I get this so often that I thought it was important to reiterate it again. If you are at a dead end, if you feel tired, lethargic or your metabolism is slow… your body is trying to tell you something and that something is that you are very likely in an overtrained state, a profound overtrained state or approaching an overtrained state! It may require a layoff, a long layoff, a change in volume and frequency, or all of the above. Overtraining is overtraining people! Try to get this as this is the deadliest mistake a high intensity training bodybuilder or athlete can make.
The theory of high intensity training was proposed by Mike Mentzer, an Olympic champion, bodybuilder, and trainer. Mike was the thinking man’s bodybuilder…who spent much of his career and his life testing and researching the theory of high intensity training. He did it both at the gym, his phone clients and in person. Mike’s contributions to bodybuilding and understanding anaerobic training were great, but the most valuable thing he taught me was how to think!
I was recently on a High Intensity Training forum and a member had questions about training with a technique called Rest Pause. This technique is the one that allows a maximum contraction in each repetition, while resting seven to ten seconds between each repetition. The repetitions are normally no more than four or five and only one series is used. The fair thing about the post was that after doing a rest break workout, this athlete felt tired for many days and wanted to train more often for the experience of training… he liked her and had an emotional bond with her! He reasoned that if he waited longer between reps where he could do each rep without using assistance or dropping the weight and not training to failure, it would be easier on his system and he wouldn’t feel as tired. This was just a byproduct of a very important point I’ll discuss below, which was my response to the HIT athlete.
Mike Mentzer said…
When Mike Mentzer said that overtraining wasn’t just a bad thing and sometimes it takes weeks to recover, you better believe it’s true… I’ve seen it at the gym and with my phone clients… although I don’t like to hear it and usually not until we go through a thorough phone training session. Your negative results so far can generally be related to overtraining, not a high intensity stimulus…but not resting enough to allow the surge to occur after high intensive training.
You need to check your logic here…detach emotionally…because if you think about it clearly, you said RIGHT NOW…you are the strongest and most muscular you have ever been and you have been training high. intense fashion. IF you continue to train within a specific spectrum of rest, and I find this very often… you are going to lose the battle. BECAUSE? Because his strength can be increased by 300% while his recovery ability can be increased by only 50%! If you do the numbers you will see that the seesaw leans to one side. The only way you can offset the effect of growing bigger and stronger is by taking more rest time.
It takes time for the body to recover. I can’t begin to tell you how important it is. If the body doesn’t recover… it can’t go to the next step of building muscle. I have trainees who train every 10-14 days and not until then…compensate let alone overcompensate for the exhausting effects of training. it’s genetics There are those who can train every other day and recover… (although not forever…) and those, and I’ve had clients like that… who have had to take six consecutive months off before starting . back to training because it took them a long time to fill the ditch… that’s right guys! High Intensity, Heavy Duty (Mike Mentzer trademark), UK Serious, call it what you want is extremely demanding and therefore extremely productive. If you have a deep understanding of the theory, there are no doubts.
This is the way to think about it…
It’s okay, you’re training intensely, with an intense contraction to stimulate muscle growth, to activate the growth mechanism.
You’re training briefly, not using recovery too much and leaving as much of it as possible in there…being mindful not to dig too deep a trench…
***Question… Are you really training briefly or do you need to cut back more? Remember, training is always negative, we are talking about VOLUME…
If you’re still tired after a week or two or three, your body hasn’t compensated for the exhausting effects of exercise, let alone overcompensated…more rest is called for. Not everyone is using recovery enhancing drugs etc. so it will take time, but the wait is well worth it… we’re talking FREQUENCY
Read about Lethargic….
Lethargy or Lethargic- Deficient in alertness or activity; “the bullfrogs became lethargic with the first cold nights” [ant: energetic] … it’s a lack of energy… energy is something that we are, everything is energy… when we spend it… we have to replenish it. The body systematically recovers and replenishes energy as such.
Have you ever noticed how when you are sick or too tired, you don’t even feel like eating? Animals are the most intelligent… when they are sick, they don’t spend energy eating, their body saves all its energy to fight STRESS, and illness is stress… Look… everything is related to stress. .. the body doesn’t know the difference…
So if your metabolism seems sluggish, you feel lethargic, etc., chances are you’ve allowed yourself to go into an overtrained state and carry on, so you just dig a deeper hole. A slow or lethargic metabolism are the first symptoms I use, along with slowed progress, to test for the onset of the overtraining condition. If you are active and healthy and not overtrained… you should feel energetic. If done correctly, you should never reach an overtraining condition.
If we realize that there is a valid theory of high intensity training, if we really understand anaerobic exercise, then the answer is don’t change routines, don’t go to the volume approach, don’t decrease intensity, you can find the answer to problem or question. in one of the two elements of this training… which is volume or frequency or both… who says you have to train every few days? Who says your training has to be one, two, three or five sets? Who says those abbreviated workouts have to be all big compound movements? Stick with the theory and you will find the answers to the question.
This really is all about being at 100% for your next workout. Personally, I couldn’t imagine at this moment another leg workout with a rest break, which is my next workout. I am scheduled to return to training tomorrow and I have news for you, I will reassess where I am next Monday… I have already taken eight days off since my last training, tomorrow it will be nine. I’ll add five days and if I’m 100%, I’ll be there, 14 days later… if not, no problem. I’m looking for the result, not the experience, so I’m less in the gym; better since it gives me more time to live, play and enjoy the result, a strong, muscular and energetic body…
Always use logic to solve these similar problems and you will find the answers accurately.