Am I Overtraining?

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hi,
I am a 122 lbs and 16 years old, most of my body mass is muscle and I consider myself a little above average for my weight strength wise. However, I am not gaining nearly as much as I feel like I should. I exercise 6 days a week, each one entailing about 20-36 sets not counting abs. I think I eat enough( 3,000 calories, 140 grams of protein a day) and I feel like I should have much more muscle mass than I do.

I have been steadily lifting for about 6 months and have gained about 10lbs`] in muscle, but the last 2 months I have plateaued barely gaining 2 pounds and I struggle to keep those . I have switched up my workouts and my protein sources, I even started drinking a gallon of water a day and still very few changes.

I’m a vegetarian if that helps( get most of my protein from shakes, yogurts and nuts)

2

Post your actual diet. What you are yesterday.

Right now, your story doesn’t stick.

3 Likes
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Hi! Nice to see you. Do you mind letting us know your height?

If you put up a typical week of training days, you’ll get much better feedback. Also, be sure to let us know if you also do conditioning, play a sport, etc…

If weight gain has stalled out, then you’ll need to eat more.

As for being a vegetarian, that’s just fine. Dairy sources are good. I train with a vegetarian who just looks fantastic. He eats a lot of lentils, and other protein-rich foods along with dairy, nuts, whey/casein shakes.

2 Likes
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Yeah 6 days a week not necessary or beneficial for a beginner. Try one of these…

10 Secrets to Building Mass(3 days a week or one on-one off)

Up your protein to 180 grams, and as a veggie consider getting some creatine and Leucine

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If you’re asking about overtraining, we need more details than this to really see what’s up. The days, exercises, sets, and reps. “20-36 sets per workout” tells us absolutely nothing useful.

I will say, you almost-definitely don’t need to be training 6 days a week.

What are your PRs in the squat, deadlift, flat bench, barbell or dumbbell row, and overhead press? Max push-ups and pull-ups?

Nuts aren’t a great protein source because the protein isn’t high quality and isn’t efficiently used by the body. If you’re vegetarian, that’s your call, but if you can have yogurt, you can have other dairy like Puff said. Cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, and milk are good choices.

What “shakes” are you having - what’s the protein source (not the brand/no links, just the type of protein)?

What was drinking more water supposed to change?