If you have been in this game for some time now, if you have accumulated a level of success in pursuit of muscles, then you know that body builders sometimes get too enthusiastic in their training for their own good. This is especially so if the training goals are given specific time frames, a deadline is coming up the corner. It gets even crazy, when you are in competitive bodybuilding, and a major contest in which you have banked a lot of hopes, is coming nearer and nearer.
a) The signs that you are losing out control during training, are like:
You forget yourself during the workouts and by the time you come around to glancing at the watch, you are past the predetermined length of the training session.
- You start training impatiently, without allowing enough time for warm-ups.
- You don’t determine the length of the training session before going to the gym.
- You come up with timely justifications to lengthen the training session such as interruptions by colleagues, you are not exhausted, just one more, etc.
There are two myths that propound the tendency to lose track of training duration. These myths will do more harm than good if incorporated in your mindset. They include:
b) The more you train, the more you will grow and the longer you train the better.
The fact is overtraining stands and will always do, as the greatest mistake a body builder can make. Frequent muscle injuries consequent from overtraining cause the muscles to stunt in growth. It makes the body susceptible to other complications, it wastes a lot of time as you weight for muscles to heal before training further, and many other maladies.
There are several main causes of overtraining, some of them are;
1. Steroids use
- Impatience with growth
- Ignorance
- Poor dieting
- Lack of workout plan
The overriding factor in all these causes and even in others not enumerated above, is that the body builder looses out to the training workout. They get too excited sometimes that they forget to stop when enough muscle stimulation has been achieved. Instead of focusing on muscle stimulation, they start targeting complete muscle breakdown as the workout objective. Other factors than intensity and overload becomes the guiding principle of the training routine such as ;
2. Peer pressure
- How long they train for each session
- How many training sessions for a day
- How many training sessions per week etc
This is a mistake because when these becomes the basis on which to determine the training session, then the workouts have gained more prominence than the body one is training. It is indeed the body that must determine the intensity level, it is the body that must be given adequate time to heal, recover and grow before assuming further training. It is the body that must remain in control. Remember it is growth stimulation not muscle breakdown that you must aim for in the training session.