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Overdoing Weight Training
As a trainer, I am constantly trying to better myself, in all areas, and in everything that I do, but when it comes to bodybuilding it is my passion. In my humble opinion, I think it is impossible for a person to become a top trainer without firstly looking like one. To me it is like a bank robber telling another person, it is wrong to steal. To me he can't. For this reason, I am always trying to improve my body. Am I too big, am I too small, am I alright, can I get a little leaner, is my chest big enough, how can I get my legs bigger? These are questions that I am always asking myself.
With this tunnel vision, I trained myself, harder than I've train any clients, pushing myself to exhaustion. If the routine called for 8 sets, I would do nine, if it called for 9 reps, I would push myself to do 10. When the routine called for five days of working out, I would do six or even seven days of working out. Keeping in the back of my mind, never give up, never quit. By doing this, and eating right, I found myself gaining rock hard muscles like never before. Seeing the improvement that I made in such a short time pushed me into overdrive. When I wasn't training a client, I was training myself. Doing one more hack squat, one more cable row, one more upright row, constantly working a body part. Whiles saying to myself the more, the more reps and sets that I do, the more I will grow and the better I will look as a trainer.
Then a string of strange things started happening. First, I injured my shoulder, but this didn't stop me from training, then I started to loose sleep, this didn't stop me from training everyday either, then finally, I started to loose weight, and this is where the rubber met the road. Loosing weight for me, is not at all acceptable. I started to eat more, more carbs, more protein, more meals, but this didn't help. Then like a flash, going on in my head, "you are over training" this thought hit me like a Mac truck. Immediately, I took a week off, even though I didn't want to, but I said to myself, this is something that my body is craving and needs.
While I hate the fact, that I have lost hard earn muscles, I comfort myself, by saying I can help others avoid this pitfall of overtraining. Remember that God gave us only one body, and even though, I wasn't abusing my body by taking drugs or alcohol, I surley was abusing it my exercising too much. The phrase "too much of anything isn't good" applies. Avoid this mistake and never overstrain, but give your body all the rest that it needs to repair itself, from microscopic tear, and strain. By doing this your body will have the energy it needs to recover and grow. Until next time train hard, eat clean, have adequate rest, and live a happy life.
