Overtraining

[bunny]

When you do weightlifting and you are working out biceps/triceps and you overtraining does that overtrain your whole body or just the biceps/triceps? I was wondering this because it would make sense that if you only worked out your arms and did a high volume/high intensity workout that it would hinder leg gains(mass) when you did a leg workout the next day. Any help is appreicated.

[smillard]

either I'm having a mentally slow moment or that was one of the hardest reading questions I've seen in awhile.

Anyway, when you over train a body part or parts bicep/tricep you are creating more tears and more severe tears in the muscle than your body can repair. This now if I understand your question right, if you do this once in awhile you will only really be hindered in the over trained area and you should give the muscles about 3 to 5 days to recover. Once they are recovered you should do your workout and give the muscle 2 to 3 days to recover. This should not have an adverse affect on a diametrically opposed muscle group such as the legs and you should not suffer any degredation in your leg workout. This would not be true for other body parts which use the biceps and triceps as supporting or complimentary muscles ie. chest and shoulders for the triceps and lats and traps for the biceps. Now if you are overtraining excessively your body will start to break down and you will suffer loss of sleep, lack of appetite, sudden unexplained nausia, constant muscle soreness, injury from overtraining and fatigue. That will have a detrimental affect on you working out the other body parts. I hope I got the question right and this answer helps, if not please correct me and maybe I can answer.

[Andrew L.]

either I'm having a mentally slow moment or that was one of the hardest reading questions I've seen in awhile.

Anyway, when you over train a body part or parts bicep/tricep you are creating more tears and more severe tears in the muscle than your body can repair. This now if I understand your question right, if you do this once in awhile you will only really be hindered in the over trained area and you should give the muscles about 3 to 5 days to recover. Once they are recovered you should do your workout and give the muscle 2 to 3 days to recover. This should not have an adverse affect on a diametrically opposed muscle group such as the legs and you should not suffer any degredation in your leg workout. This would not be true for other body parts which use the biceps and triceps as supporting or complimentary muscles ie. chest and shoulders for the triceps and lats and traps for the biceps. Now if you are overtraining excessively your body will start to break down and you will suffer loss of sleep, lack of appetite, sudden unexplained nausia, constant muscle soreness, injury from overtraining and fatigue. That will have a detrimental affect on you working out the other body parts. I hope I got the question right and this answer helps, if not please correct me and maybe I can answer.

Actually some recent studies have shown that when you workout you dont create micro-tears in your muscles. Read up on DOMS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOMS

However, I agree with everything else you said.

[Axelton]

not muscle tears...fiber tears

[smillard]

Actually some recent studies have shown that when you workout you dont create micro-tears in your muscles. Read up on DOMS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOMS

However, I agree with everything else you said.

Thank you for that information. There is some interesting information and the parts about reducing pain and recovery are VERY good. The only thing I didn't quite get was this quote;
"There is some scientific evidence that further training—a so-called second bout—has no negative effect on the reinforcement process.[4] Training in a state of constant soreness would be uncomfortable, although one may be able to adapt to it."

Unless I'm reading this wrong they are claiming that other than some physical discomfort there is no negative effect to muscle development or increased risk of injury. That is the only part of the article I have some trouble believing.

[Mago]

arms have nothing to do with your legs, unless you are standing on your hands when you're working your legs.

I do chest/biceps
back/tri/shoulders
legs

work in abs daily and isometric stretching of the legs (holding and squeezing the muscles when a kick is chambered for stronger kicklaunch).

[PirateJon]

Unless you workout sucks, any over training means you need to slow down, rest more, and eat better.

[Andrew L.]

not muscle tears...fiber tears

Yes i understand this thats why I said micro-tears.

[Andrew L.]

Thank you for that information. There is some interesting information and the parts about reducing pain and recovery are VERY good. The only thing I didn't quite get was this quote;
"There is some scientific evidence that further training—a so-called second bout—has no negative effect on the reinforcement process.[4] Training in a state of constant soreness would be uncomfortable, although one may be able to adapt to it."

Unless I'm reading this wrong they are claiming that other than some physical discomfort there is no negative effect to muscle development or increased risk of injury. That is the only part of the article I have some trouble believing.

I think they are just trying to emphasize that DOMS is not a sign of injury. They are also saying training when you are already sore may not be bad (assuming you arent overtraining i.e your performance is still the same or better).

[Matt W.]

Unless you are an amatuer or pro bodybuilder/weightlifter/athlete of some kind, you probably don't have to worry too much about overtraining. Most of us slobs who work full time and have families don't even have time overtrain in anything. (I mean, unless you're doing something really stupid like heavy barbel curls everyday.) Follow the most basic rules of lifting and you'll be fine.