It seems that you are trying to get yourself in shape. It’s likely that you’re spending hours in the gym doing intense weight lifting. If you’re not, then it’s probably true that you’re not going to get the results you want and you’ll need to step up.
Remember that if you want to see the results that are so important to you, you need to avoid overtraining. Overtraining is something that occurs if you work to hard. You are not going to give your body the rest that it needs and you’ll find that weightlifting sessions that go too far are going to hold you back rather than push you forward.
Let’s talk about how your body builds muscles and what you need to do to get there. Remember that when you work out, you are not making your muscles bigger. What you are actually doing is creating tiny rips and tears in the muscles that you have and encouraging them to heal as time goes on.
When these injuries heal and repair, they heal and repair stronger than they were previously. Therefore, when you’re building muscle, you’re actually breaking down muscle first, and then letting your body rest and repair in between; this process is what actually “builds” muscle.
Remember that if you are overtraining your muscle is just going to begin breaking down. There is no time for it to try to repair itself and the muscles that you want are actually being prevented from building.
What are the symptoms of overtraining and how can you recognize if you are doing it? Catching yourself before it gets out of hand is essential.
First of all, when you are overtraining, you will be working really hard, but you won’t be building much if any muscle. That’s the first thing you’ll probably notice. If you keep going with overtraining, though, you’re probably going to notice other symptoms, too.
One of the symptoms of overtraining involve seeing a drop in your testosterone level. This is a natural result of what happens if your body does not get enough time to recover.
You might also notice that you are going to put on more fat. This might seem somehow unfair, but it is true. As you work out, you will be breaking down muscle, not letting it heal and increasing the levels of cortisol in your body. Cortisol is a stress hormone that makes your body hang on to its fat.
Have you noticed that your health is taking a blow? If so, this is definitely a sign that you need to stop. When you work out too hard, your immune system is going to suffer for it. If you see that you are getting colds and flus more easily, it is time to slow down. Working out should give you less health problems, not more.
Loss of muscle mass. Finally, it bears repeating that when you overtrain, you lose muscle; you don’t gain it. Since this is the absolute opposite of what you actually want to accomplish, a good bodybuilding regimen is in order to help you both avoid the symptoms and get the muscle you want.
How are you going to avoid overtraining? The truth is that that is easy. Nutrition is a key factor and when you want to build your body, you’ll find that you should intersperse days of intense weightlifting with days of good rest.
It’s a good idea to do some light cardio on your “rest” days, but the big point here is that you should be resting your muscles from heavy-duty lifting. They need time to recover and to repair.
Finally, good nutrition is important, too. Your body can’t rebuild itself unless it’s got the tools do so. That means that nutrition is just as important as rest is. Opt for good, lean proteins, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. If you do this, you should see results in no time, and you should feel much better, too.