How do I know if I'm overtraining?

[Unstoppable89]

Hi guys and girls, too keep it as short as possible.

I started to workout again 2 weeks ago. My routine looks like this:

Monday: exercises
Tuesday: boxing
Wednesday: exercises
Thursday: boxing
Friday: exercises
Saturday: off day
Sunday: exercises

So I read a lot that sometimes less is more. And that muscles won't come-gain if I overdo it with stressing them out. How can I know that I am doing it wrong?

Before those 2 weeks I didn't do ****, my whole week was FREE. Now I work like 6 days out of 7. Did I overdo it already in the start?
When I exercises it takes me from minimum of 1:20h to maximum of 1:45h. I always do full-body, here is a example of my Friday:

1. Warm Up
2. Dumbbell Bicep Curl
3. Crunches
4. Dumbbell One-Arm Triceps
5. Push ups
6. Butt Lift (Bridge)
7. Split Squats
8. Rocking Standing Calf Raise
9. Dumbbell Bench Press
10. Scissor Kick
11. Alternating Deltoid Raise
12. Pullups

I do all of this 4 set. Reps depend on each exercises. Some I do 10 - some less - some more...

And now after those first 2 weeks I feel that I got a bit less energy, harder to do the exercises. My through is sore and I still feel that my muscles didn't recover from my last workout. For example I did my Sunday exercises yesterday and today I need to do the ones for Monday. But I still feel the burn in my biceps and triceps from yesterday. So should I remove one day of exercises and add boxing or what?

How can I be sure that I am doing it good? How can I check if this is overtraining? And I'm doing more damage then good?

 

[asooneyeonig]

overtraining takes months to happen. under recovering can happen in a week or weeks time.

this may just be too much volume for your recovery abilities. although high frequency programs can seem to break you then after a few weeks it all seems ok.

 

[jwal]

Your lifting Sunday and Monday so right there youhave No time to recover, cut the Sunday out and relax that day let yourself recover and possible lower the volume per workout to 2-3 work sets instead of four, and in my opinion switch to compound movements if your gonna do whole body, three days aweek

Squats
Bench
Rows
Pull or chin ups
Over head press seated or standing
Then something quick for your arms and abs

And lots of food and sleep with that much volume

 

[mattrag]

I find that your body can adjust to a lot of different stressors. With the right rest and recovery methods daily training can become the norm, as well as two a days that most olympic lifters do. Granted most eat in the neighborhood of 5000+ calories aday and have worked up to that much volume in lifting and in food. You'll know your over training when you feel weak in the gym, you lose motivation, and you feel "broken" instead of sore. That's the signs I like to use.

 

[Thomasxavier]

Honestly man I wonder too.


I workout everyday, maybe skip a single day a week. I follow zyzz's workout, I do all the reps, proper form. I just don't ever get sore... so I don't take days off.

 

[TexasGuy]

Given your minimal amount of compound lifts, I'm willing to bet you are not over training or even close to it.

As another poster mentioned though, your Sunday/Monday back to back isn't allowing muscle recovery. If you're going to lift full body as frequently as 4 days a week, you need to roll through the week and not be rigid on calendar days. Every other day will be for lifting, the in between for boxing. Given a 7 day week, this won't always work out to monday, wednesday, friday, sunday. obviously the following week would be tuesday, thursday, saturday, monday.

See if your boxing gym will allow flex scheduling to accomodate. If not, drop either Sunday or Monday.

I'm not familiar with boxing training so if you are training for sport specific goals and your routine matches them, good. If you are just wanting to get bigger and stronger alongside boxing, I second Jwals post above, though I would throw in deadlifts and olympic lifts too. You can still utilize isolation lifts either as pre-fatigue lifts or finishers.

But what exactly are your goals in the weight room?

 

[TexasGuy]

Still can't post links but here is an excerpt from the article The Overtraining Syndrome posted on rice dot edu:

"The most common symptom is fatigue. This may limit workouts and may be present at rest. The athlete may also become moody, easily irritated, have altered sleep patterns, become depressed, or lose the competitive desire and enthusiasm for the sport. Some will report decreased appetite and weight loss. Physical symptoms include persistent muscular soreness, increased frequency of viral illnesses, and increased incidence of injuries."

Understand these symptoms are parts of a whole. Simply being fatigued and sore does not equate overtraining and new stimulus creating new muscle soreness is not the same as laying off the weights and remaining sore for abnormal lengths of time. As with any topic, plenty of info is out there to be found and read.