Am I Overtraining?

[yaston]

Hi, I just want to know if what I'm doing is considered overtraing.

I do a four day split.

Monday is Shoulder/Back
barbell military press 4X8-10
dumbell military press 4X8-10
dumbell lateral raises 2X10-12
dumbell forward raises 2X10-12
shrugs 3X20

wide grip lat pulls 4X8-10
narrow grip lat pulls 4X8-10
seated rows 4X8-10
one arm rows 3X8

Tuesday legs
leg press 4X10-12
leg extensions 4X10-12
seated calf machine 4X10-12
leg curls 4X10-12

weds day off

Thursday Chest
Bench press 4X8-10
incline dumbell press 4X8-10
decline bench press 4X8-10
machine fly 2X10
cable crossovers 3X10

Friday bics amd trips
press downs 4X8-10
Triceps complex which consists of french curs an dumbell kick backs at 3X8
rope pull down 4X8-10

bar curls 4X8-10
dumbbel alternate curls 4X8-10
incline dumbell curls 4X8-10
preacher curls 3X8-10

sat and sunday off.

I do cardio 5-6 days a week for 20 mins and I work my abs every other day.
my diets is a 55/35/10 ratio

which each day i get at leat 290g of protein 240 of carbs and get most of my fats from flax seed and olive oil
my Current weight right now is 200lbs at 5'8.
ANY input or advice would help thanks

 

[Ivan Drago]

How old are you out of curiousity?

 

[yaston]

I'm 22

 

[bigmark1972]

That is really impossible to say without knowing how much you are putting into your workouts. IMO that is a lot of volume but theres no way for me to know how much you are pushing it.

You might want to train bi's with back and tri's with chest or shoulders because you will get a bit more recovery time this way. This is a question you need to be able to answer yourself as no one here can tell you.

Do you feel motivated to train? Are you keeping a log? Are you getting consistantly stronger? Gaining weight? No colds or illness at all? (you really need to keep a record of your strength/training as it is the best way to judge progress as well as make sure you are consistantly moving ahead) You are probably OK.

Do you feel tired often? Do you feel like you are dragging through your workouts? Is it hard to make yourself goto the gym? Do the weights seem to be getting heavier? Do you have a cold or just feel off? Are your muscles fatigued already when you goto retrain? You probably need to re-vamp.

Lots of other signs as well, these are only a few but it is one of the biggest keys to making gains, know when you are overdoing it. Learn to read what your body is telling you after a few years if you pay attention you will just "know" your body will tell you what it needs and wants.
Some people NEVER listen to it and these are the people that look the same every year after year or even go backwards.

 

[yaston]

thanks for the input bigmark. I can definitely see some of the signs of overtraining as you mention. What exercise should i keep and which ones should i drop. also how sets and reps should i do of each excercise?

 

[bigmark1972]

Well, if you really feel like dirt, take a week off eat and rest first of all.

Then I would focus on the bigger compund movements squats or deads/bench press/military press/sb curls/triceps pushdowns or dips. I am kinda busy now but I will get back with you on this.
Look into dogcrapp power training I feel it is among the best for hypertropy (do a search).

200 @ 5'8 is pretty good unless you are fat so you must be doing something right, not sure if you are a beginner or not but no matter. Get strong on the compound movements and you will get there.

Good Luck I gotta get.
Later

 

[jas123]

yaston,

How long do you spend in the gym on lifting weights? I've heard that if you are overtraining your body temperature will 1-2 degrees higher in the morning than at other times. You could check that.

 

[jas123]

If I were to change something, I would do one or the other of barbell military and dumbell military. I think I'd limit my back exercises to 3, my bicep exercises to 3, and choose either machine fly or cable crossovers for chest (do one for a couple weeks, then switch). Are you cutting right now? Your calories seem pretty low for your weight, this may make you feel tired. I weigh about 205 and I think my maintenance is about 3400.

 

[yaston]

thanks. Yeah i use to be really fat. three years ago i use to weigh over 280lbs. I got down to 170. Then i got serious with lifting and put on 20lbs of muscle. I haven't measured my bodyfat, but I say its around 14%.
Thanks for the advice and ttyl

 

[yaston]

Jas, you're right, I am cutting. I usually spend 45-90mins in the gym lifting.
I'm gonna try your advice of measuring my temerature in the morning and comparing it to other times during the day. I think i should decrease my bicep and back exercise to 3. And as bigmark said, i should stick with more compound movements.
Thanks for the input jas

 

[jas123]

Sounds good bro. By the way, I like your training program, it's pretty similar to mine.
I try to keep my lifting time to as close to 1 hour as possible (or less), but stay really intense the
whole time. Bigmarks's advice is definitely good too.

Good luck.
Out.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

The only way to answer that question is to answer it with one. The question you should be asking your self is are you making progress. If your cutting I would bump up your reps to the 12 to 15 rep range, stick with high volume, rest about 30 seconds to a minute in between sets, cut the carbs down more, and increase the fat a bit. Also a good rule of thumb to avoid over training is to keep you work outs to about 45 minutes or below. (this is not including the warm up) I would also include high rep squats and deads to your program if you are cutting.

 

[Scottyo]

Your leg and shoulder/back days suck IMO. Way way way too much shoulder work, and I don't like your back excercises.
As for legs, squat is still king and I don't like the 10-12 on everything. Add some strength/hypertrophy work in there with 4-6 or 6-8 reps, and do either deads, SLDL or squat at least once a week.
I'd really like to see some other routine.

 

[jjjd]

you cannot post a workout and ask if you are overtraining. overtraining is defined by results ie symptoms, not by the methods you used to get there. depending on a host of genetic factors, how much you have TRAINED to increase your volume tolerance (yes, it can be done), rest, nutrtion, blah blah blah... who KNOWS?

furthermore, MOST of the time people refer to overtraining, they mean overreaching, not overtraining.

the stuff about body temp is good, btw. resting heart rate is good measure too. take a totality of factors.