Friday, July 3, 2009

Muscle Gain and Overtraining Don't Mix

By Ricardo d Argence

If you are someone who is trying to get in shape and do it fast, you are probably spending a lot of time at the gym. The issue is that you might not know how much time is too much and what is too little!

Remember that if you want to see the results that are so important to you, you need to avoid overtraining. Overtraining is something that occurs if you work to hard. You are not going to give your body the rest that it needs and you'll find that weightlifting sessions that go too far are going to hold you back rather than push you forward.

Let's talk about how your body builds muscles and what you need to do to get there. Remember that when you work out, you are not making your muscles bigger. What you are actually doing is creating tiny rips and tears in the muscles that you have and encouraging them to heal as time goes on.

When the rips in your muscles heal, remember that they are going to get more tissue coming and filling in the tears, and this tissue will be tougher and stronger than the tissue used to be. This is the process that actually lets you build muscle.

If you engage in too much training, you are essentially not giving your body time to heal. If your workouts are coming along too quickly and too often, you are actually stopping muscle from being built.

What are the symptoms of overtraining and how can you recognize if you are doing it? Catching yourself before it gets out of hand is essential.

First of all, when you are overtraining, you will be working really hard, but you won't be building much if any muscle. That's the first thing you'll probably notice. If you keep going with overtraining, though, you're probably going to notice other symptoms, too.

One of the symptoms of overtraining involve seeing a drop in your testosterone level. This is a natural result of what happens if your body does not get enough time to recover.

You might get fatter. As counterintuitive as that sounds. You might gain weight you don't want to, in the form of fat. That's because if you keep overtraining, not only will you be breaking down muscle without building it back up, but you also increase your levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that makes your body want to retain fat.

Have you ever noticed that when you overtrain your body is going to get sick more and more easily? The issue with overtraining is that your immune system takes a severe beating and if you notice that you are much more susceptible to colds and flu, you should take a moment and slow down.

Have you started losing muscle mass? This sign should give you some real concern because when you overtrain, you are going to lose muscle rather than gaining it. If this is something that is happening even when you notice that you are training correctly, it is time to reassess what is going on.

Now that we have identified the problem, let's look at the solution. First, remember that you are going to need rest and nutrition. When you do one day of weigh training, follow it up with a day of rest.

It's a good idea to do some light cardio on your "rest" days, but the big point here is that you should be resting your muscles from heavy-duty lifting. They need time to recover and to repair.

Finally, good nutrition is important, too. Your body can't rebuild itself unless it's got the tools do so. That means that nutrition is just as important as rest is. Opt for good, lean proteins, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. If you do this, you should see results in no time, and you should feel much better, too.

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