It’s not true what they say.
“Don’t train too hard or you’ll become overtrained.”
“Train your legs no more than once a week because you’ll become overtrained.”
“Never workout two days in a row or else you’ll become overtrained.”
Want to know the real secret? Even if you try, you will probably never become overtrained. Fatigued and stressed out – yes. But overtrained – definitely not.
My honest opinion is that the people who say they are afraid of overtraining are just that: afraid. Except, they’re afraid to work hard in the gym. They’re afraid of overload. It’s been proven time and time again that overload is what causes you to get results in the gym. It’s what gets you stronger. It’s what makes your muscles bigger. Striving to lift heavier weights, more reps, and more sets with flawless form is what builds champions. Not being afraid of overtraining.
Overtraining Case Studies
Want some proof?
We’re going to look at three methodologies:
- Smolov
- The Bulgarian System
- Decembulk
Smolov
I’ve known a few people who have tried Smolov. In a nutshell, you squat heavy four days per week for 12-13 weeks straight. I don’t know about you, but a heavy session of squatting gives me a headache. Imagine four in a week. That’s a lot of squat headaches. Hell, that’s a lot of squats.
Every person I’ve known who has tried Smolov has put at least 50lbs on their squat, and absolutely crushed their old numbers. People wouldn’t do this program if it didn’t work.
The Bulgarian System
The Bulgarian system is brutal. You lift 3 times per day, six days per week. The seventh day will consist of 1-2 workouts. Your intensity is always high – meaning you lift heavy all the freakin’ time. Rumour has it that this system was created by the Bulgarian Olympic weightlifting coach to stop his athletes from spending the whole day at the bar.
In history, Bulgaria has produced some amazing weightlifting champions. Recently, John Broz (in Las Vegas) has been using this system with his athletes. Every single athlete lifting out of Average Broz gym is a stud.
Decembulk
This is my little contribution. Last December, I released my Decembulk program. By the third week, you are lifting twice per day for six days straight. You then take the rest of December off to rest and relax. In one month, we noticed some spectacular mass gains with the test subjects. All subjects gained at least 4 lbs of muscle and lost the same amount of weight in fat, and increased their strength. The craziest body composition change was 12lbs of muscle gained and 17lbs of fat lost…in one freakin’ month.
What Can We Learn From This?
The body is capable of adapting to almost everything you throw at it. For example, look at garbage men or bricklayers. The first two weeks on the job is absolute hell. They literally lift all day, every day. Yet, they adapt. They don’t become overtrained. They don’t call into work every other day and tell their boss, “I don’t think I should come in today because I don’t want to get overtrained”. No, they suck it up, and they adapt.
When I was in highschool, I worked at a grocery store. The whole day I was standing. My first 8 hour shift, I thought I was going to die. I wanted to sit down so bad. I sucked it up, and I adapted.
The Art of Deload
Overtraining is hard to accomplish, but stress isn’t. Many people lose sleep because they’re constantly wired and attached to their cellphones. They lay in bed for hours, wishing they could fall asleep. It’s all because of stress.
Lifting hard and heavy day-in-and-day-out is stressful. This is where deloads come into play. In a nutshell, a deload is taking a few days off, or cutting back volume and only doing one to two sets with a heavier weight (my personal preference).
You see, stress is basically the evil nemesis of recovery. Too much stress hinders recovery. A deload every one to two months will allow your body to experience less stress, and in the end, recover very quickly. If you are training hard, this is where the magic happens. I’ve seen cases where guys have gained 2-4lbs over the course of a week deload. The magic wasn’t in the lifting program they did in that current week, it was the hard training they did the weeks before the deload, and then easing off so they could allow their body to recover and catch up, thus building tons of muscle and strength.
And who doesn’t want to build tons of muscle and strength?
Closing Out
If your goal is to build muscle, lose body fat, and get a six pack, then I highly suggest you start pushing yourself harder. If you’re a little confused as what you actually need to do then online coaching may be for you.
Most guys I work with were athletes when they were younger, but ended up losing their physiques after high-school when life really started. The annoying part is that with most guys, their confidence and success was ripped out from under their feet until they got back in shape, built muscle, and lost body fat.
The scary thing about getting back in shape is that most guys are afraid that they’ll have to sacrifice their lifestyle. It doesn’t have to be this way. The test subject that gained 12lbs of muscle and lost 17lbs of fat on Decembulk ate cupcakes every night. Another one of the test subjects ate pizza four times per week. The real truth is that when you’re working hard and doing the right things in the gym, your lifestyle doesn’t have to suffer. If you’re interested in online coaching, then send me an email on this page.
We value your privacy and would never spam you