Only the Strong Shall Survive
You Gotta
Overtrain
If You Want Big Gains
by Bill Starr - Photography by Michael Neveux
vertraining is typically taboo in strength- bers up until you move into a state of overtraining
training and bodybuilding circles. When and then pull back. Experience will help you rec-
athletes are overtrained, all progress grinds ognize when you re doing too much, as opposed to
to a halt and they re much more suscep- other factors that might be influencing your training.
tible to injury. If their program consists of Many athletes believe that they re overtrained
O
several high-skill movements, such as full when they re not. They re simply tired because they re
snatches or cleans, their form suffers. Pushing the not getting the rest they need. That occurs during
body beyond its limits for an extended period can midterms and finals at every college. Tiredness must
also lead to many kinds of illnesses. be dealt with, of course, although not in the same
So why do I say that you gotta overtrain? Insanity manner as you d deal with genuine overtraining. For
in my family history? The fact is, if you re trying to get example, with tired athletes you can simply shift them
stronger, you must extend your workload and inten- to a less demanding workout on the days they are
sity. If you always remain in a comfortable range, you dragging or drop all auxiliary exercises for those ses-
may never overtrain, but you won t gain any signifi- sions.
cant strength either. Along the same lines, being stale is also not the
The only way to make your muscles and corre- same as being overtrained. Those who do the same
sponding attachments the tendons and ligaments routine and use the same poundages month after
stronger is to work them harder than before. In other month fall into that category. They lack enthusiasm
words, you only gain strength when you push your for their programs and gain very little benefit from the
body beyond normal limits. That s how Lance Arm- time spent in the weight room, not because they re
strong and Michael Phelps are able to perform at doing too much work but because they re bored with
such superhuman levels. They can handle more work their routines. The obvious remedy to that situation is
than their opponents. And that s what makes superior some type of change.
strength athletes the ability to do more and more in Another point: Having a couple of crappy sessions
the weight room and recover from the effort. Recover back to back doesn t necessarily mean that you re
is the key word there. Unless you can recover suf- overtrained. There may be other factors influencing
ficiently from your workouts, you ll fall into the trap your training, such as drastic shifts in the weather,
called overtraining. low biorhythms or undue stress. Very few things affect
The point here is that it s okay to be overtrained for athletic performance as much as worrying about a
a short period. The only real way for you to know that personal problem.
you re doing too much is to push into uncharted ter- One of my hardest-working football players at Hop-
ritory. Otherwise, it s just guesswork. That s my reason kins started regressing on all of his lifts, and his form
for telling you to overtrain. went from near perfect to terrible. I asked him if he
The trick to making the process work is to expand was getting enough rest and eating right. He assured
your workload continually, push the top-end num- me he was but elaborated no further. From his som-
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Model: Lee Priest
Only the Strong Shall Survive
 How can I tell for sure
whether I m overtrained
or just in a temporary
rut? When I was train-
ing at York Barbell Club,
I learned from a contact
I had in the USSR that
the European weight-
lifters were having
their blood tested after
each day of training to
help determine if they
were overworking. The
test was primarily to
show if the lactic acid
produced during the
workout or, in some
cases, workouts was
being dispelled or was
building up in the body.
If it was accumulating,
changes were made and
the workload lowered to
prevent overtraining.
Since no one I know
has the capacity to test
his or her blood after
a workout, we have to
resort to less-scientific
methods to determine
whether we might be
ber mood it was clear that some- doing a tad too much.
thing was amiss that he didn t want The signs I believe to be valid in-
to talk about, so I went to the team clude inability to rest properly, loss
captain to find out what was going of appetite, lack of energy and a
sudden emergence of joint pain.
Other signs occur when athletes re-
For me the very best main sore after a workout for much
longer than normal or are unusu-
indicator that I m
ally grouchy. Yes, I know that some
people are always grouchy, but note
doing too much for
that I said unusually so.
certain muscles is
For me the very best indicator
that I m doing too much for certain
joint pain.
muscles is joint pain, particularly
in my upper body, which can t take
nearly as much work as my back
on.  His mother s dying of cancer, and legs. Whenever I get overly
I was told. I had recently lost my ambitious or start experimenting, I
mother and understood the toll it end up overworking my shoulders
takes on mind and body, especially or arms. Those two muscle groups
in a young man. Knowing that ex- report in quickly, and should I be
ercise was excellent therapy during foolish and ignore the first warn-
such a stressful time, I gave him a ing signs, I m set straight during or
new program. It still required him immediately after my next session.
to work diligently but not with Then I m forced to alter my pro-
heavy weights and I eliminated all gram drastically. Had I been smart
complicated movements. His train- enough to pull back when the pain
ing began to improve once again. in my elbows started, I d have been
It wasn t his physical plant that was way ahead. Instead, it takes me
overtrained; it was his mental one, three to four weeks to regain my
and the result was the same. former level of strength due to a
The question often comes up: setback.
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Model: Jammo Nezzar
Only the Strong Shall Survive Only the Strong Shall Survive
a r m s and thicker chests. That what you re doing for the three
f r e - quently results in those main parts of your body: shoulder
bodyparts becom- girdle, back and hips and legs That s
i n g overtrained. Their legs one of the reasons I encourage my
and back may be fine, athletes to keep a written record of
however, and they can what they re doing each day in the
continue to hit them gym. The numbers don t lie. If you
hard while making the don t have any hard numbers to
necessary adjustments look at and rely solely on memory,
to their upper-body you re flying blind.
routine. Recently, an older athlete wrote
If you re easing up to me asking if I could look over his
on your upper body, program. He believed he needed
you can spend more to make some changes because he
energy on other bodyp- had chronic pain in his right shoul-
arts, especially those der and both elbows. It had gotten
that are relatively weak. so bad that he d resorted to getting
It s a perfect way to cortisone shots. The trouble was,
turn a potential nega- they only helped for a short time.
tive into a positive. I ve Despite the pain, though, he was
known some who determined to keep training.
stopped training alto- He was my kind of guy, so I ex-
gether because their amined his workout. It only took a
shoulders and elbows quick glance for me to understand
were aching due to all why his shoulder and elbows hurt,
the pressing and spe- but I waited until I did the math
cialized triceps work before being certain of my conclu-
they d been doing. The sions. I found two reasons for his
result was that they lost aches: He was doing more work for
all of their hard-earned his upper body than he was for his
gains. They missed a legs and back combined, and he
golden opportunity to was using French presses, a snappy
spend that time im- triceps movement that s traumatic
proving strength in to the elbows and, consequently, is
other areas. It s no one of my taboo exercises.
different from the I wrote to him and suggested that
Don t miss workouts
strategy of continuing he eliminate French presses forever
because of injury.
to train while injured. and do only one primary and one
Working your lower auxiliary exercise for his upper
back and legs while body at each workout for the next
you re mending from three or four weeks. That should his surprise and delight, he d in- to the new stress. Any overzealous
a shoulder injury will allow enough time for the shoulder creased his bench and incline by pursuit of making fast gains invari-
pay huge dividends in and elbows to heal, I said. I also told five pounds each. Now he wanted ably leads to overtraining and
the long run. What you him I thought it would be helpful to know how to improve his upper- the older you are, the truer that
do during those trying to add more exercises for his upper body workload again without run- is. Many younger athletes can get
periods says a great back and rear delts. I recommended ning into trouble.
deal about your overall bent-over rows with dumbbells, I advised him to stick with his
motivation. high pulls and shrugs. I explained current routine for another few
Keep in mind that the various bodyp- What mileage is to
Keep in mind that that the traps and rear delts played weeks to, keep accurate records so
arts handle stress in different ways.
runners, workload
the various bodyparts an important role in every exercise he could determine exactly how
handle stress in differ- that involves the shoulders, which, much total work he was doing and
is to weight lifters.
As I mentioned, it s permissible trainees do far too much for their ent ways, and it var- of course, includes all pressing then to increase it by only 10 per-
Both have to be
to overtrain a muscle or an area of upper bodies in the quest for bigger ies from individual to individual. movements. cent a month after that. I ve re-
your body, but you absolutely must That s the reason you should never A month later I received another ceived no response yet, but no news
increased slowly.
not continue to do that when it s compare yourself to your train- message from him, and he was is usually good news in regards to
Just because one
clear that you re doing more harm ing partner just because you re the quite happy with the way things training letters.
than good. That brings me to a same age and size. I ve always been were going. He agreed that the Those who read my articles know
bodypart is suffering
point about overtraining that many able to abuse my back and see it French presses had been the cause that I took the 10 percent a month away with doing too much too fast,
are unaware of. Just because one respond to the work, but when I of his elbow distress and that the idea from distance runners. What but in the end they ll pay the same
from being overworked
bodypart is suffering from being attempt to do a similar amount of combination of doing less upper- mileage is to runners, workload is price as their older counterparts.
doesn t mean you re
overworked doesn t mean you re work with my legs or upper body, I body work and adding those upper to weight lifters. Both have to be So what s the best way to edge
overtrained. There s such a thing as run into trouble. back and rear-delt exercises took increased slowly so that the body up the workload without getting
overtrained.
localized overtraining. Most weight The key is to pay attention to care of his aching shoulder. To has ample opportunity to adapt stuck in an overtrained state for
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You Gotta Overtrain
Neveux / Model: Humberto Morandell / Markus Reindhart
Model: Mike Morris \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells, 1-800-447-0008
You Gotta Overtrain
Only the Strong Shall Survive
Overtraining is a neces-
sity and is only detri-
mental when you fail
to recognize it and con-
tinue to pound away.
an extended period? One method other area. That s what most of the often. Otherwise they won t remain
I ve found to be effective for almost Olympic lifters at York did when I at that same strength level but will
everyone at any strength level is trained there. They d concentrate fall back.
to follow an extremely heavy week on the weakest of the three con- The bottom line is that there s
with a lighter one. Overtrain for no way to know if you re working a
a week, and then pull back. I ve certain muscle group or your entire
In order to get
known a few trainees who kept body too hard unless you actually
close track of their workouts and do so. Overtraining is a necessity
stronger, you have to
who extended that concept to and is only detrimental when you
heavy week, light week and then fail to recognize that you ve really
increase the amount
medium week. It s not that the reached that state and continue to
exercises you perform in the lighter of physical work you pound away.
weeks are less demanding; it s that That means you have to listen to
do. It s a physical law.
the poundages used are consider- your body. It s trite but true. If your
ably lighter and your body can body is sending clear signals that
recuperate much more easily than you re working it too hard, make
with the heavier loads. tested lifts at that time, the press, adjustments. Otherwise, you ll pay
As an example, do push-presses snatch or clean and jerk for a the price for your neglect. When
in your heavy week and the follow- period of time while trying to hold you re in the process of running up
ing week substitute military presses their strength levels on the other your workload, you can help your
or dumbbell presses. Another two. Once that weaker lift had im- cause by making sure you eat plen-
example: do deadlifts during your proved, they moved on to the one ty of protein, take extra vitamins
heavy week, bent-over rows dur- that needed more attention and in and minerals and get the rest you
ing your light week and so on. In that manner made consistent gains need. Those things will aid in the
addition, during the lighter week on all their lifts, which meant they recovery process so you ll be ready
you may want to drop one or two improved their totals, the most im- for the next session in the weight
auxiliary movements, especially if portant number of all in that sport. room. The rewards are well worth
you feel the groups they hit are a bit In order to get stronger, you have the effort.
overtrained. to increase the amount of physi-
I ve also had athletes who chart- cal work you do. That s true from Editor s note: Bill Starr was a
ed the workload for each of the infancy to old age. It s a physical strength and conditioning coach
three major groups. They d run up law that no one has ever found a at Johns Hopkins University from
the load on only one of them the way around. Even those who tell me 1989 to 2000. He s the author of The
shoulder girdle, back or hips and that they re only interested in main- Strongest Shall Survive and Defying
legs for two or three weeks, then taining the strength they now have Gravity. IM
shift the primary emphasis to an- still have to work harder every so
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You Gotta Overtrain