Overdoing it

Are you one of those people who just LOVES to push it in the gym? The type to suck it up and pound out a workout no matter HOW SORE you are? Well, the bright side of these traits is that you will likely stick to a fitness routine of some kind for life! BUT BUT BUT BUT.... you can NOT do that if you consistently OVERTRAIN your body and run yourself into a physical rut.

I am a VERY laid back person, but when it comes to releasing tension--i am the most INTENSE person at the gym. Therefore, I'm one of those people (even before I decided to prep for a competition) to bust through sprints even though my legs are aching. When I first got into fitness, I refused to take a day off. I worked out 7 days a week for 3 months STRAIGHT. You bet I worked myself into an injury and got sick. Sure, during the process I was getting faster on the treadmill, and doing more reps with heavier weights. But as soon as that overtraining point set in, all of my physical progress was halted, because i had to spend time rehabilitating muscle damage! 

Since that first instance, I am AWARE of overtraining, however---I didn't fully learn my lesson. I now take a day off from all exercise each week, but 6 days of intense training is still limit-pushing in my book. One thing I've learned to do is to do some "recovery cardio" instead of all out balls-to-the-wall intervals when i can barely feel my legs. In fact, (for me) it is BETTER to do some "recovery" cardio the day after heavy leg training, rather than just lay off cardio for the day. I think that actively MOVING my lower body (at a lower intensity) helps to improve circulation and relieve leg muscle soreness. "recovery cardio" is a good time to hop on the elliptical instead of the stair monster.

With this said, I am 7 weeks from my first show, and am starting to "overdo" it. The difference here is that I am aware that I am STARTING to push it to far, and understand that I need to fix my cardio schedule to accomodate my two days of leg training+plyometrics. For example, on Tuesday, I trained glutes and quads (think squats, lunges, step-ups, kettlebell swings, plyos). Needless to say, after squatting up to 135lbs and then continuing with a LONG leg workout, my legs were ACHING the day after. What did I do? Wednesday, I got my ass on the stair monster. I was in so much pain, I ended up doing 15 minute intervals, and doing an upper body circuit in between. That got me 45 minutes of stair monster work, and did 15 minutes of low-intensity ellipting at the end of my workout to relax my legs. (After doing 60 jump squats...don't ask) Then comes THURSDAY (today)  I wanted to CRY this morning when I rolled out of bed at 7 to get ready for work. My ENTIRE body is in pain. SORE and heavy. After working from 8-12, I spent 35 minutes trying to "recover" on the elliptical. I barely broke a sweat, despite the incline on the highest setting with challenging resistance. I usually sweat just THINKING about cardio, so I know something is off when I don't sweat. 

I look pretty good for 7 weeks out, and if I continue on my contest prep as planned, I have no doubts I will look my best on stage. I just have to keep reminding myself that I have made this many changes in 6 weeks, so the next 6-7 weeks should bring more change, and hopefully the RIGHT changes. My inner thighs, glutes, and hams SHOULD be in pain since I'm trying to change them and firm them the MOST. I can deal with the pain, but I need to keep it manageable so that I can HEALTHILY continue on my prep. If you are trying to change your physique, be it weight loss, muscle building--don't OVERDO it. If it feels like a metal rod is sticking through your spine, it won't kill you to pedal on the elliptical instead of doing your planned monstrous workout. And for the record, there's nothing wrong with taking 2-3 days off the gym, ESPECIALLY if you're trying to build muscle. Even for fat loss, you need REST, or else your body might make sure you NEVER lose that stupid fat!

And I cannot end this post without a nutrition plug:
Please feed your body accordingly. If you are putting in MAX EFFORT in the gym, EAT something, damn! Have some carbs---they don't make you FAT. If you're a carbophobe (like many naturally soft people,) try limiting starchy carbs to 1x a day (ex: morning oats), And eat lots of veggies, even of starchier variety (like zucchini, carrots.) I will be the one to promise you, it won't make you FAT. When you need to lose the LAST 5% bodyfat in order to be shredded, worry about carrots. Until then...Eat your veggies.

Fun fact: If you calculate my daily carbs, its OVER 1g carb/ pound of bodyweight. And I'm LOSING fat. 

Summary of this post:
Go to the gym. When you get there, bust your ass. Done ass busting, eat something. When your muscles get sore, rest them or do some easy exercise. Then eat some veggies. Repeat this for successful and safe transformation.