Are You Overtraining? 

Another point worth addressing is that it is possible to experience some of the symptoms associated with overtraining (tiredness, poor sleep, cognitive fatigue etc.) without seeing declines in performance / muscle growth. In this case, it is advisable to reduce training load in some capacity (reduce volume and/or intensity) to alleviate these issues 👍

Must take into consideration each muscle group heals at different rates. Some muscles will heal in 1 day while others may take 3 days. Listen to your body 💪

overtraining is real, and if your someone like me who takes most of your sets to failure and are in the gym for over 2 hours doing a push pull leg split, you know how it feels. that is why deloads are so important.

I experienced burnout in my last track season because I really wanted to focus on perfecting my body but also running fast. I was going to the gym 5/6 times a week and practiced sprinting 3 times a week. At one point in the season I felt like crap, and got injured. After I returned from injury (about 3 weeks of light practice and light lifting) I saw the best performance streak in my life, constantly PBing and feeling super fast on the track. And this was before I knew the concept of deloading and peaking, so I was so surprised by my uptake in performance. This video explains why my performance saw a boost really well. This season I will plan to peak at the end of July, when my most important race is happening by completely shutting down my lifts two-three weeks prior to the competition. All in all, good video.

Going at a high intensity for 3 consecutive days certainly hits my mood, so I have to back off even if I'm getting stronger. It's just not worth it and affects all other areas of life. I get so miserable. I enjoy the intensity, but I have to watch it.

Wtf, Literally need this video now. Asking the same question myself, the timing is so perfect

I love this guy! He puts everything in such a concise way

I'm literally taking notes lol ✍️✍️✍️ Anyway though I'm not sure whether my motivation for watching these videos is entirely healthy, I do really appreciate having this rigorous information accessible and presented in such an understandable way. A side effect of using scientific studies to design my personal training plan is that I train in a safe way, and don't blindly burn myself out in the gym hoping to gain muscle ASAP. Helps me to train in a safe and healthy way. So thanks a ton for that 🙏

As someone with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, I can say first hand training too much is no beuno for those of us with autoimmune diseases. Training too hard is a definite trigger for me, along with mental stress and poor sleep, obviously.

i like the timing ,its perfect

This one came at such a good time. Great video as always. Thank you.

It’s not singularly load, volume, or frequency that is responsible for overtraining its the cumulative affect of all three together that will contribute to overtraining. So studies that isolate just one of these variables are useless in this regard. High frequency is not a problem if volume and intensity are kept low, likewise high volume is fine if load and frequency are kept lower and the same goes for load with respect to frequency and volume. Volume and intensity in a workout both contribute towards fatigue and recovery time, frequency however is the allotted amount of time for those muscles to recover. Ideally your frequency should land your next workout during the peak of super-compensation, overtraining occurs when you consistently program workouts before the super-compensation phase is even reached. The question is not whether or not overtraining exists but how can we accurately gauge our recovery Time to optimize our programming.

If only there was a way to get CEUs from these videos. Your channel is such a great resource for exercise science!

Insane efforts. I really benefit a lot from your videos. Keep up the hard work, bud.

Overtraining in my experience comes down to 3 things. Rest, diet and rotation. If you're working a full shift and hitting the gym morning and night you're going to suffer and burnout. Injuries, fatigue and crankiness as well as shame to follow. Diet, lack of, poorly understood or poorly applied will also kill gains. Keto bros do carbs. They time them for exercise and can eat a lot of them due to higher intake. People often have the worst understanding of macros and nutrients and hurt themselves. Eating enough and ensuring your carbs are used for activity and proteins between will save you no end of grief. Poor diet leads to sickness or glycogen wipe out. A fat person eating 1.5k kals when they need 3.6k will end up sore for days, overeating after and feeling shame. The rotation is simple. Don't hit the same muscles every single day. Especially if you're not that fit or out of shape. All 3 cause injury, fatigue, feeling like you're not capable, shame cycles and so on. Fuel yourself, time your carbs, make room for sleep and never work a muscle more than 2 days in a row.

I think overtraining is very difficult when it comes to hypertrophy exercise alone, provided you train to true failure. Few have the toughness to push themselves through the pain and burn SO far they get overworked over weeks and months with weights alone. One-sided training or joint overload are, as mentioned, the more typical problems. However, execive cardio in combination with weight training can get you in a chronic feedback loop of underrecovering. Leading to bad compounding effects of bad and short sleep, chronic irritation in mood and concentration, high and chronic systemic fatigue and overworked joints. Especially if you are natural. It happened to me when i exercised close to four hours a day, 5-6 times a week for over a year and not a single week off. That would have been impossible with weights alone. But a combo of weights, walking, jogging, intervall sprints, yoga and martial arts? Absolutely. So don't go all crazy on the work-load. Especially while being in a caloric deficit and natty. And get your protein, especially around/during training.

I’m not a medical expert and therefore unable to argue on a scientific level over that topic. However, I’m constantly at the edge of overtraining / systemic fatigue!! I’m in my 40s and have over 18 years training experience (resistance training). I’ve tried most available and known training plans and concepts. However, the past 3 years have been a massive challenge in terms of sliding in-and-out of strong fatigue, joint pain, significant reduced performance, sleep problems etc. Once I stop working out for a week or 10 days, my strength is back at baseline. The problem is, it takes only 3 to 4 weeks to get to the point of reduced performance again!!! In those 3 years, I varied load, frequency, remain from technical failure, optimized my diet etc. It seems like my body has simply shut down. I volunteer for any study on that subject matter. I’m based in Michigan. Reach out to me if needed.

this video came out at exactly the right time been running the most brutal 5 day a week full body program for a month and a half and yeah, even though i saw instant results, became a lot leaner and stronger within this time frame, but i completely collapsed by the end of it and couldn't even do my job properly gonna run an upper-lower-upper-lower-upper for a little, to deload

It exists and you'll know without a doubt you're going too hard. If you're unsure and still have the motivation and physical ability to keep training consistently, you're not overtraining.

Really good work once again. Thx

Its what i requested, thanks!

This is the best video I've come across on this subject, and much needed! I just started working out in a serious consistent manner this year as a new years resolution (still going strong!) and have seen such incredible progress I just want to keep going, increasing frequency and volume, etc. I see so many contradictory statements from different channels on here it is hard to know if what I'm doing is right. I was worried I may be going too hard from what some folks say... In a way the conclusion seems to be the most simple: Listen to your body! It'll tell you if you are good on the gas or to step on the brakes

I'm going through this right now. Working on increasing my vertical and after 12 weeks of training I feel less driven to train.

I have experienced more muscle growth in last 3 months since I stopped playing sport 3 days per week in between lifting 3 times per week. I have been calling that previous regime “overtraining.” Although, about the same time, I went from being slightly hypocaloric to being slightly hypercaloric. Surely both have had impact.

Best fitness education channel on youtube for sure💪🏼

Great education love the content

I get good sleep, good amount of protein and take creatine, I was overtraining and then structured a better training plan it was hard at first but I’ve worked into it along with two sports but if your body needs rest badly then take that day off as it will lead to better growth

Excellent video and it corroborated what I thought was the case. I have a 3/week resistance routine that at times (after gradual buildup of sets, many to failure) becomes a very challenging 90-minute effort. I absolutely get results. However, I have found that after having been ramped up to that long/intense 90-minute level for say a month, I start to dread it (i.e., the psychological fatigue you described). I can still force my way through it, but really detest doing it even if I have the free time. So, I've concluded not to maintain this level for more than a month at a time, then take a break, go back to a lower set 45-min routine and gradually work up again. If I tried to maintain the 90-minute intense routine indefinitely I'd eventually be hating life

Systemic fatigue is often overblown I'd agree with your latter summary tbh it's like psychological especially in RT people and the evidence is in tbe first study

I don't know, from your conclusion I might be a rare case, although I got some useful insights for my case. In my case I've been lifting for 5 months, and the jump I did after the first month from 3 times a week to 5 times a week maintaining the same volume per day was too much for me. Maybe it was the sudden jump you explained in your video. After 3 months going for the same volume (in sets/reps) each week I started to feel fatigue everyday and just felt so tired even though I slept and ate well. It was hidering my ability to lift and also to be consistent, because I ended up going 4 times instead of 5 because I felt so much fatigue, the last weeks also pain in my joints/tendons. So 2 weeks ago I decided to drop my volume by 25%. In just a week my fatigue went out, and I feel great! I still do 50% more volume than going 3 times a week but I don't feel like trash, so it's a win for me. For those curious, I was doing 24 sets per muscle group per week and now I'm doing 18. I now plan on keep going with 18 until I feel like I could do more without feeling so fatigued. If you feel like I felt before just know a small change like going from 24 to 18 might save you and you'll still make a lot of gains!

I worked out 3 times a day at some points and Fucked my CNS up due to not putting enough calories back in the system. Developed a eating disorder, slept for 4-5 hours a night , mood issues and terrible concentration. Mental health issues as well.... Overtraining is real

thank you for this

My best Evidence-based training youtube channel! I Just have an important note, @ 3:38, the systematic review effect estimate CIs includes the null (EE: 0.22, 95%CI: -0.11 to 0.55, p=0.152); thus, intrepretation would be like: training to failure "doesn't" seem superior to non-failure training in muscle hypertrohy, as evidence is inconclusive! More studies being published and included in the forestplot will increase the precision of the CIs and generate a definitive answer.

I didn't watch the video but the title screen has me thinking. Did you under train before you worked out? I train and exercise amazingly correct behaviors and so on for life!

My issue hasnt been with muscle growth. Its been with dealing with tendon issues. My tendons simply dont restore as fast as my muscle tissue. But I am a lot older than probably most of your lifters and have had a few service related traumas. I know most people who lift do so to either get big or to get strong. But I have always felt, even when I was in high school eons ago that the focus only on the muscle. Joint, tendon and ligament health and repair need to be considered when any training is done.

I'm currently planning a 4-day split focusing on chest, shoulders, triceps, back, and biceps, omitting lower body exercises. Given that my Day 2 and Day 4 workouts seem relatively short, with only three exercises each, I'm contemplating a different approach for several reasons: 1. Training Duration: On Days 2 and 4, each session, considering 2 minutes per set, totals a maximum of about 30 minutes. This seems quite brief for a day's workout. 2. Recovery Time: Since muscle recovery and building can last up to 48 hours post-exercise, I’m considering restructuring my workouts into three upper-body sessions per week, in total, potentially 50% above the Maximum Adaptive Volume. Do you think it's feasible to increase volume this way, assuming Minimum Volume and Maximum Recoverable Volume could indeed increase by 50%? 3. Increased Frequency: Based on the same 48-hour recovery principle, could there be potential benefits or drawbacks in moving to a 6-day upper-body split, allowing for more frequent stimulation of each muscle group? Could you provide guidance on whether these adjustments might enhance the effectiveness of my training regimen, or if there are alternative strategies I should consider?

Hey FHP i love your videos.i have to ask what do you think of 'counting reps only when it hurts by Muhammad Ali?' do you think itll lead to injury or is it a good intention/philosophy to live by when working out? is there any studies for this? and what is your take on it?

I'm having overtraining right now. It started when I added BJJ in the days between my Madcow 5x5. Before that I was fine, for years.

Can u explain on how to combine hypertrophy training and strength training, the advantages and the weakness of combining it vs do it separately, thanks 🙏

Its like i was thinking at this very same thing while at the gym tonight

Brigatto's study of volume only lasted 8 weeks, that's like a common bodybuilding mesocicle. If lasted more, the high volume group would have seen their performance decreased due to overtraining. Bodybuilders know that volume is the main driver fot hypertrophy, so they try to maximize it by adding sets week after week, also closer and closer to failure until they reach the overtraining, then deload and start again.

Tendons are always the limiting factor in my training, espeically on isolations. One time I wanted to see how many sets I could perform in a single session on a triceps pushdown before my muscles give in. I lost count but it was more than 15 sets without lowering the weight by more than 1 plate. The next day, what do you know, muscle soreness and tendon pain. You say that it's possible to build up to that in the video. How would you do it? Every 3 weeks add 1 set to the count?

I did ppl upper low 5 day split but I have changed to 3 days full body because I felt tired. Feel a lot stronger now but worry case I am under training! What do you think? What split would you recommend? I am skinny lean looking to build muscle. Thanks

It's lack of sleep guys, thats it. When you don't get enough rest you are risking getting hurt more. Saved you 16 minutes

Hi You've said that the definition of overtraining for athletes doesn't apply for hypertrophy because we are after structural adaptation not performance outcome. Does that mean that we should continue to train even if we are seeing a reduction in peformance from week to week and months?

Could you do a video about hypertrophy programming with all of the exercises performed to failure (RPE of 10 / RIR of 0)

16 sets a week is the sweet spot for hypertrophy anything more then that is theoretically looks good but practically not sustainable.. The concept of overtraining is if u r not progressing in the gym (progressively overlaoding) in the 3-4weeks times span If ur lifts are not going up then you are doing too much volume that means ur not recovering well... Given the fact that ur diet ,sleep is on point that means ur overtraining according to u own body .. Mechanical failure and Progress is what matters if ur lifts are not going up over the time then ur over training off course soreness is also an indicator that the muscle has not been yet recovered fully..

If we want to assess the athletes of other sports then, will the parameters of measuring be the same or will they change accordingly, like let's talk about endurance athletes how should we look at that?

I don't know if somebody have experience the same thing as I did, but for me I workout more in isometrics holds with proper resistance, let's say 30-40% 1RM. And let me tell you, when you do about near 1h of time under tension in one session, for me I felt exhausted to the point I couldn't even function right. I wasn't sore at all, just fatigue as hell for near a week till full recovery. My CNS (central nervous system) was so used for a prologation of time that I was feeling a pressure in the back of my occiput (back of the head). I really don't know if that sensation is like ''hypertrophy'' for my cerebellum or was it my neck muscles, I really don't know, but still since I had experienced it like 2-3 times with the same effects I stopped doing that. I now don't do more than 3 sets for a max total of 3min holds per muscle per exercise. I found out that more is pretty much useless and even can be negative so... If someone can relate to my story or can help me understand if I'm worng or correct, let me know please.

I dont know if im overtraining but recently my motivation or discipline for training is a lot worse, I train everyday but its all at home and I train 12 sets of different pushup variatons every other day and when im not doing pushups im training biceps, pullups and squats. So its basically 7 days a week but even though on my all time training ive had positive results, now my wrist cramp up when im doing curls and im starting to do less pushups. My bicep strength has not decreased just the pushups, so should I rest for like 3-4 days then start again or just push through. Also im 15 and trying to be in a calorie deficit.

I'm 21, and have been doing this ridiculously long workout for a month now and have been having a great time with it, and a lot of muscles are getting great growth from it. I'm kind of afraid of hitting overtraining, but I'm not sore (like not more than you should) and as long as I'm well caffeinated (I wasn't today lmao) it's just fun to get through. Should I worry?

Maybe undereating could be a problem too? I do 20 min of moderate cycling or walking after resistance training 5-6 times a week, I trained 4 times a week before and hit a plateau. I already eat a lot but my metabolism is insane and my bodyweight barely changes.

Turns out I knew all this anyway. Nice.

Another question could be: Would those lifters see a greater increase or the same increase in strength/muscle growth if they trained slightly less, or if they took more time to recover

One thing this video did not go into was how important diet is while training. If you only eat 2-3 meals a day and work out as a pro athlete, workouts will begin to hurt after awhile because the body is running out of an energy source to run and repair itself on.

I'd would like to say sometimes you just a break for 1 day . Cuz usually is the mind the first sign of overtraining. I can tell it by experience and cuz my sport wants 7/7 training a day to be in the nationals.

A lot of the performance isn’t about the muscle. It’s about the Central Nervous System which controls the muscle, which connects directly to the brain. Which will obviously affect you mentally.

Mmm... after watching this, actually got me thinking about what might be the reasons for catabolism (probably using more weight that advise + poor diet, but not sure)... and exactly what is Junk volume?, since soooo many content creators reference it

Bro read three articles and is now an expert

Until I started working out (and I’ve been doing High volume like 15-20 set Per muscle since I started) I was really weak even though I’m 6’2 and broad shoulders naturally. I went from 50 kg pr on bench to 100 kg in 6 months. Is it possible that the reason I was so weak prior was because my body can take a lot of volume and therefore I had to really get into putting a lot of stress on my muscles before they started growing? Unlike other folk who dont work out and were stronger than I was before I started, maybe they need very little stress on their muscles and therefore Got stronger from just doing chores and stuff.

You're nutrition plays a huge role in recovery

I do full body routine with one day apart. 2 sets*12 reps each exercise for each session. Weekly it gets 6 0r 8 sets, but is it good enough? I do train hard even with 2 sets of each exercises

There are also cases where there are over training to an extent of dissolving muscles and intoxicated blood?

Would you not consider the exercise selection somewhat flawed in the volume study? It's not really been replicated that up to 32 sets

I have most of the symptoms. But I've already been going to the gym less and less, so idk if I'm actually doing too much or if it's other reasons for my symptoms and I'm doing too little. Man idk anymore.

Psychological thing is definitely real, early on I had a massive jump in my deadlift over the previous week most likely form working on my mind-muscle connection in my legs and building up my confidence to attempt a lift well above what I had previously been topping out at. The muscle was there just needed the CNS to finally activate it effectively.

Comparing 2-4 reps and the 8-12 is almost apples and oranges from HTMU 5/6 reps is well over 80% load.

HIT is best, one set to failure. In and out if the gym in < 1/2 hr. Unless you like spending time in the gym with the boys, it’s the way to go.

That difference of growth between 16, 24 and 32 sets / week is insane. 2x the volume for 3x - 5x results?! what the heck?

I don't think so because you have got to push pass limitations.

If progressive overload is the objective, isn't over training simply the opposite of that? Week over week, meso over meso, block over block?

Idk if Mike Mentzer is respected here, but speaking of that experiment in which bicep wouldn't grow after a high-frequency training, Mike said that throughout his trainer career he found out that both arm and leg bicep overtrain extremely easily, so maybe it really was overtraining and not some statistical error or a byproduct of a poorly structured research

I am over 70. How does age affect muscle growth? For example I swim 1500 yds 3x per week after 48 hrs rest between sessions. Your advice seems to not include age factors.

What is the name of this sound ?

So why do you think that the concept of deloading is very common in bodybuilding and it is known that if you miss the deload week you might stop seeing gains?

Varies by individual

13:47 I, too, like to put on my PARTIPANTS from time to time

I would say overtraining definately excist. I many people say "oh just eat enough and there is no limit to how much training you can do. Problem is not overtraining, just undereating" 😵 Well I think is easy to overtrain. Go to the gym and do 2 hours with deadlifts everyday. And dont forget to run hard long intervalls on the evening everyday of course. Wonder how that person would feel after 2 weeks. Performance would suffer also.

an example from real life - a friend that does calisthenics mostly said to me that he felt he cant grow anymore because, in his words, he probably reached his genetic potential after training for 10 years (he is 23, haha).. and thats funny to me because i see his workouts and they take over 1.5h to complete, lots of rest, lots of volume.. he feels the pump but cant grow, would you not call that 'overtraining'? in a way it certainly is not because there are none of the after-effects you mention in the video but there is also no growth because he does so much junk volume. is he undertraining then? again.. not in my opinion because he tires out his muscles, just in the wrong way. another point of view i have is this - from the point of view of science 'overtraining' should be the end result but thats impossible in reality because of body recovery and adaptation.. therefore its still training, a process.. that has no end result unless an injury or your own decision halts the process. so at the core of it is recovery isnt it? its not frequency, not volume..and the most overlooked thing about recovery is it starts at the same time as you begin your workout, and, throughout the day for that matter even if you arent training because its a constant. already mentioned junk volume above but doing the opposite - do more intense work than necessary would lead to longer recovery time and it stacks up over time. if you train harder than you should and have planned 3 sessions per week for the same muscle group then over time you will experience mental fatigue and ultimately its your brain that operates your muscles, they are not autonomous.. thats what happened to me

No such thing as over training. Just under recovering👍

4:46 wait how on earth were people doing 40 sets PER DAY on the 32 set plan? did I miss something?

Before asking that question, you have to train first

Basically different horses for different courses.

As a BJJ / wrestler / Boxing student, I swear I write this comment with the energy of a vegetable lol

dont marines "overtrain" and it works ?

Mike mentzer would hate this video. 32 sets per muscle group!?! There s no way your training hard enough if you can get 32 sets! After about 8 sets per muscle group I realize the effect of diminishing returns every set after and therefore wasting my time.

I think the culprit is simply the lack of proper recovery

FUN FACT: 99% of gym bros are UNDERtraining, not overtraining

Majority of people are undereating

I think the definition of overtaining is vague because of evolution. Humans are the only animal on the planet that exercises for recreational reasons. In the wild, these stimulations are a result of responding to danger, or obtaining food source. If you made a cat run on a treadmill everyday, it would eventually die from stress because it's body is in a constant state of fight or flight. With that said, I think natural selection is in the works here. Some people can train better than others and respond to stress better than others. In the wild, these people will better fit the environment that's causes these stressors but since we're all people and living in the world, we'd just feel tired or fatigued.

If you are watching this video , you are mot overtraining. Put the phone down and start lifting.

studies are limited hence results are as such 2:30

Mike Mentzer told Us,Biceps of Arms and Biceps of Legs are OVERTRAINED EXTREMELY EASY

6:55

I think I'm over trenning

Are you overtraining? Almost certainly not. Are you lazy and looking for excuses? Are you not eating right? Are you not sleeping/recovering? One of these is far and away more likely than “overtraining.” That word gets thrown around way too much in internet fitness land

Before watching, I'd like to answer the thumbnail question: No. Currently I'm undertraining. In 2019, when I gave myself rhabdo, I was definitely overtraining. The ideal is about half way between the two, where I'm exercising enough to see progress and get deep restful sleep, but not so much that the progress is negative (I lost so much muscle and strength!) and the sleep is just a particularly long powernap because I need more hours in the day to train. There, solved it. 🤣

took a break from the gym for like a week cause of work i kept getting slightly bigger and stronger everyday then eventually it went back down

6:37 The 7% difference between groups in bicep growth is a statistical error, yet the 1% difference in quad and lat growth isn’t? That is a very strange interpretation of that study. Biceps are exerted during every upper-body exercise. Name a single upper body exercise in which biceps don’t play a significant role in stability. This was certainly compounded by that particular routine followed in The study! I have no doubt that you can train using an aggressive, high volume program, but you must realize that most studies focus on young people with less than 6 months of training background. Of course these people will have a tougher time overtraining! It is almost impossible for newbies to perform too much volume Even the experienced power lifter case you mentioned consisted of three guys, (statistically useless,) and had no control group. I know there ain’t a lot of research on this topic, but you’re really grasping at straws. What is my point? I don’t know. Sorry if I was kind of mean during this comment. I honestly regret writing it.

If you are training to failure all the time you should try have a calorie surplus all the time lol.