How do I know if I'm training too hard?

Question

I'm an averagely built guy (183cm, 85kg, 20% body fat) that's looking to build a bit of muscle, lose some fat, and generally turn some heads if I ever go running topless down a beach, but I've got a bit of a problem when it comes to constantly being tired after working out. How would I know if I'm training too hard? I'll try to (briefly!) illustrate what I'm doing at the moment:

• Mondays - off day
• Tuesdays - cardio (usually stationary bike) for 60-70min @ 160BPM heart rate
• Wednesdays - resistance training, 4 sets each exercise with max weight I can manage with 12-10-10-8 reps, doing: bench press, shoulder press, squats, pull-downs, push-ups and abs
• Thursdays - off day
• Fridays - same as Wednesdays, just with different exercises: bent-over barbell rows, single-arm rows, squats, pull-dows, push-ups and abs
• Saturday - off day
• Sunday - super-set day, 3 rounds of 10 reps of each exercise (no rest between exercises, 3 minute rest between sets) on max weight I can complete them with doing: bent-over barbell rows, bench press, squats, pull-downs and rowing machine for 400m

Each of my days at gym take about an hour, and every time I'm finished and can't function for the rest of the day as I'm so tired. I eat (honestly) 3 meals and 1 snack a day, all carbs low GI, and have a protein shake with added L-Glutamine directly after training sessions.

Is it normal to be so tired after training? Or am I just expecting too much and should decrease the weight?

Update (18 October)

Thank you everyone for your thoughts, answers and comments, and I wish I could mark them all as correct as they all share valuable information and insight. I realise that there are a few questions within this one (specifically ones on nutrition and training habits) that might deserve their own question sections, but for the purposes of this question you all have given me much needed food-for-thought that has eased my mind.

Update (24 October)

As mentioned by Adam in his very insightful answer, one of the best ways to figure this out is to realise that you need to keep learning about yourself, and with this in mind here are a few things I've learnt along the way that's helping me:

• a rest week every 5th week works great for me
• pushing myself to "failure" was a very bad idea
• if you're getting tired after working out, that's ok...if there was something seriously wrong, you'd know!
• lightening the weight / resistance slightly and adding 1 or 2 reps gave me a just as satisfying workout without the "kill my muscles to failure" way of doing things
• nutrition is important, but when I feed myself was also just as important - eating 2 hours before working out, followed by a protein shake 30 minutes before gym, then having a low-GI carb drink on hand during my workouts has helped to keep me going a lot better
• don't underestimate the effect of stress (work or otherwise) on your energy levels - a stressed mind makes a stressed body

With so many ideas and products out there, and combining it with the fact that we're all different, really gives you thousands of things to try, but when you start figuring out what works for you, that's the real reward.

Thanks again for all of your truly helpful answers guys, I wish I could mark them all correct, and I also hope this post helps someone else sometime!

Answer 1

How to know

Well, since our friends looking at the problem in a very "sports science way" I will rephrase and add more details (which may not be as practical as you think. Please refer to an expirienced trainer to be the judge of the symptoms below (Self judgments can be too soft and over sensitive sometimes))

"Overtraining" might be to blame if your athlete has any of the following symptoms:

• elevated resting heart rate
• loss of appetite and weight loss
• chronic fatigue, workouts described as draining
• an increase in colds or infections
• inadequate sleep
• a decrease in performance, or an inability to reach training goals
• lack of enthusiasm, psychological staleness

Inadequate rest and recovery can lead to compensation and injury. If signs of overtraining start to occur, adjustments can be made to the programs acute variables, including training volume, intensity, duration, frequency, and/or exercise selection.

For example, when an athlete experiences an intense case of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), reducing the intensity and duration of training, or training different muscle groups for the days following will give the affected muscles time to recover (1).

DOMS If you come back to the same muscle group - say, biceps - ** it can be the sign that you may still haven't recovered from your last biceps session**; in other words if your biceps are still sore or sensitive for pushing and pulling, this could mean you need more rest period and you may need to look for the symptoms above to confirm that you're over training.

There are lot of debates about the word over training. I am just using it in terms of "not rested enough for the load of training you've done."

What happens if...

Training before recovery isn't that constructive. If you are familiar with the muscle building process, in very simple words, you injure the muscle and you feed him properly during recovery then it recovers in a better shape. Hence if you keep injuring the muscle without letting him to recover, you're not doing great PLUS you increase the risk of long-term injury.

What do to

If that's the case, you should either give your muscle group more time to rest or boost the recovery by taking supplements and foods which help you in this case. The keyword to do some research for this would be recovery and BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acid) .

References

1)Penney, Stacey, and NASM CES. "Overtraining–When There Isn’t Enough Time to Recover."

UPDATE

I have stumbled upon this article called The Myth of Overtraning by Vince Del Monte the other day in my IroMan Magazine newsfeed and thought this definitely needs to be here since it's extremely informative.

Answer 2

I had this same same question and did tons of research for myself. Some quick notes of mine to take with grain of salt as I am trying to figure this all out too...

Never stop learning. Treat your mind as a muscle and keep researching the subject.

Overtraining could be defined as exceeding your bodies ability to supercompensate (recover stronger than you started)...or doing more than you need to do to trigger maximum growth response. Log everything you do. Only increase effort (reps/sets/weight/decrease rest) when the current stimulus doesn't give you results over a reasonable time like a week or two (individual days are unpredictable). Learning and tracking how your unique body responds to stimulus is really the only way to answer your question.

Work with a trainer for a few months when you first start out. You will get solid return on investment. It is just so easy to do so many things wrong when you try and start alone. I grew more in a few months with a trainer than I did for years on my own. They will push you way harder than you would push yourself alone in the right ways, and stop you from hurting yourself with bad form and just wasting your time.

Follow a balanced comprehensive full body program. Different rep ranges every 4 weeks or so. Cycle through low reps (5) for strength, medium reps (8-15) for size, high reps 20+ for capillary growth/endurance. Cycle through different speed...2s up 2d and explosiveness. Instead of just bike for cardio, try and work all your muscles into cardio and strength. (Don't put off capillary growth because you want strength...endurance translates into more efficient use and supply of fuel, waste management, recovery nutrients, etc)

Try drinking your shake before hand. Some studies suggest that may help recovery start quicker, give you more energy while working out. Since I have started using 3fu3l before my workout, I have had more energy at the end of my hour workout. (Just suggested so you consider the effect of protein, carbs, fat during the workout).

Get way more sleep. Enough that you shouldn't need an alarm clock. Lots of growth hormone released during good sleep. < 8 hours and you may be spinning your wheels.

Don't do nothing on rest day. Practice active recovery...get muscles pumped up a bit (perhaps a few light sets at 50% max) to supply with nutrients, flush waste. Do prehab type exercises...foam roller, etc.

Don't go to failure so quickly (some people say never go to absolute failure unless you are expert and need to). A target of 5 sets x 5 reps is might be more effective. Look into methods like Grease the Groove where you do more sets less often. That might help you achieve your goals while feeling less tired from using up all your body energy stores at one time.

(Feel free to edit anyone)

Answer 3

If your performance is improving week-to-week and you're not suffering any health side-effects (compromised immune system, injuries, for example) you're not overtraining.

Answer 4

Simply put, you are not training too hard. There doesn't exist has ever exist a person in the entire human history that has trained too hard. What makes you think you will be the first one to break this record?