Planned rest and overtraining.

[IronMaidenfan#1]

Hello guys, ,
I don't normally make threads but on this occasion I just want a bit of advice on planning rest and over training. The past few days, I've been absolutely spent. I

 

[cockysprinter]

of xourse you should plan rest. not doing it would baffle me.

 

[rEdShawks]

i was wondering the same thing. all i know is its impossible for one to go all year round and the same hard training pace and not get burned out, quit or get sick or injured. i dont know if u should take a full week off , but maybe take one week where u only go swimming and biking, or only lift half what u do, practically a week off but with minimal training

 

[ozbrawler]

i dont plan my rest days in advance but use my body as a guide. if i feel like im walking on glass all the time cause of pain i generally take 3-4 days of or minimise it down to just some walking or whateva and it works 4 me. a week would feel overkill 4 me but you might be training alot harder to.

 

[arctic82]

Due current circumstances, I have to take every third week off of grappling for five days, so I tought I try something new. I trained balls to the walls the two weeks or sixteen days, taking only one day off per week and eating ad lib,
then when the 5 day break came I just lounged around not even thinking about training and kept the food coming. It seems to work great, I actually started seeing veins in my hands and small muscles in my upper thighs I didnt eevn knew exist. So its pretty cool for a guy whos allways been a bit "husky" and afraid to eat in fear of getting fatter.

In terms of overtraining I tried to push the envelope as far as possible with weigths and grappling and definately couldn't have kept it up longer without injury or getting sick.

I belive the correct term is over-reaching and the supercompensating...

 

[Oblivian]

I normally have one day planned off per week. However, some days I don't get in my run, heavy bag, burpees, etc. because I feel exhausted. I normally TRY to make those up on the day off.
I prefer to have less days off but also less volume per day. I also strongly listen to my body. I never MAKE myself do something. If I really don't feel like doing it (I distinguish between laziness and fatigue), I don't do it. If I'm going to do something half-ass, why do it?
As far as a week off or a couple days, I don't think I've taken more than 2 days off in a row for a long time. The only reason I would do this is injury or something out of my control. I don't feel that my body has ever "needed" it. As I get older, things will probably change.

 

[MikeMartial]

On the whole I'm happy with how my training and diet is progressing but I do wonder if a planned week of rest here and there would help overall. Can anyone offer an opinion or some advice on this?.

Definitely do it; as you've stated, your already exhibiting signs of overtraining. Day at least 3 consecutive days off, and see how you feel.

In the future, it's a fairly good idea to plan extended rest periods every 6-8 weeks; you'll come back stronger, and for some, it's the only way to break plateaus.

 

[IronMaidenfan#1]

Thanks to all who have replied to this, I'm glad that I'm not the only who goes through overtraining - it's easy to become obsessed and train all the time. MikeM - thanks for the advice, I think I'll try to take extended rest every 6-8 weeks as you've suggested and hopefully this type of issue won't come around again or at least not as often. Again, thanks to all.

EDIT - in my initial post I mentioned a thread in the D+S forum which was also related to overtraining and diet. The link is below for anyone who hasn't seen it already or for anyone in future who needs to run a search on this issue.

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f15/nutrition-cns-775154/

 

[takeahnase]

I usually try to add a deload week every 4-5 weeks, which usually consists of regular workouts minus sets with 90%+ and I usually also cut off a work set or two on all exercises.

However, with the strain of trying to balancing work, family/friends and training, nutrition failures and being over 30 etc. I find that de-loading as described above is merely a necessary condition to avoid overtraining.

You also need to constantly assess how you are feeling and adapt workouts and add rest/recovery appropriately. This could mean dropping CNS intensive stuff like oly or heavy deadlifts and substituting "simpler" or lighter exercises. I use box jumps onto a low box (say 30-35") during warm ups as an indicator exercise of how I am feeling. If I feel slow with the jumps, I will take it easy with the fast/heavy work. If I feel like the box is 10" high, I might increase intensity. It could also mean shifting exercises around to combat temporary muscular fatigue. If your lower back is friend from deadlifts and you may want to do chinups instead of 90

 

[IronMaidenfan#1]

I usually try to add a deload week every 4-5 weeks, which usually consists of regular workouts minus sets with 90%+ and I usually also cut off a work set or two on all exercises.

However, with the strain of trying to balancing work, family/friends and training, nutrition failures and being over 30 etc. I find that de-loading as described above is merely a necessary condition to avoid overtraining.

You also need to constantly assess how you are feeling and adapt workouts and add rest/recovery appropriately. This could mean dropping CNS intensive stuff like oly or heavy deadlifts and substituting "simpler" or lighter exercises. I use box jumps onto a low box (say 30-35") during warm ups as an indicator exercise of how I am feeling. If I feel slow with the jumps, I will take it easy with the fast/heavy work. If I feel like the box is 10" high, I might increase intensity. It could also mean shifting exercises around to combat temporary muscular fatigue. If your lower back is friend from deadlifts and you may want to do chinups instead of 90

 

[JinKazama]

sometimes if theres a week coming up that i know i wont be able to workout at all i purposely overtrain the week before so that would require an extended rest