Jun 20, 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.

To understand overtraining, you first have to understand that when you are "building" muscle, you're actually breaking muscle down. You're not building the muscle in the gym, really. Instead, what you're doing is breaking down muscle in the gym and producing tiny injuries in the muscle that then must heal and repair.

What you should take from this experience is that the tears that have healed and built up are tougher than the tissue that was there before. When you move forward and stretch your muscle, you will find that you need to let your body repair so you can get the building stage.

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.

Look for these symptoms to see whether or not you're overtraining. If you are, you can take steps to improve this and get back on the muscle-building track.

Remember that when you are working too hard, you'll be exhausted but you are not going to see any results. Not seeing results is bad enough when you are looking at all the time that you are putting in, but there are other things that you should keep an eye on as well.

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.

Another thing that you might notice is that you are going to start gaining fat. Not only will your muscles feel like they aren't going anywhere, you will find that your body is going to get softer. Not only does your testosterone drop, your cortisol goes up. Cortisol controls stress in your body and encourages weight gain.

Have you noticed that your health is taking a blow? If so, this is definitely a sign that you need to stop. When you work out too hard, your immune system is going to suffer for it. If you see that you are getting colds and flus more easily, it is time to slow down. Working out should give you less health problems, not more.

Are you losing muscle mass? When you overtrain, your muscles are going to suffer for it as much as any other part of you. Remember that you are training to get results. Essentially, a good bodybuilding regimen is going to be ideal when you want to avoid the symptoms that go with muscle loss while still getting the body that you want.

How to fix this problem? It's very easy, rest and nutrition are the key factors. When you're bodybuilding, your pattern should be one day of intense weightlifting followed by one 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, remember that when you want to build up bigger muscles that your body needs the tools to do it. Go for lean proteins, fruits and vegetables. This will help you get the results that you need and it will keep you healthy while you do so!

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