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Bodybuilding Success Blueprint: You Gotta Overtrain

By: Bill Starr

Overtraining is typically taboo in strength-training and bodybuilding circles. When athletes are overtrained, all progress grinds to a halt and they're much more susceptible to injury. If their program consists of several high-skill movements, such as full snatches or cleans, their form suffers. Pushing the body beyond its limits for an extended period can also lead to many kinds of illnesses.

So why do I say that you gotta overtrain? Insanity in my family history? The fact is, if you're trying to get stronger, you must extend your workload and intensity. If you always remain in a comfortable range, you may never overtrain, but you won't gain any significant strength either.

The only way to make your muscles and corresponding attachments'the tendons and ligaments'stronger is to work them harder than before. In other words, you only gain strength when you push your body beyond normal limits. That's how Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps are able to perform at such superhuman levels. They can handle more work than their opponents. And that's what makes superior strength athletes'the ability to do more and more in the weight room and recover from the effort. Recover is the key word there. Unless you can recover sufficiently from your workouts, you'll fall into the trap called overtraining.

The point here is that it's okay to be overtrained for a short period. The only real way for you to know that you're doing too much is to push into uncharted territory. Otherwise, it's just guesswork. That's my reason for telling you to overtrain.

The trick to making the process work is to expand your workload continually, push the top-end numbers up until you move into a state of overtraining and then pull back. Experience will help you recognize when you're doing too much, as opposed to other factors that might be influencing your training.

Many athletes believe that they're overtrained when they're not. They're simply tired because they're not getting the rest they need. That occurs during midterms and finals at every college. Tiredness must be dealt with, of course, although not in the same manner as you'd deal with genuine overtraining. For example, with tired athletes you can simply shift them to a less demanding workout on the days they are dragging or drop all auxiliary exercises for those sessions.

Along the same lines, being stale is also not the same as being overtrained. Those who do the same routine and use the same poundages month after month fall into that category. They lack enthusiasm for their programs and gain very little benefit from the time spent in the weight room, not because they're doing too much work but because they're bored with their routines. The obvious remedy to that situation is some type of change.

Another point: Having a couple of crappy sessions back to back doesn't necessarily mean that you're overtrained. There may be other factors influencing your training, such as drastic shifts in the weather, low biorhythms or undue stress. Very few things affect athletic performance as much as worrying about a personal problem.

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