am i overtraining?

I work out each muscle group once a week. I do 3 sets per exercise, and I work to failure on each set. It takes at least 5 days for my muscles to fully recover. I worked my biceps and triceps last wednesday, they don't feel sore unless I lift weights, but they still are recovering. Am I overtraining? It seems like my muscles are taking too long to recover.

You might be lifting weights that are currently too heavy for you thus causing muscle strain. I presume your currently doing a split regime, why not give full body workouts a try?

Remember muscle is built during the rest period between workouts, overworking muscles isn't going to achieve faster results.

edit:

I'll be using the following when I've recovered fully from a recent operation.

Traps: Narrow Grip Barbell Upright Rows
Middle Back: Bent Over Rows
Lats: Deadlifts

Shoulders: Deltoid Military Presses
Chest: Bench press
Triceps: Dumbbell Extensions

Hamstrings: Leg Curls
Quadriceps: Leg Extensions

I'm fairly new to the whole training scene and confined to home equipment so you'll easily find a better regime on the net somewhere if you wanted to try FB workouts.

[edit on 21-1-2008 by UK Wizard]

reply to post by wildcat


Hey brother, you might want to check into getting some glutamine. Another thing is it sounds like you're lifting opposite muscle groups. That's good, as that's what got me the best results, but you need to remember that after you have a full workout of triceps, you're working them again when you do chest workouts, and vice-versa with biceps and back.

I don't know what your workout regime is, but try to get at least a couple of days rest between doing arms and torso. For example:

Mon- chest&back

Wed- legs

Fri- arms

That way, you're getting at least 2 days rest between working muscle groups again and again.

And to answer your question, you can tell if you overtrain yourself when you're still in the gym and you lose your pump. If you go from feeling the 'pump' to it being gone, you have just overworked that muscle group.

There, I hope that helps give you a reference so that you know better for next time.

so my muscles taking over 5 days to recuperate is normal?

reply to post by wildcat


Maybe you haven't posted enough information?

I've you've been lifting for two years and have gradually increased the reps and sets, going to momentary failure, then taking that long to recover, even for a small muscle like biceps, is too long.

If you've been lifting for two weeks and five days ago did 100 sets of biceps, including forced reps and negatives, then it's not too unusual to still feel pain (Delayed Onset Muscular Soreness or DOMS). However, just because you feel pain does not mean you should not lift. If you are generally healthy, it might be prudent to do some light sets for the next couple workouts and see how that feels.

Generally it's better to do some 'recovery' work rather than do nothing for five days.

Good luck!



[edit on 21-1-2008 by Badge01]

reply to post by wildcat


Really depends on how hard you worked them.

Mind posting some more info? For example, how long have you been working out.

And you say you do 3 sets per exercise. That sounds fine. Of course it depends on how many exercises you're doing. Each muscle group can take a different amount. For you I'd probably recommend not doing more that 6 sets per arm muscle group. The more you work out, the quicker you'll feel your recovery. Once you really start to heal quicker, up it to 9.

Once again, I'm just going off of limited info here, but that is the exact thing I did, and nobody can scoff at my results.

[edit on 1/22/2008 by bigbert81]

I've been working out on and off since last July, but haven't been consistent. Now I'm being consistent and working each muscle with two different exercises. I do at least 3 sets for each exercise, and work to failure on every one. So I do about six sets for each muscle. I use the heaviest weight first, and then keep lowering until I can lift about no more than 10 pounds. And that normally takes 6 sets to do because I'm not very strong yet.

I also would like to know if it's okay to continue with this (working until I can't lift over 10) when I get alot stronger.

reply to post by wildcat


I hope you're only doing the Drop sets as your last set for each muscle. If you're doing it more than that, than I'd say you could be overworking yourself.

If you're only doing it at the end of each muscle workout, I'd say you're fine from what I'm hearing. It doesn't sound like you're overworking yourself.

Invest in some Glutamine and start taking that. Your muscles SHOULD start to recuperate quicker and quicker the longer you work out. If it's taking 5 days, that's not too big of an issue. Your body will adapt.

Remember what I told you though. As a neat little trick, if you lose your pump while in the gym, you've overworked the muscle. Great gage. If not, you're fine, just let your body adjust and you will recover quicker.

Thank you for your help. I was concerned because 5 days seemed a bit too long. Apparently I have noticable differences in muscle size each week after working out. They are small but I can tell that I look different. This has only been after two weeks, so I might be an extreme mesomorph.

reply to post by wildcat


No worries.

Feel free to ask if you need anything else.

Yeah...it's normal for muscles to take three-five days to recover. As long as it's not continuous deep muscle pain, what you're feeling is to be expected. I do chest on Monday's and I usually have soreness through Friday.

The only way your recovery should take less time is by being on the gas. And trust me, don't mess with that stuff or any of the 'pro-hormones' out there.

Just stick with regular training, good nutrition, and drink lots of water. Properly hydrating yourself is a big aid in flushing out all that lactic acid and keeping your muscles in a proper state of hypertrophy.

Originally posted by wildcat
so my muscles taking over 5 days to recuperate is normal?

i would cut some of those drop set's (where you exercise till you can't lift more than 10 pounds) they are contributing a lot more to muscle pain than growth IMO

also for soreness i have found (and tested this) that doing about 10 minutes of cardio after a heavy leg workout reduces soreness

also after arms , massaging the muscle pretty heavily reduces muscle soreness on the following days ,especially tri's


[edit on 1-3-2008 by cpdaman]

All good tips cpdaman.

Stretching and some light aerobic exercise for the muscle group exercised can also help with initial recover.

hmm make sure that you eat right and a lot of it. I remember that I stopped taking protein and I developed a lot of injuries due to it.

Originally posted by nahsik
hmm make sure that you eat right and a lot of it. I remember that I stopped taking protein and I developed a lot of injuries due to it.

People tend to forget that training and development are 80% diet and rest and year in, year out consistency.

Or they forget that 80% of the result is from 20% of the efforts (Pareto Principle).

So improving my biking occurs due to consistency, that 20% of VO2max work at above LT, getting adequate rest and quality sleep (which is when hGH is produced - look into 'naps'), and those important 'active recovery' workouts.

I know I have to keep checking my logs to be sure I'm not just going 'all out' and then trending down, depleting rather than improving.

2 cents.




[edit on 25-7-2008 by Badge01]

I'm not so time consuming about my workout and I still get some good results. I train a different body part each day. Not including the abs. I train a little at home also, normally biceps with my barbell set. And I eat alot. I dont eat any fatty foods, i dont drink or smoke. I do take supplements. All natural. I take multivites and also enzyme tablets. About it really. Oh also I do alot of wrist and forearm workout with the barbell. Really important.

reply to post by nahsik


What is your primary goal? Body building, beach body, a sport, or just staying fit?

Sometimes that makes a difference. Do you track your foods? Track your progress (like use a tape measure)?

Just curious about how others do the details.

probably beach body and staying fit really. I'm still deciding if I should join the athletics team next year. Well try out and train a bit with them. I miss running and since high school and it just means I gotta invest in a new set of spikes. But yeah I don't really track my food intake. Though I practically always eat the same food each day and around the same time. And I don't really track my progress. I'm happy with what I have and would love to keep it as it is for the rest of my life so I don't pressure myself.