can you lift to often?

[youngweezyfbaby]

I lift between 4 and 7 days a week.

[RunMan]

When I was working out, and I am talking about my peak, I was resting during the weekends. BUT I was working out three times a day. 30 mins in the morning. 10-20 mins at lunch time and an hour- two hours in the afternoon. Given I got big quick. It took a tool on me during the weekends.

Maybe it was the lack of supplements but I always felt soooo tired and exhausted during the weekends. I was sleeping 10-12 hrs a day.

I started at 160 dropped to 150 then went up to 170 (Most of the weight was muscle gain) in the span of 4 months.


My Point? Take it easy, your muscles need the rest. The burning sensation you have during work outs is actually the ripping of your muscles.

[Vapor]

Yes, you can lift too often. Find an intelligent program and follow.

[youngweezyfbaby]

thanks for the comments

here is my workout
mon: chest
tues: arms
thur: legs
sat: shoulders/back

I usually do cardio on wed and sometimes sunday.


Recently I've been doing another arm work out on friday or sunday, another chest workout wed or friday, and squeezing in more back work when I can (since I do the least back work). Anyway do you guys think that's too much? I honestly feel weird if I do not lift and I hardly get sore anymore.

[ballin21]

Generally, 1 body part per week is enough (except for abs, maybe calfs). If you train more than that, there is a very good chance you are overtraining which could result in muscle loss. Sometimes less is more!

If you are not getting sore anymore, switch up the program. There are many good routines at t-nation.com, or ask a trainer (credible) in your gym to help you out.

WHat type of exercises are you doing? What did you weigh when you started to work out and what do you weigh now? What does your diet look like?

[ryancn77]

it deapends on what your looking for,,,, just look online on what goal you are trying to reach

[Amorphous]

First off, you have to have at least 1 day per week off. Having a cheat day where you eat crap once a week would also help you a great deal with regard to preventing overtraining if you are worried about that. The cheat day increases calories, leptin levels, insulin levels and helps refill any glycogen stores that aren't topped off. Plus it's fun and helps keep you sane when you eat cleanly 5-6x/day, 6 days a week.

I say move back to its own day, train chest and shoulders together, arms can be their own day and legs have to be on their own. If you aren't sore, you need to change up the exercises and/or # of sets. Even if you don't change the exercises, try this. Use a 3-1-1 tempo. That means 3 seconds on the eccentric or lowering portion of the lift, pause at the bottom for one second and explode on the concentric portion, or lifting portion. If you adhere strictly to that form, you will see much much greater gains in size and be EXTREMELY sore, but in a good way.

But to be more specific you gotta tell me your goals and where you are at. Are you really thin or chubby? Muscle or fat loss is your goal? How do you look now?

Good luck man,

J

[Fader]

Lifting too often is very common. The actual condition is called over training.

Here is a list of site from google you can read about it on.

http://www.google.com/search?q=defin...ient=firefox-a

[youngweezyfbaby]

Originally Posted by ballin21

Generally, 1 body part per week is enough (except for abs, maybe calfs). If you train more than that, there is a very good chance you are overtraining which could result in muscle loss. Sometimes less is more!

If you are not getting sore anymore, switch up the program. There are many good routines at t-nation.com, or ask a trainer (credible) in your gym to help you out.

WHat type of exercises are you doing? What did you weigh when you started to work out and what do you weigh now? What does your diet look like?

chest- flat bench- mix up bar and dumbbells, incline bench-mix up bar and dumbbells, cables/weight flys, and bench on the ball. 5 months ago I started benching 95 lbs, now I can bench 165. I read the google list on overtraining and I still enjoy training, and my performance is better than ever.

arms-curls with the bar, curls sitting, preacher curl, and curls standing on the ball (pick 2-3 each time). Skull crushers, overhead dumbbell tricep extensions, and different machines. (pick 2-3) I also do some wrist/forearm work.

legs- stationary lunges (I never mix this up, i feel the burn everytime and I started off maxing out at 85 now i'm at 165). RDL's, calfs-i mix it up with 3-4 different types (2 different types per session), and leg extensions. I don't really mix it up with my legs.

shoulders/back- military press with bar and dumbells, shrugs, wide grip rows for my back, pull ups with the wide grip for back, and front/lateral raises- I use free weights and cables.

I do reps of 12-15, 10, 8, 6, 6 and I go up weight everytime.

anyway I feel like I mix it up, and I'm still improving so from what i read on google I don't think i'm overtraining. I started at 172, now i'm 187. I eat a lot of protein, carbs, and food in general lol. I'm 19 and I work out a lot so it really doesn't matter to me.

[youngweezyfbaby]

Originally Posted by Amorphous

First off, you have to have at least 1 day per week off. Having a cheat day where you eat crap once a week would also help you a great deal with regard to preventing overtraining if you are worried about that. The cheat day increases calories, leptin levels, insulin levels and helps refill any glycogen stores that aren't topped off. Plus it's fun and helps keep you sane when you eat cleanly 5-6x/day, 6 days a week.

I say move back to its own day, train chest and shoulders together, arms can be their own day and legs have to be on their own. If you aren't sore, you need to change up the exercises and/or # of sets. Even if you don't change the exercises, try this. Use a 3-1-1 tempo. That means 3 seconds on the eccentric or lowering portion of the lift, pause at the bottom for one second and explode on the concentric portion, or lifting portion. If you adhere strictly to that form, you will see much much greater gains in size and be EXTREMELY sore, but in a good way.

But to be more specific you gotta tell me your goals and where you are at. Are you really thin or chubby? Muscle or fat loss is your goal? How do you look now?

Good luck man,

J

My lifting partner and I have talked about moving back to it's own day, lately we have experimented with a back/bicep day. I want to gain muscle in my arms and legs and tone up my stomach. I'm noticably bigger but still nowhere close to where I want to be, I was in bad shape when i started lifting. I also want my veins to be more noticeable, you couldn't see any veins in my arm at first, now i have a few that look good and I want more.