Overtraining...?

[Prisoner A]

I'm just having a very hard time wrapping my mind around
the concept.

But I see now that perhaps I'm just human after all.

The old Army daily PT was a blast. Wake up in the morning for
runs and calisthenics, then you're playing war all day, then
you hit the gym for weights most evenings.

It was fun in its own way, trying to stress the hell out of
yourself to see how far you could go.

But now that I'm approaching middle age, heck, I'm at a
performance plateau, and I'm looking into supplements. Main
thing, however, seems to be "overtraining."

How do you know if you're overtraining? I mean, I actually
enjoy the feeling of DOMS -- though I haven't had that in
quite some time. I also enjoy feeling tired and stressed,
because that's like a challenge to reach deeper inside myself
to pull up more "blood-n-guts"...it's like a game where I try
to keep pushing myself.

It seemed to have worked out well for me. Yomping
hundred-pound packs while playing wargames. Kinda miss those
days (though I don't miss the diaper rashes or weeks of no
showering). And I never realized that I was overtraining or
that my body was cannibalizing itself due to gluatmine
deficits and what-have-you.

So how do you know your'e overtraining when you're so used to
pushing your own performance envelope?? Of course, when I
fucked-up my back, that was a sure signal, yes, and now I'm
permanently fucked when it comes to running (thank God I can
still run and enjoy it, however more slowly). But otherwise,
how do you know???

It looks like I may have to cut back training to just ONCE a
week...holy shit...I love doing "full-body routines" where I
do ten or twenty sets for each muscle group -- in-between a
nice forty-minute jog before and after, interspered with
ab-work and stretching...I love the sheer "existential angst"
of it all, of all that, gasping as if expiring that very
second from my efforts. But it looks like that's what's
keeping me from making gains in size and strength. I still
can't believe it, but that's got to be it. I'm "overtraining,"
much as I enjoy the prolonged and frequent all-out efforts.

I dunno, just ranting here...I'm very sad to have to bid adieu
to the "total muscle failure" routine...it's probably a
personality thing, too: I love extremes. I really don't know
any other way to be. If I eat, I feast. If I relax, I go to
sleep. If I work out, I kill myself.

Nothing makes me feel old than this sense that I must be
moderate about things.

[Rick++]

Lots of symptoms: feeling tired after a run instead of being
invigorated waking up tired in the the morning insomnia
resting pulse higher than on a rest day sore muscles and
joints - should only have that after the weekly hard run

[Prisoner A]

On May 3, 7:13 pm, "Steve Freides"
<s...@fridayscomputer.com> wrote:
>
> <SNIP>
>
>
> And do some reading on the pros and cons of training to
> failure - it's not as well thought of as it used to be, and
> some of us avoid it except when testing a max or at a
> competition.

Yes, I've noticed that -- which is why I'm wondering to myself
about "overtraining." Never really heard of the term. I've
heard of the need to rest, yeah, but when training, it was
always all-out. Never realized that one could "overtrain"
during the training itself! But I guess this is my mid-life
crisis, then: I'm having to think of myself as one of them
"old guys" at the gym instead of who I'd been these past
fifteen years! And I used to wonder why "old" folks only
walked on treadmills...LOL!

> -S-http://www.kbnj.com

[Prisoner A]

On May 4, 10:38 am, rick++ <rick...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Lots of symptoms: feeling tired after a run instead of being
> invigorated waking up tired in the the morning insomnia
> resting pulse higher than on a rest day sore muscles and
> joints - should only have that after the weekly hard run

Yes, the other big culprit could be sleep. I often do wake
up feeling a little "tired" -- but I like to attribute that
to the chemicals the body releases due to dreaming (in order
to keep the muscles paralyzed and not flailing about) more
than anything.

The other thing is, I don't know why, but I find it very hard
now to have a good night's sleep. As a matter of fact, I don't
think I get a full uninterrupted eight hours of sleep more
than maybe twice a year!! Honest, I always wind up waking up
to use the bathroom, some nightmare, sometimes I'm just awake
and I don't even know why. Very strange stuff. But even with
the interruptions, I get a good six hours on average I'd say.

BTW, I've always been a very light sleeper, apparently, even
as a child. So maybe that's just how I'm "supposed" to be....

[Prisoner A]

On May 4, 11:04 am, Elflord <a...@aol.com> wrote:
> You know, there are two ways you can approach this -- you
> can adjust your program to something that's optimal for size
> and strength (NOT what you're doing now), or you could
> simply scratch that, and find a sport that is compatible
> with your mental approach (cycling would be one, for
> example).
>
> Either way, first, have a clear idea what your goals are. I
> think this is at least part of the problem, and not as easy
> as it sounds -- first and foremost, you love doing this and
> the process what it's all about. It's nice to be big and
> strong, but I don't think that's really what's driving you.
>
> Once you've a better idea of what your goals are, post both
> your goals and current regimen to an appropriate newsgroup,
> and you should get a lot of helpful responses.
>
> Good luck,
> --
> Elflord

Thanks, that's a very interesting thought. I'd never got into
the "science" of fitness before -- just did what I want and
ate what I wanted (it was a revelation to me that there were
actually different kinds of sneakers for different activities)
-- and I've also just learned, in the last few years, that
there are different training regimens for different sports.

I know it sounds silly, but all I'd ever thought about was the
Rangers I'd known who were muscular, huge and cut, as well as
strong with cardio (though these were a minority of Rangers,
too). I guess that was always my idea of health, to be a big
and strong endurance athlete. Something out of the action
flicks -- except these guys were for real!

And I was almost there myself, if I don't say so...and that
was just daily Army PT, no supplements or anything
"scientific" like split routines and whatnot...so what you
say is interesting because I've always thought that the Army
PT program (except for the back- destroying sit-ups) was just
the thing to do. Now I'm finding out all this talk about
training for mass versus training for strength versus
training for cardio versus training for speed versus training
for flexibility (with overlaps, to be sure, but
still...)...and yeah, I guess that's what I need to look at
now, since I'm older and apparently not as responsive
physically...? So the best use of my time and resources would
be to train for a specific goal instead of the generalist
perspective I'd had...??

Going by "feel" alone, I just do what I like to when I want to
-- which is what I've always done, days and days of hours-long
exercises, with mighty feasts and so forth...truth to tell,
you're right (in your implications): I really don't have any
goals, I'm just doing things for the fun of it all. Except, I
used to notice "results," and I don't seem to anymore.