How Much Can A Body Handle? (Overtraining)

Training time vs. Recovery time is one of the hardest lessons I have ever had to learn. When I started working out I went with the old tradition that you give your body a day to recover after you workout. I was doing upper body in one full workout every other day. The fat fell off, I got more muscular, and about five months in, I got injured. My arm felt like something was tearing where my forearm and elbow met. I took a couple of days off and iced it frequently. It still didn't heal up. Finally I broke down and went to the Doctor about it. Three months later my tendon strain, also known as "golfer's elbow", finally healed up. But it still gives me twinges from time to time.

This was the first of my many lessons on properly exercise and recovery. Over time I have come up with some fast rules to govern my training to make sure that I do not have any more injuries and to get the best results from my training.

1) Muscle recovers faster than tendons and ligaments. While a day may be sufficient for some of your muscles to recover, your connective tissues need more time. Your recovery time should take into account the weakest link in your body, not the strongest.

2) Larger muscle groups can recover faster than smaller ones. The golden rule is, if you want real results, do not train smaller muscles intensely more than once a week. This is primarily your arms. These muscles also get worked in almost every other exercise. Over training them will prevent them from growing at the maximum rate and can even cause them to shrink.

3) Take day off from the weights for your body as a whole to recover. It takes time for muscles to regain their glycogen and ATP levels in order to give 100% during a workout. Anything less than 100% is a waste of time.

4) Take at least one complete day off from all training every week. This is a day for rest and healing, not just for the body, but for your mind as well.

You do not make any gains during a workout. It is the recovery that gives us the gains we seek.

After much reading, study, and trial & error on my part; I have found the perfect routine for me. It has given me better results in the last two months than I have had in any six months preceding it.

I begin each workout by warming up for ten minutes, full body movement with concentrated movement of the muscle group I intend to work in that session. After my warm up, I stretch for another ten minutes. The better a muscle is stretched the less chance of injury. A muscle will also recover faster when properly stretched as blood will flow through that area more freely; more blood equals more nutrition.

Monday- Chest and Back- I do four exercises for each group with a total of 13 sets per group. This gives me a good solid workout, hitting each muscle group from several angles.

Tuesday- Legs- I start with dead lifts since I don't have a squat rack in the house. After four sets, I begin the focused training, doing 4 more exercises at 4 sets each. I try not to overdo my leg training as I am on my feet at work, climbing ladders and walking, for twelve hours a day. My legs don't get the full time off they need for recovery.

Wednesday- Shoulders and Neck- Once again, four exercises per group but only 12 sets total. I try to take it a little easier on the end with my neck exercises. Your traps are a bit smaller and can't take as much punishment.

Thursday- Active Recovery Day- I do about 30 minutes of cardio and a full 30 minutes of stretching.

Friday- Arms- This is the hard one for me. Your biceps, triceps, and forearm muscles can not take long duration exercise. You should limit your workout to 10 sets on each group. I always want to work them longer because of the pump I get. Instead I have to make myself work them more intensively but not as long. The results have been fantastic.

Saturday- this is a repeat of Thursday.

Sunday- REST, complete rest.

At night, Tammy and I also get in a solid abdominal routine and some cardio when I don't have to work. This has been so good for me all the way around. I'm growing stronger and getting bigger so much faster than ever before. The reason for the success is simply RECOVERY.

What a Difference a Year Makes

235 pounds

This is how I looked until I changed my lifestyle a year ago August.

195 pounds
This is me today.

Trust me everyone, if I can do this, anyone can. It only takes a few basic changes to do it along with a bit of work and consistency.

1) I stopped sucking down cokes. No more empty calories and no more high fructose corn syrup.

2) I work out on a set schedule. I don't miss a work out no matter what.

3) I concentrated on building muscle instead of cardio. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns just for maintenance.

4) Other than the cokes, I started eating a diet higher in protein and lower in carbs and fat. No more fried foods, no more junk foods. Lots of grilling (my favorite anyway). I eat six times a day in smaller portions and keep a steady 5000 calorie diet going. I didn't want my body going into starvation mode, I wanted it to use up the calories I was eating instead.

5) I do everything in my power to stay focused. I keep a fat picture of me up at work and look at it when I feel like pigging out on junk food. I try to seduce my wife with my body regularly, how she looks at me is a big indicator of the progress I am making. I do a lot of lifting up at work that no one else can do just for the comments I get. In other words, I show off a LOT.

That's the basics in a nutshell. I'll get back with more specifics on my workouts, philosophies, supplements, and diet soon.

A Fresh New Start

I know all of my friends have already read enough about me to know my recent past. For everyone else, I will give a breif recap. I grew up quite athletic. At the age of nineteen I was a fourth degree black belt in karate and was very much into fitness, specifically weight training. I got married in my early twenties and after my son was born, I pretty well gave up on my fitness persuit.

A year and a half ago, I hit rock bottom for me. I was over 230 pounds and looked like I was pregnant, not too attractive in a man. My wife lost the physical attraction aspect of our relationship, she no longer wanted to jump my bones, so I decided to do something about it.

Over the past year and a half I have completely changed the way I live, I don't call it a lifestyle, I call it life. I have gone from a 230 pound whale with 30% body fat to a 195 pound god with less than 10% body fat. No small feat for such a short amount of time.

I am starting this blog to help me keep my perspective on what I have accomplished and what I want to accomplish. I hope that what I have learned in the past and all of the things I will learn in the future will help others to become better at their own physical endeavors. If one person takes something from me and it helps them, then I will be satisfied that this blog has served it's purpose.