How many times have you heard people saying not to overtrain? Too many times. But do you really listen?
One of the easiest way to jeopardize your weight training program is to break this number one rule. The problem is that so many people talk about overtraining that it is very easy not to pay attention to the message. The truth is, at some stage of your training, you will overtrain if you don’t pay attention to this rule.
So how do you know when you are over-training? One of the symptoms is – you will feel tired in your next workout, feel burned out and doesn’t seem to be lifting a little more or the same weights you were lifting in your last workout.
Pay attention to your body. There is a fine line between pushing hard, lifting heavy, and going a little too far. If you find that you are not able to increase your weights by a few pounds then you are over training. If you are not maintaining the same intensity as the last workout, you are overtraining. If you find you are taking more time to rest between exercises then you are definitely overtraining.
Failing to listen to your body and keep on lifting when you need to rest will eventually result in you injuring yourself. A muscle injury will put you back by weeks if not months. Try and avoid injuries at any cost. It is also so much harder to recover from injury caused by overtraining.
If you suspect you are pushing too hard, cut back on the pounds, number of sets, or reps you are doing. If that doesn’t work, cut back on the number of workouts per week. When you reach a certain fitness level, it is so much easier to maintain your muscle mass and strength compared to when you are only just starting out. This means that even if you cut back on the number of workouts you perform, your overall muscle mass and strength will only decrease by a little. After several months or years of weight training, you should be able to get a better feel of how your body is feeling after each workout.
By all means, train hard but also learn to train smarter. After all, muscle mass building takes time.
Making smaller improvements consistently is so much better than making big gains in one week only to be put back by an injury the following week.

Fitness and Health Info
/ April 22, 2010Hello,
I’ve been doing a lot of research online lately regarding traffic and Search Engine Optimization since I just opened up an internet health guide with a couple of friends of mine.
The structure of your WordPress blog is brilliant and I’d really like to exchange links with your website. Have a look at our site if you want, we put a lot of work and effort into it and are dedicated to improving it constantly.
The information offered on your site would be of great value to our fitness guide visitors, and I believe, your visitors would find great value in our site. Because our two websites are complementary rather than competitive, I see synergy here as an opportunity for our mutual benefit.
We receive a lot of hits already (contact me for visitor stats) and I think both our sites can benefit from one another. Anyway, just thought I’d share my thoughts with you – keep up the good work buddy and get back to me if interested!
Weight Loss Ideas
/ June 7, 2010What a great update! Thanks for sharing this with us – it’s always fun to hear this sort of news!
Iesha Teller
/ June 8, 2010Hey there. I am grateful for a fascinating blog post. My partner and I found it exceedingly positive and wish to revisit soon.
Randee Nogueda
/ June 12, 2010Another new inclusion, I really couldn’t have talked about this better myself.
Lillie Rajala
/ June 13, 2010I was looking for this the other day. i dont usually post in forums but i wanted to say thank you!
Suzanna Essner
/ June 13, 2010I like your site. great information too. I¡¯ll come back later. I¡¯m getting ready to go to the gym now
TV Game Reviews
/ June 14, 2010I love when I have free time to check out blogs online. I learn a lot from then and many are very funny. Keeping a smile on my face while relaxing is always a pleasure! Thanks for sharing yours.
work out programs
/ June 18, 2010a super blog if i ever seen one. If you are the type to update your blog daily, then you have gained one daily reader in me today. Please keep up the powerul work.
Junita Crasco
/ June 21, 2010Hi there can I quote some of the material found in this entry if I provide a link back to your site?
Dean Louis
/ June 24, 2010Yes feel free to link back to our site.
Acumen Heart rate monitor
/ June 21, 2010Substantially, the article is in reality the sweetest on this worthy topic. I fit in with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your upcoming updates. Just saying thanks will not just be enough, for the extraordinary clarity in your writing. I will at once grab your rss feed to stay abreast of any updates. Pleasant work and much success in your business enterprize Garmin Heart rate monitor
watch movies online
/ June 22, 2010This website is a walk-through for all of the details you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll really discover it.
Exclusive Eat
/ June 23, 2010I would like to say, nice webpage. Im not sure if it has been addressed, however when using Firefox I can never get the entire page to load without refreshing alot of times. Could just be my modem.
replica handbags
/ July 3, 2010I never, ever imagined I would have to know this thank goodness for the internet, right?
Ira Larick
/ July 3, 2010Thank you for another fantastic blog. Where else could I get this kind of information written in such an incite full way? I have a project that I am just now working on, and I have been looking for such information¡ Regards¡
NY Limousine
/ July 4, 2010You need to eat a lot of high quality protein and carbs in order to efficiently build muscle mass from an intensive weight training program. Working out with really heavy weight will help build power and mass.