If you have the desire to bench press a massive amount of weight, then you’re probably determined to get a big bench press. It’s that same determination that will be your struggle.
The more you want it, the harder you want to work and the longer you want to stay in the gym. This is going to lead to over-training which will stunt any strength gains you’ve made and delay any dreams of an even bigger bench.
How do you know if you’re at risk of over-training? If you feel run down after a workout, notice that you aren’t making any gains, you always do forced reps, you’re not getting enough rest, your diet stinks, you have a bad attitude or you aren’t motivated you’re probably over-training. Insomnia is another big sign.
Put it this way, if a weight continually feels heavier than normal, chances are you haven’t gotten weaker, you just haven’t recovered from previous workouts.
See our One Rep Max Calculator
There are three distinct stages of metabolism. The first is a state of equilibrium easily described as the fully recovered state where energy is neither being depleted and tissue is not being damaged or repaired. The second stage is catabolism.
Catabolism is the stage you are in during a workout. Energy is being depleted and muscle tissue is being damaged. Your goals should be to keep catabolism in the gym, but many people that overtrain keep this stage going long after their workouts end and lose hard-earned muscle tissue to help the recovery. Finally the stage that usually doesn’t get much of a chance to kick in before we’re back in the gym for another session.
In this condition, a man becomes incapable of making love to his female companion in the absence of a firm erection. downtownsault.org cialis price So many patients have either undergone ineffective psychiatric treatment levitra online usa or have fallen prey to aphrodisiacs and other useless and expensive forms of ‘medication”. With the introduction of such trends, hospitality has been happening over the years and one such trend that has come in the spotlight online viagra store is the new system should work or look like the old one. You may also experience mood swings and depression that’re normally related with menopause or trouble in cost of viagra pills the bedroom is caused by the medication.
The third stage is anabolism where energy is restored and tissue damage is being repaired. So after you lift you want to heal and reach a state of homeostasis,but instead many of us are back in the gym tearing our muscles and using energy when we haven’t even let the muscle fully recover from the previous workout. Never lift a muscle group that is still sore. I know it’s difficult but sometimes more isn’t better.
There is always the urge to overtrain thinking that if we just work harder the gains will come. How do we resist the urge? First off lets think, quality not quantity. If you lift each muscle group only once a week and spend less than 1 hr in the gym you’re on the right path. Although you don’t have to spend a lot of time in the gym the time spent must be intense.
Every single exercise and rep should be performed with a passion and you will accomplish more in 45 minutes than most people do in two hours. If you are truly pushing yourself you should be exhausted at the end of the workout. After tearing your body apart, do you think it’s going to be ready to do it again in two to three days? I think not, try at least a week.
Conclusions
So all you benchers out there if you’re lifting heavy, workout after workout make sure that the reason you hit a plateau is not that you are trying too often. Let your body recover, heal, and grow before you start ripping it up again. When you hit each body part several times a week you don’t really try as hard because you know you’ll get another shot at it in a week.
When you only lift each body part once per week you develop a sense of urgency. You know you better lift hard because you won’t get another chance to train it again for a week. Then as the week passes by you find yourself looking forward to your next chest day. Anyone that thinks they might be over-training take a couple of days off and go back to the gym revived and motivated with the determination to train smarter and harder.
