First off, I know this sounds like a dumb question, but I’m hoping to generate some interesting discussion.
Curious about how trt can affect training. Can you get away with more intense workouts? In the past I’ve been prone to over training as my mind pushes harder than the body should. Things like getting sick, not being able to sleep, fatigue etc. Obviously connective tissue injuries are something that is more likely with more intense training.
Basically I want to push it even harder now but I keep holding back in fear of overtraining.
I’ve definitely had times pre trt when I’ve hit it too hard and with too many reps and sets and gotten sick, insomnia, extreme fatigue, anxious, depressed etc.
I guess it’d make sense that you actually could repair faster on trt, if the overtraining causes or is caused by a drop or unbalance of hormones, since the T is coming into your body regardless…?
@smoothest_criminal I don’t know where you and @xevox get your training guidelines from, but it is absolutely not recommended to overtain.
Overtraining, among other things, raises cortisol, thus lowering testosterone. It provides no added benefits and It breaks down muscle (catabolism) instead of building it. It is counterproductive and puts you at greater risk for injury, and negative effects, as you’ve related.
Overtraining has to do with how many sets you perform. From the NCSF guidelines, each training protocol has different set limits, e.g. strength training has a set limit of 24 sets, hypertrophy a limit of 40 sets.
With all due respect, both of you sound clueless when it comes to training. Do you get your training guidelines from blogs and forums?
To answer your question, I think it’s harder to overtain on TRT because you are exogenously raising your testosterone levels, but I still think it’s not recommended.
Why did you go on TRT to begin with? I have to wonder whether you were overtraining to the point of exhaustion and that caused high cortisol and low T.
If I were you, I’d structure workouts more carefully. Stick to a regimen and specific set limits. Recovery and repair are more important than the workouts.
Your objective is to stimulate the muscle, not kill it. I don’t picture you made great gains working out in the manner you have. If you have made gains, I’d say they’d be better if you followed a proper training regimen.
I was confused by this statement but I think I answered my own question.
My math was wrong. After recalculating, a 4 exercise routine at hypertorphy (8-10reps per set for 4 sets per exercise) would have to be run at least 2.5 times a week to reach a total of 40 sets. Completely doable if you are doing a ppl with a specific muscle group focus, but still not a normal routine though I wouldn’t think.
While some believe that overtraining doesn’t exist, and classify overtraining as under recovery (lacking nutrition and sleep), I believe overtraining certainly does occur. I think it is more common with strength sports and less common with bodybuilding.
Before doing HCG monotherapy, a hard training session would keep me up all night. I would try to relax and sleep, but it just was not possible. This would happen 1-2 nights per week. I would say my programming was pretty intelligent, and not some crazy routine, and it was pushing me to the point of overtraining.
Low testosterone will make sleeping after a hard workout much harder. Testosterone has a cortisol blunting effect, so working out does not stress the body as much when test is high.
A TRT dose if done correctly should get you to the top 1-5% of men, so you are only kinda at natty levels. Compared to having low test you should recover much better.
Overtraining is absolutely possible, even while on cycle let alone trt. Of course you can limit this bu eating and sleeping right but it’s not all about muscle recovery. The cns plays a big part in heavy lifting and also recovery.
You’ll notice when you are starting to push things too far, it’s whether you have the mental strength to reign it back a little when the weights are going up so easily
Not sure why/how you are jumping to these conclusions mate, I’m just asking a question. As said, in the past I have over trained (years ago when I didn’t know what I was doing. This is not something I want to do again, hence starting the discussion. I’m now training under the guidance of an exercise physiologist, but still concerned about pushing the intensity too hard.
This is the discussion I was hoping for! I do believe overtraining is very real.
That’s not a bad rule bud, but don’t panic too much if it goes over. My weights workouts tend to be 70 ish mins atm and then I’ve got some hiit after each wkout. Diet and rest along with decent hormone levels will mean you can push harder than some.
Keep an eye out for energy levels over time (as they will fluctuate day to day), niggly tweaks pulls and strains, mood, sleep, slight regression in the gym can be a sign too although you have to be aware that some days we are just slightly off!
If you are able to train at a high enough intensity you can’t do that week in week out without something saying ‘hang on a minite’. Be sure to factor in deloads and the occasional rest weekend or even week. Above all just be wise and listen to your body. A session when you should really rest is not worth a few weeks out because… (you guessed it, you should have rest ).
Training 17 years and I have never heard of that. I have been a T-Nation member for 14 years and have never come across that rule in any of their articles that I can remember.
