Is overwork good or bad?

Most people who are just starting to engage in such an interesting sport as bodybuilding look at this interesting sport somewhat simplistically. All business: go to the gym and carry pieces of iron there until you get tired of it. And sooner or later muscle growth will begin. Yes, you still need to eat a lot and take special sports supplements.

In principle, to put it roughly, that’s how it is. But why then don’t we have many Schwarzeneggers and Cutlers? Yes, because in reality everything is much more complicated than it seems at first glance. Much.

Let's leave diet and sports supplements alone. Let's get back to the basics - the training process. How do most amateurs train? They take any program they like (no matter who its author is, Joe or Mentzer), and begin to train according to it. How do you train? But as necessary. If he didn’t want to, he didn’t go to the hall. If I wanted to, I went. And they never pay attention to the fact that in every training program there is a certain number of sets for each exercise. And a certain number of repetitions. Why exactly this amount? No one thinks, and when at certain moments an athlete gets inspired, he believes that he needs to do 2 times more repetitions than stated. And I will train every day. It will be better this way! Are you sure it won't get worse?

I want to disappoint you: if you are not a professional bodybuilder on steroids, then you will only make things worse for yourself. You yourself will stop the growth of your own muscles. Because overwork will set in. And what is it? Overfatigue is a condition that develops in a person as a result of chronic physical overexertion. And, by the way, psychological stress too. That is, this is what is commonly called overtraining.

If you are not a “dumb jock,” as is commonly believed among ordinary people, but a thinking and health-conscious athlete, then you should read the special literature that is published. In glossy magazines, where 95% are photographs and advertising, it is difficult to find anything useful. This is basically complete nonsense. Although you can find useful things there too. Sometimes. So, if you read such literature, you probably noticed that training methods have changed a lot over the past 20 years. And no one trains the way Arnold trained (which he wrote about in his books). And why? Yes, because scientists have long found out that a muscle grows most effectively not when it is loaded from morning to evening. And then, when she was intensively loaded in a short period of time, and given a full rest. If it is any other way, overwork will set in. And growth will stop completely.

How to overcome this stagnant state of our body?

Before giving some useful recipes for combating overtraining, I would like to say one more thing. Overwork is not just a bad feeling, lack of desire to exercise and pain throughout the body. If your muscles are constantly overworked, then I guarantee you will get injured in the very near future. With excessive fatigue, nervous activity in muscle tissue is disrupted. And tired muscle fibers begin to behave completely differently than they should. And at the slightest more or less serious load they will simply burst. Do you need it? Definitely not.

If you have already successfully driven your body into a state of overfatigue, then all training should absolutely be stopped! The only thing you can afford is morning exercises, stretching and light aerobic exercises.

It is at this moment that you begin to understand how useful the bathhouse is. Walk as much as possible. And if there is also a massage in the bathhouse, then it’s absolutely wonderful.

Food. Since you currently have very little glycogen in your muscles, it is necessary to replenish its reserves. Naturally, by eating carbohydrates. But you need to choose carbohydrates that have a low glycemic index. Then there will be no insulin spike. Why does the body need extra stress?

Minerals are very important. Zinc and magnesium, first of all. And vitamins. It won't hurt to take natural stress relievers (I hope you understand that overwork is a very strong stress for the body). For example, golden root. Or, scientifically speaking, the so-called Rhodiola rosea. And drink green tea. It has a lot of tannin. And it is an excellent means of combating stress.

It is also necessary to constantly saturate the body with high-quality protein to replenish the building materials we need for tired muscles. Therefore, let’s supplement our useful tips on adjusting your diet with, for example, complex protein Whey & Egg - an excellent option to close this issue, and even in excess once and for all.

Well, the most effective cure for overwork is deep sleep. Sleep is the best tonic. Moreover, during sleep there is a peak in the production of growth hormone. And all the chemicals that appear from overtraining are destroyed. You should sleep at least 7 hours at night. And a couple of hours during the day won’t hurt.