for size rather than strength the FEEL of the weight moving from point A to point B is more important. You can do this with higher reps.

^That’s all IMO, and based on what’s worked for me. I followed Christian Thibaudeau’s programming for several months last year and those were the points I took away from it. Others may disagree, but like I said- that’s what I’ve had good results with, so it’s what I’m recommending.

Exactly what is “best” or “optimal” is debated to some extent, because big and strong dudes have gotten that way using vastly different approaches. What it comes down to as a beginner is picking something that is fairly well-proven, and sticking with it for long enough to judge how it works for YOU. After you give a program a good run, you can judge based on the results whether you love it and want to begin a new cycle, or whether you want to try something that is a bit different. It’s a learning process- I’ve personally been lifting for 8 years, but only REALLY figured out what works for me within the past year.

Some programs that are probably worth checking out:

Wendler’s 5/3/1, Westside for Skinny Bastards, Thibaudeau’s HP Mass or Superhero Complex Workouts (Thibaudeau’s stuff is similar to what I’ve worked with- I haven’t tried 5/3/1 or WS4SB, but they are generally acknowledged as balls awesome)

I know my answer isn’t cut and dry, but that’s because I don’t believe that there IS a cut and dry answer as to what is best. I hope this is somewhat helpful though, good luck man.