Dankid's Overtraining Experiment v1.0

Training Logs
1

Hey everyone, this is my first log on here so im kinda excited. To keep this short, basically what im trying to do is something a little more drastic then normal to bust through my stagnate gains and take my physique to the next level.

Since my newbie days, ive gained and maintained about 30lbs, but over the past couple of years, I have failed to put on any more. I tend to bulk up to around 190, but get a little pudgy, and then try to cut down and end up sub 180 and not that cut. Then the cycle repeats and I get nowhere.

My previous cut, I decided to follow a “better” diet and had very similar results. This was an awakening for me, and I came to a few conclusions that should help me with this experiment.

  1. I lose weight a heck of a lot easier than I can gain weight. My fast metabolism paired with my low appetite, makes it hard for me to maintain anything above 185.

  2. Even though maintaining weight is not easy, my body seems to give up muscle easily and hold onto fat. This is what I want to avoid obviously, and Ive stared to assume that the reason for this is im not placing enough demand on my body to maintain/build muscle overtime.

  3. My recovery ability is very good, and im just simply not training hard enough or frequent enough to illicit the changes I want.

My goal for this plan is to reach 200lbs. At first im not going to concerned with fat gain at all, im just shooting for 200. My previous highest weight has been 194.

The basics of the plan are this:

  1. A planned overreaching/overtraining period of 1-2 weeks, in which i train very hard with higher volume/frequency/intensity.

  2. No limits on foods during this period of time. Anything and everything should be eaten, with an emphasis on getting enough protein, and eating faster acting carbs before during and after the workouts.

  3. Then there is a recovery period of 1-2 weeks. This will be lower volume, lower frequency, lower intensity, but then the intensity will be build back up. During this period, if possible, i’ll try beat my previous RM’s so that on the next overtraining phase, i’ll be using more load for greater volumes

  4. During the recovery period, the diet will be a little more restricted, (mainly in carbohydrates) but continued weight gain will still be the goal.

2

So I started my overtraining phase on 2/27 and have done a few workouts. Here’s what I did.

2/27 (upper body)

*I did an EDT style workout, but didn’t count sets or record reps. Instead I just busted my ass for the 15 minute PR zones.

  1. Pullups (+12.5lbs) / DB tri-ext.(30’s) (15:00)

  2. Hammer strength press (160) / BB curl (50)
    (15:00:

  3. Inc. flys (27.5’s) / Face pulls (red tube)
    (15:00)

The workout went well, i was extremely sore in my biceps the next couple of days, but many of the exercises I needed to raise the weight.

3

3/1 (Lower body)

*So recently I had a minor back injury trying to do rack pulls in my gym (stupid gym doesn’t have a rack). So im probably not going to do any heavy leg exercises that require loading my spine during this first cycle. I still got a decent lower body workout though.

  1. DB reverse lunge (40’s) L/R (15:00)

  2. Leg ext (80) / Leg curl (80) (15:00)

  3. Leg press (360) / Seated calves (80) (15:00)

All in all it was a decent leg workout. The leg ext. and leg curls were crap. My gym doesn’t have good machines and these just felt oh so wrong, so I probably wont do them too much.

4

3/2 (upper body)

  1. Pullup (+30) / Db tri ext. (30’s) (15:00)

  2. Hammer press (180) / BB curls (60)(15:00)

  3. Shoulder press (40’s) / Face pull (blue) (15:00)

***All in all, it was a good workout. I did bottom partials on pullups to hit my lats a little more and then raised the weight on the curls to hit my biceps more. Still not really feeling it in my lats though.

I felt a lot stronger and more energized during this workout, which I wasn’t expecting, but im thinking that it wont be until the second week where I start to get overtrained.

5

That’s overtraining?

6

Yeah how is this overtraining ?

Are you hitting everything twice a week ?

7

Well, it hopefully will be overtraining after two weeks. Its a lot more volume than Im used to. The first week I’ll hit my upper body 3 times, and lower body 2 times. The second week, I may have to improvise. Im thinking Push/Pull/Lower, with push and pull twice, and lower 2-3 times. But the big difference so far is the number of sets im doing. Previously, I was doing 3-5 sets on average per exercise, most of the time being 3, and doing TBT with about 2 exercises per muscle. So in a workout i’d usually only get like 6 sets per muscle.

If you look at my workout from yesterday, here is what I did.

Pullups - about 10-12 sets
Tricep ext - 10-12 sets
Bench - 10-12 sets
Curls 10-12 sets
Face pull - 10-12 sets
Shoulder press - 10-12 sets

So for each muscle:

Lats/traps - (20-24 sets)
Chest - (10-12 sets)
Shoulders - (20-24 sets)
Tris - (30-36 sets)
Biceps - (30-36 sets)

Those are all just estimates, and keep in mind with EDT im starting with 5 reps per set with about an 8-10rm, but it was still really challenging.

But I agree, this wont lead to overtraining quickly, and thats part of this experiment. Overtraining isn’t the actual goal, but instead extreme workloads and progression are the goal. Week two is what im really counting on though to challenge myself intensly. Whether I end up doing two-a-days or 5-6 single sessions im not sure.

Im thinking of doing Poliquin’s superaccumulation program, or a modified GVT during this second week.

8

3/4 (lower)

A) 1-leg squat L/R (13:00)
B) Front squat (95) / Standing calves (195) (13:00)
C) Pull through (100) / Hanging leg raise (15:00)
D) Leg press 180 2x max reps

So it was a decent workout, still a bit too easy, but part of the problem is my back still cant handle heavy loading yet. I’ll just have to keep training around my weak back, and strengthen it with deadlifts on my next intensification phase.

The good news is that my weight is up to about 188 and im taking in huge amounts of calories and sleeping well. Ive got one more upper body workout for this week, and then on sunday the second week begins. Next week, im going to up frequency big time, by adding 2 a days on three days.

Ive been looking at poliquin’s “super accumulation program” and it looks great, but since my back isn’t doing too well, im going to modify it.

We’ll see how it goes.

9

Interesting…gotta agree though, the individual workout workloads don’t look very excessive, but perhaps the sheer frequency could lead to overtraining.

Good luck, watch your form. Little breakdowns in form become much more significant through all this repeated effort.

10

3/6 (upper)

A) Pullup (+50) / db Tri-ext (35’s) (15:00)
B) Inc. hammer press (140) / BB curl (65) (15:00)
C) Hammer press (180) / Lean-away pulldown (160) (15:00)

This workout had my arms screamin, and today i feel it a little in my upper and mid back, but I know i’ll need to hit rack pulls next week to fully hit it.

Second week starts on sunday, and im not exactly sure what im gonna do yet, but it will likely be 8-9 workouts in 5-6 days.

Also, i weighed in at 190 on this day, and that was after going to the bathroom twice.

11

WEEK 2 ((High frequency full body workouts))

3/8

A1) Pullup (BW+50) 7x3-5
A2) 1-leg box squat (BW+60) 7x5

B1) DB floor press (90’s) 7x5
B2) Front squat (135-185) 7x3-5

All in all a tough workout, and am starting to feel the fatigue accumulating.

12

3/9 (AM)

A1) Rack Pull (225) 8x8
A2) Hill “sprint” 8x30 sec

(PM - Full body)

A1) Pullup (BW) 5x8-12
A2) Hack squat machine (140) 5x8-12

B1) DB inc. bench (60’s) 5x8-12
B2) 1-leg deadlift (30) 5x12

C) Standing calves 4x15

The soreness is starting to catch up with me, and I still have 6 workouts to make it through in the next 4 days. Gonna keep doing similar movements, but my shoulders and arms can definately be hit a bit harder.

13

3/10

A1) 1-leg squat 4 x 18-22
A2) 1-arm DB row (25lb) 4 x 18-22

B1) Stability Ball squat 3 x 22-25
B2) Decline cable fly (90) 3 x 18-22

C1) Seated calf raise (70) 3 x 35
C2) Lean away lateral raise (12lb) 3 x 18-22

Very tough workout. The 1-leg squats were un-bearable. The burning in my feet, up my thigh and into my glutes was just torture, but im happy i made it through it.

***Also, on a side note, I weighed in at 194 so that made me especially happy.

5 more workouts to go for the week, and the cycle.

14

3/11 AM

Rack Pulls 8x4 (255)
Sprints 8x20 seconds

PM

A1)pullups
A2)1-leg squats (15:00 EDT circuit)

B1)Floor press 80-90’s
B2)Pull throughs (15:00 EDT)

C) Calves
D) Shoulder raises

15

So I finished the first phase on 3/13, and didn’t fill out my log for the last couple of days. These last 2-3 workouts were a little bit improvised, to really just fully fatigue me. All in all the first two weeks went well, I went from 183, to 195, and after a few days off, and a bit less carbs im now starting phase 2 at 193.

(PHASE 2)

So phase two is basically a recovery phase, with lower volume, in which i focus on increasing my strength. Ive decided to focus on strength of my traps, upper chest, shoulders and triceps during this two week phase. As for diet, i’ll be cutting back on carbs a bit to around 180, upping the protein and trying to stick with healthier fats. My goal is to maintain most of my weight during this phase, but i’ll be accepting at 3-5lb loss due to water/glycogen loss. Well, heres the first workout.

3/17

A)Incline Bench 2 sets (185/165)

***I warmed up to a 3rm, which was 185, then decreased the weight to 165 and did as many reps as I could on the seconds set.

B)Farmer’s walks (95lb dbs) 4x about 40 yards

C)DB floor tricep ext. 2 sets (45’s/30’s)

***For these I ramped up to a 3-5rm, then decreased the weight to 30’s and did a set of as many as I could on decline tricep ext.

d) Standing DB shoulder press 1 x AMRAP (30lb)

Pretty good workout, I think theres a few things i’d do next time, like include some sets of incline DB bench toward the end of my workout, and switch DB rows for farmer’s walks, but it was pretty good for my first workout.

16

3/18

Rack Pull

5x5 (375)

Hill Sprint

8 x 10 seconds (low hill)

17

3/19

A1) Db shoulder press (65’s) (5rm)
A2) DB Row (95) (5rm)

B1) DB tricep ext. (40’s) 5x5
B2) Barbell Curl (85) 5x5

C1) Pushups 3 x AMRAP (19,15,12)
C2) Facepull 3 x AMRAP (90lbs)

***Pushups- decline, flat, incline

3/20

Hill Sprints (steep hill) 8x12 seconds

18

3/22

A1) Rack Pull (375) 5x5
A2) Low-incline bench (75-80’s) 5x5

B1) Abs 4x10
B2) BB curls (70-80) 4x6

C1) Kroc db Rows (60) 3x18
C2) Db JM press (60) 3x18