How do you tell if you are undereating, or overworking yourself?

[Tack]

I don’t know my limits on anything. From my work life, to home life. This has translated to this non-stop effort to get in more sets. And since the recent meds my doc has put me on, my appetite has been suppressed to nothing. Either I have to keep myself to a schedule, or sometimes I will forget till I feel ill then go to eat.

I wouldn’t say this is a problem right now, as I have fat to lose, but when I don’t my body is just going to eat into my muscle gains if I don’t eat enough. How do I know if my calorie intake is correct? I don’t think I need to discuss decreasing, I need to figure out when to increase it.

The overworking part… do I really need to take rest days? It seems like there are so many studies to say rest days are beneficial, but there are plenty of bodybuilders out there, that workout every day, or only take a single day a week off.

 

[NeuroRN]

If you’re losing weight. You’re in a caloric deficit. Note your macro and caloric intake. Increase next week. Weight up or down? Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

 

[Kad1]

What @NeuroRN said and yes you need rest days but I doubt you are pushing to hard on training days. Have you thrown up training legs? If no, you are not training too hard.

 

[NeuroRN]

I was about 3 sec from puking during back today

 

[Tack]

Have you thrown up training legs?

I wish I had ways to better train my legs beyond squats. I’m waiting on an item to get shipped which should help that a lot more. Just it does feel like every day I can work out till my muscles just fail to lift anymore, then wait a few hours back to doing the same thing. But I have no concept of what “overdoing” it is until I hurt myself, so this is where I’m bluntly asking out of ignorance what is overdoing it?

I was about 3 sec from puking during back today

Getting sick from my cardio is not an uncommon thing for me, this is why I hate cardio.

 

[NeuroRN]

I wish I had ways to better train my legs beyond squats

Jump squats. Spilt squats. Lunges. Bridges. Calf raises. None of those require machines. And that’s not the point of @Kad1 question.

 

[Kad1]

Hurting yourself? What do you mean. If you have a barbell you can squat, lunge, step up, do hip Ext. Use high reps lower weight. If you squat hard enough you really don’t need much else

 

[NeuroRN]

I wasn’t doing cardio.

 

[Tack]

Sometimes, I’ll go in for just one more set, to have the next day having a strained muscle of sharp pains for the next 3 days. I wouldn’t say it’s something that happens that often, but I just never tell I’ve injured myself till like the next day. Maybe I’m just a beginner, and need to get used to things.

 

[Tack]

This 100% I will add to my list.

 

[Rusty]

How long have you been working out the same way? You gotta change it up every couple months or your body gets use to it. Like Arnold says. “My bicep doesn’t know what I am gonna do to him today. Then I shock him”.

A 55 year old body builder showed me a new chest exercise cause I told him I have a very hard time getting DOMS anymore. He said take two 20 pound dumbbells and push them together as hard as you can. Then slowly lower them to my chest and back up as I am not letting any tension off pushing them together. The key is how hard I push them together. I could only do 15 reps with 20s. On a normal dumbbell chest day I can do 15 reps with 85s. (Not pushing them together). I was sore after doing that twice. Just something my chest did not know was coming that day!! Gotta change it up brother. Lots of good stuff out there on you tube. Or watch Westside vs the world. How they use chains and bands. Good luck brother!!

 

[Dirtnasty]

It’s funny you have some people who swear you got to change it up then others that never do and constantly see progress. I like changing up accessories just to make the workouts a bit more fun but I thinks for progressive over load it would be a bit better to follow a more strict program as to see how I’m getting stronger in even my accessories

 

[NeuroRN]

If you feel as if you are injuring yourself from workouts. Find a program. Stick to set and rep counts. Be done and go home.

 

[Rusty]

Progressive loading works good for me. Add five pounds a week or even 2.5 if 5 is too mich to finish a set. I also have seen big gains from switching it up for a while also. I suppose it’s different for different people. A guy just has to find what works for him. For me I am not worried about heavy weights as much as I am muscle growth. Heavy weights seem to just set me back with injuries. I do love moving big weight though.

 

[Thunder]

I’m just curious is the medication that’s tanked your appetite for weight loss?

 

[NeuroRN]

DOMS doesn’t translate to adequate training. Don’t forget that.

 

[Rusty]

Yessir

 

[Tack]

Have you thrown up training legs?

Jump squats. Spilt squats. Lunges. Bridges. Calf raises. None of those require machines. And that’s not the point of @Kad1 question.

Great suggestion from both of you. I was missing out on leg workouts. Sorry, I was being dense to the situation, just needed some more time for my brain to figure out what y’all were getting at.

I think the ironic part of this whole topic, I can say I was crashing last night. And I’m taking today off because I just feel ill. Might increase my calorie count, admittedly after having the final tally for the week, I’m 1600 calories a day on average. I will leave some of my other thoughts in my log.

 

[Tack]

How long have you been working out the same way? You gotta change it up every couple months or your body gets use to it. Like Arnold says. “My bicep doesn’t know what I am gonna do to him today. Then I shock him”.

Such a great quote, it’s one of those things that pops in my mind once in a while when I need motivation. But I don’t think that is my current problem. I’m starting to gather I haven’t explored all my options when it comes to workouts, and I just need to give it more time to learn how my body works.

A 55 year old body builder showed me a new chest exercise cause I told him I have a very hard time getting DOMS anymore. He said take two 20 pound dumbbells and push them together as hard as you can.

Just thinking about it, and tensing those muscles, I feel more focused tension on the chest. I will be playing with this idea for sure.

 

[NeuroRN]

How tall are you? How much do you weigh? Are you trying to gain or lose?