Are there any good supplements to prevent over training, was thinking something like an adaptogen such as rhodiola?
A paraworkout nutrition protocol such as the in-development versions that Christian Thibaudeau described in his forum some while back, or the current Anaconda protocol, makes a lot of difference.
If not doing that, then plenty of food and not stinting on the carbs helps a lot, particularly with regard to post-workout meal. (With the above sort of protocol, it’s not necessary to eat so big after a workout.)
As you mentioned, rhodiola is of some value. So is holy basil, in my experience.
Alpha-GPC and/or Power Drive also assist in this.
Good and sufficient sleep really assists as well.
Pick one day a week. Don’t lift or do cardio that day. Bam, overtraining avoided.
For supplements, Surge Workout Fuel has worked great for me, never tested it with overtraining, but it did help recovery.
And I am one of those guys who believes you can always out-eat overtraining.
worry about overtraining when (read: if) you get there.
[quote]imagination wrote:
Are there any good supplements to prevent over training, was thinking something like an adaptogen such as rhodiola?[/quote]
Unless your going 7-14 days in a row without a rest day I don’t think this is something you need to worry about. I think it would be much more prudent to spend your money on supplements like fish oil or a multivitamin. If you are substituting the word over training for something else that you mean, than that’s a whole different story.
I was taking the OP’s meaning as being by the common vernacular, not the scientific meaning.
In other words, a degree of training resulting in jangly nerves and/or feeling exhausted, possibly an elevated morning heart rate: that sort of thing.
Sleep more or eat more.
Anytime I start dragging ass and my workouts are consistently not improving I do those and it clears up.
It’s pretty simple, dude.
[quote]Ghost22 wrote:
Sleep more or eat more.
Anytime I start dragging ass and my workouts are consistently not improving I do those and it clears up.
It’s pretty simple, dude. [/quote]
Agreed. “Overtraining” seems to have become the new buzz word for “fucking up”. If you are eating 1,000cals a day yet in the gym 2 hours at a stretch, you are FUCKING UP. You don’t get to call that “overtraining”.
If you are 15 years old, weigh 140lbs at average height (yeah, it sucks that I actually had to spell that out) yet are only eating chicken breasts and oatmeal while wondering why your huge biceps haven’t come in the mail yet, yep, FUCKING UP.
I have to agree.
Yeah, but there are extremely demanding things one can try that can be very productive for short periods of time which might drive one into the ground when simply eating as big as possible without ridiculously fast fat gain and getting plenty of sleep (or trying to, if nerves are jangled) but with some aids can go much better.
Very simply, how hard one can drive the nervous system is dependent on a number of factors, of which getting plenty to eat and having sufficient sleep are necessary factors, but not the entire repertoire with which one can increase what can be productively done.
All that is also not to say that bodybuilding gains cannot be had without driving the nervous system to such an extent – in fact, most gains are obtained that way.
And that being said, it’s also IMO the case that the great majority of those worried about “overtraining” aren’t close to having cause to worry about it.
But if someone has their eating and sleeping taken care of and either is feeling driven into the ground or would like to work yet somewhat harder and knows from experience that they would then feel driven into the ground, and wants to extend what they can do with supplementation, why not.