Advice about training hard enough/overtraining

[Jarvis]

I am looking for a discussion from anyone who has experience with overtraining or has worked with someone that bordered on or achieved overtraining.
My basic question is: is it a good thing if I never achieve symptoms of overtraining in my life? Or should I work hard enough to find that point, with the long term result that I know my limits. In short, should you err on the side of caution?

This question arises from thinking a lot lately about the "less is more" philosophy balanced with the need for intense effort to make gains.

Please forgive the long-winded question, and I look forward to any insight more experienced folks could provide. I especially hope anyone that has overtrained could talk about what they learned from it, and what they would do different if they could go back (if anything). Thanks!

Jarvis

[santosa]

I've never over trained on weight lifting, but I have on basketball when I was in high school. The result was my body got weak for several days and I couldn't really focus on my study or everything else.

Should you try it... well... maybe if you have the time to spare to recover. But if you have to work or study everyday, maybe you should wait until vacation time. But again, do you want to waste your vacation time to try to recover from over training? It's up to you.

[Scrutiny]

Hi mate,

I believe when you feel the symptoms it is then too late.

You should not work hard to get to over-training, as that will only set you back from your goals. Over-training isn't pretty, the fact that you can be exposed to illness, tiredness and stalled results, plus even more.

If you plan your training to how your body responds, you shouldn't have much problem with overloading the muscles and seeing results without over-training.
When you have either too much volume / frequency / intensity for your body then you may run into some problems with over-training.

The best thing you can do is train using a sensible routine, and track how you feel, and look out for the symptoms.
I believe everybody has a different threshold with it, as everybodies bodies are different.
For example, a routine one person uses may be too much for another person.

And you are correct, Less is more when it comes to building muscle.
The Quality of a routine is far more important than the quantity.

These 2 articles have some more in-sight on overtraining.
Over-training, Why less is more

Over-training 101- What you need to know