One of the common training errors the books lists is that people do not know their limits.I see great routines in Mens Health and do well for a week or so but get so tired and exhausted that I give up.What is wrong with me?
BJ, good evening and welcome to the DEC Forum. We are happy to have you here. With regard to your question, we want to begin by saying don’t be so hard on yourself. Overall a person’s rate of adaptation to training is limited and cannot be forced beyond his or her body’s capacity for development. Unfortunately each individual responds differently to the same training stress, so what might be excessive training for one person might be well below the capacity of another. For this reason, it is important that individual differences be recognized and accounted for when designing training programs. Although the volume of work performed in training is an important stimulus for physical conditioning, it can be overdone, leading to problems of chronic fatigue, illness, overtraining syndrome, or performance decrements. As a general rule, 1 or 2 days of intense training should be followed by an equal number of easy aerobic training days. Repeated days of hard training cause a gradual reduction of muscle glycogen. In contrast, proper rest and reductions in the training volume can enhance performance. The best way to minimize the risk of overtraining is to follow cyclic training procedures, alternating easy, moderate, and hard periods of training: also known as periodization.
We hope this helps. Take care and have a great night.