Monday AM: Shoulders and Abs; Monday PM: Off–>Overtrained
I managed to overtrain, again. I have gotten myself so sick that I had to leave work early. I hope this can serve as a wake up call to me and those who feel they have to approach contest prep in a particular way.
I can feel it and I know what it is. Last week was ski week and I was on vacation. While I believed that I had cut my workouts, I really hadn’t. Once I laid out what I had done on a paper calendar, I had done 10 training sessions, including cardio. That is way too much. I am paying, today. It is a struggle with both sides of the spectrum, I suppose. Some struggle to keep the momentum going and stay consistent. And some struggle to reduce the number of workouts and recover properly. I am the latter. As I continue to do research about figure prep and document my own experiences, there is a reoccurring theme–less is more. Diet continues to be the most important aspect of prep. And the desired competition leanness can be obtained with the optimal diet. The amount and type of training will vary. It seems like the competition doesn’t just happen on the stage, it’s in the prep. Who can withstand the most horrific prep and live to tell about it. I did double cardio the first time around and maybe it was tolerable because I had more bodyfat to lose and less muscle mass. All I know is that I could not, by any stretch of the imagination, train the same way today. I wouldn’t make it. When I look at my progress pictures for a few weeks ago, I got considerably lean after doing cardio twice a day 5-6 days per week. However, how would I look if I continued? Figure is about symmetry and a degree of muscularity, but it is also about radiating health. I seriously doubt that I would have been looking healthy or radiant, at all. I would have crawled on all fours to the center of the stage, done a series of rolls on the floor, coughed, and then crawled back to my place in the line-up.
I am entering another week of prep–beat up and tired. I relaxed my calories yesterday and today. I am taking Tuesday and Wednesday off for 48 hours of recovery. And once again, I have to re-evaluate what I am doing, honestly. It’s a vicious cycle. I rest. Get great lifts. Get super pumped up and want to do more. Then I end up training on too many consecutive days. This has been the pattern for the past three weeks and it’s got to stop.
Every prep has a lesson. And this is my lesson for this time around. The next competition will be another one. I do know that I do plan on taking most of 2010 off to train with optimum nutrition. I may put my Arnold Amateur aspirations on hold until 2011. I’ll do one national show next year with a specific goal as far as placing. But I am serious about the sport and I want to do well. I am willing to take the time to do that.
February 24, 2009 at 5:55 am
I learn so much from you. I have to really get into self talk on the nutritian and crack down. That is my biggest challenge. You have to write something on your experience. It is helpful.