overtraining in the bud. Stay out of the gym an extra couple of days before
your next workout, rest and sleep a bit more, pay more attention to nutri-
tion, and then reduce your work sets when back in the gym.. If you need to plug in an extra day or two of rest between workouts on a
regular basis, revise your whole training program so that the required rest
days are actually scheduled. Or maybe the training frequency that you are
currently overtraining on will be fine if you do fewer sets and/or exercises at
each workout.. If you still feel stagnated in the gym after taking an extra day or two of rest,
take another extra few days of rest and good nutrition before your next
workout, to total at least a full week off. en when back in the gym, back
pedal a little. Cut back all your poundages by and take a month to build
back to your best of four weeks earlier. is one-month down period can
restore you, avoid full-blown overtraining, and set you up for a period of
gains.Two areas for action
. ere are two areas for action when responding to warning signs of over-
training—in the gym, and out of the gym. Cut back in the gym—do less
work each session and/or train less often. If you are being run ragged by
your life in general out of the gym, then do something about that area.. Cutting back in the gym and mere fiddling with out-of-the-gym factors are
not enough. You need major overhauling to ensure that you consistently rest
and sleep enough, attend to meeting nutritional needs, and work to solve
whatever sources of distraction and anxiety are ruining your training.. Never mind that easy gainers can, apparently, at least over the short term,
break many of the rules of proper rest and nutrition, and yet still make prog-
ress in muscle and might. Hard gainers have far less room for corner cutting
than do easy gainers. And keep in mind that the most successful easy gainers
usually do not cut corners when meeting their rest and nutritional needs.Laying off, and coming back
. If you are overtrained to a frazzle and suffering from most if not all of the
symptoms listed earlier, you need to have a layoff for a couple of weeks. A
layoff means not only doing nothing in the gym, but not even going to the
gym. Stay out of it. You need a complete rest. Even a bit of aerobic work, or