Manchester New Hampshire

Potentially one of the biggest reasons why you may not be seeing results from your workouts you should is due to overtraining. This is a problem that often hides in disguise because overtraining often comes about from too much effort, rather than not enough.

You get yourself into the gym, day after day, workout after workout; you think that should help your progress right? Unfortunately, this isn't always the case.

Overtraining is most commonly seen in those who are relatively new to working out and saw great results upon first starting. Their bodies were fresh and once they got onto a good program results happened almost overnight. This further just served to motivate them even more, leading them to push harder in the gym to hopefully see an increase in results over and above that that's already been seen.

The problem comes in though, when their bodies now start to develop an accumulation of fatigue and can no longer recover from all the workout stress they are placing upon their body. So, rather than building new muscle tissue each time they are in the gym, they are just further breaking down the tissue they have! That means a loss in muscle mass rather than a gain. Likely not something you were intending.

In order to prevent overtraining from setting in, your best bet is to have a look at your overall program and ensure you are getting enough total rest. This is the number one cause of overtraining in the first place, so taking measures to prevent it from ever starting is your best defense. Keep in mind too that total rest means more than just making sure you aren't working any particular muscle two days in a row. It encompasses total loading on the body, meaning that if you have three or more consecutive days of heavy workouts, you could be pushing it. Remember that every time you lift a weight, regardless of whether it's a bicep curl, a squat, or a bench press, you are placing an overloading stress on your CNS. So, while your muscles may recover day to day, your CNS won't, and CNS overtraining training is just as bad, if not worse, than muscular overtraining.

To incorporate this principle into your workouts, make sure you have at least one day of complete rest (aside from leisurely-paced recreational activities), as well as one other day dedicated just towards light cardio sessions. This should help give your body enough of a break that it needs to allow it to recover its reserves so it can continue to work hard for you.

To learn more about a program that will help to work with your body to build muscle, check this plan out.

Shannon Clark is a certified personal trainer, fitness writer, and co-author. She specializes in helping skinny guys build muscle and helping females get the lean, sexy body they crave. View more information here.