Over training/Under training

[drain]

Sometimes i seriously over think this so much.

How do people know when they are overtraining and under training.

Somedays i feel sore as fuck and walk away feeling wrecked.

other days i dont feel anywhere near as sore. When ive added extra weight etc.

When i dont feel as sore etc? So i do more sets/reps? or drop sets even?

 

[leachy]

Do you keep a log?

Do you do the same thing each week with the go of adding more weight or reps?

Maybe your sleep or food intake is limited and results in doms.

 

[callan]

what are you doing in your workouts?

 

[drain]

diet pretty much stays the same.
Sleep patterns etc.

Keep a log.
Add weight's
less time between sets.

Usually do a workout for 6-8 weeks
Then swap it around.

Just feel like some weeks i havent worked out at all

 

[Kyle Aaron]

Overtraining is a condition where despite your best efforts, your lifts etc are dropping, you're often sick, you're tired but can't sleep, and so on. Most often it's not overtraining, but poor food and rest. If you are living on cigarettes, KFC and 4 hours' sleep a night, it doesn't matter if you're training once a week or six hours a day, you won't improve. Most people who think they're overtraining are in fact just eating crap and not getting enough rest. Overtraining is extraordinarily rare outside professional sports.

Undertraining is a condition where your lifts etc don't drop, but they don't improve either. The vast majority of people in gyms are undertraining, because they are not engaged in progressive resistance training - they don't do more weight or reps or sets in every session or even every month, they don't progress the resistance. They are undertraining.

I am guessing that our friend "drain" is undertraining, eating and resting badly. You don't change a workout every 6-8 weeks, you change it when it no longer gives you results, provided your rest and food are right.

 

[drain]

Ok thats all well and good. But..
haahha

for lat pull down as exaple. Ill do like 100-115 kgs.
Do around 7-8 reps feel fucked.. but then feel like i could do another set.

In this case should i do another set? ad another 5-10 kgs? try get 4-5 out?
or should i drop weight.. Try and just do a drop set as many as i can?

 

[And the Ugly]

Ok thats all well and good. But..
haahha

for lat pull down as exaple. Ill do like 100-115 kgs.
Do around 7-8 reps feel fucked.. but then feel like i could do another set.

In this case should i do another set? ad another 5-10 kgs? try get 4-5 out?
or should i drop weight.. Try and just do a drop set as many as i can?

You're talking about two different things. Overtraining is a long-term process where you stop making your goals and / or slide backwards, along with the other symptoms already mentioned. If you feel crap some days and great others, that's just a normal part of being a normal person with a variable life.

The extra sets and reps thing is your choice I guess, based around your program, your goals, and how you feel at that moment. An extra set might help or not, but it's not going to cause 'overtraining'.

 

[Oli]

I find the best gauge for overtraining is whether my lifts are going up or if they're stagnant.

 

[leachy]

That you used lat pull down as an example is the first problem...

Read this article and any other by Jim Wendler. And then read it again. Especially the part about training, and feeling "like I could do another 8 sets brahhhhh"

T NATION | Blood and Chalk: Jim Wendler Talks Big Weights, Volume Eight

 

[haz]

going all out on the days you feel good could be the reason why your next workout feels bad, you may not have recovered. this isn't a bad thing, you just need to be mindful that your next workout wont be the best.

or you could stop doing extra in the hope of string a few good workouts together. it depends on your split, etc. its also just natural variation in diet & rest.

 

[drain]

That you used lat pull down as an example is the first problem...

Read this article and any other by Jim Wendler. And then read it again. Especially the part about training, and feeling "like I could do another 8 sets brahhhhh"

T NATION | Blood and Chalk: Jim Wendler Talks Big Weights, Volume Eight

whats wrong with lat pulldowns?

cause its not
squats
bench
deadlifts

repeat

its wrong?

what im doing so far is working. Ive gained a large amount of weight.
not really looking at advice as far as workout goes.
My diet/training methods have worked.. Just wondering if people have the same thing.

Its getting to a point where im not sure how much more strength ill gain.
Not saying im lifting super crazy amounts. But its solid amounts compared to past
So whats next kinda thing?

 

[Goosey]

Take a week off.
Increase your intensity of work and reduce your work sets if you are doing more than two.

More often than not we increase the amount of exercise rather than increasing the intensity.

 

[Aaron]

whats wrong with lat pulldowns?

cause its not
squats
bench
deadlifts

repeat

its wrong?

Yes.

Repeat.

Yes.

PS - sizes are awesome. That is all.

 

[leachy]

whats wrong with lat pulldowns?

cause its not
squats
bench
deadlifts

repeat

its wrong?

what im doing so far is working. Ive gained a large amount of weight.

LOL I was just having a dig mate, cool your jets. You really need to listen to your body. If you feel like crap there is not much point training, so you need to find out why, whether it's sleep, food, stress, whatever. If that is all good, keep training the way you do and listen to what Wendler says in that article. He knows his shit. Period.

 

[And the Ugly]

Hang on, we are in the bodybuilding forum aren't we?
Lat pulldowns are a relevent exercise used to great effect by everybody from Ronnie Coleman to my old mate Dave down the road.
And reducing his work sets to one or two after taking a week off certainly isn't going to improve growth if he does it for long- that was a myth perpetuated by Mike Mentzer that has never really held true for many people.
The OP has not actually said he is overtraining - he's mostly just questioning what it is, and from what he's said, it's more likely he just needs better nutrition or sleep or to suck it up and keep training.

 

[drain]

nah i dont feel like shit either. Sometime's i just feel like ive worked out and feel good. other times i dont feel like ive trained at all.

Just kinda questioning what to do on those days or if i should just not be to worried.

 

[drain]

current pics.. i do 4 day splits. So far its working so i dont need questioning of my workout choice.. just had a few questions to see if anyone has similar issues. Just dont wanna plateau and not keep gaining when i can easily change something..

 

[And the Ugly]

Looks like you're doing fine mate. You don't always have to be ruined after every session. In fact it's better if you're not.
If you're happy with the gains you're making then keep doing what you're doing.

 

[And the Ugly]

Looks like you're doing fine mate. You don't always have to be ruined after every session. In fact it's better if you're not.
If you're happy with the gains you're making then keep doing what you're doing.

 

[drain]

yeh thats kinda what i wondered.

Does anyone on here do drop sets etc?

kinda starting to wonder if keep adding weights going to matter.
Or trying other things might work.