How I’m Increasing My Workout Frequency Without Overtraining

How do I develop my workout frequency without over-training? I want to exercise more and would prefer to increase the number of days I spend training.

Articles in leading fitness magazines say it is better to train wiser as opposed to training longer. I find this useful fitness training information, as every time I blast my muscles to the limit my body takes longer to recover. It’s a vicious circle; the intensive training weakens my body, my workouts suffer, so the increased training is pointless.

However, the latest training news for weightlifters was encouraging. I should increase my workout frequency to pack on muscle, help speed fat loss and attain my fitness goal. I found this news interesting, as both my strength coach and fitness trainer recently recommended I did three complete body workouts a week.

My current training regime focuses on marathon training sessions for individual body parts, so why the sudden change in training? Prominent fitness trainer’s state three workouts incorporating fewer reps and total sets challenge your body sufficiently without leaving you exhausted.

I have now embarked on a new training regime that challenges every muscle group. However, I have had to create a workout routine that doesn’t run me into the ground.
I am mindful of these four issues in my new workout routine.

Protecting my joints

Body muscle is meant to be worked and in general, my body muscles recover fast. Connective tissue shouldn’t be overworked, as it takes longer to recover. If I perform an exercise that appears to impact on my joints I refrain from that particular training technique.

Avoiding Spinal Compression

The human body is clever; the natural healing system automatically rushes to heal newly damaged areas. I have increased my workout frequency, but I recently managed to compress my spine in a tough workout filled with heavy squats. Luckily, my body’s natural healing powers hurried to repair the damaged muscles before it dealt with my freshly trained muscles.

Despite this, the workout that compressed my spine took me longer to recover from.

Ditching squats exercise the entire body, but I find it easy to increase workout frequency without using weights equivalent to ninety percent of my maximum or above. I avoid trying to break weightlifting records; I choose a weight that allows me to perform six perfect reps in good time. My fitness instructor tells me you should never round your back during this exercise.

Learn to listen to Muscular Soreness

I definitely “feel” my muscles after increasing my workout frequency, but I don’t allow muscular soreness to creep in. I can work out regularly and train each muscle group more often without experiencing stiff, painful muscles.

I do a maximum of eight reps and avoid slow lowering movements. I am working out to my full potential, but I ensure my workouts are manageable.

For instance, weightlifters that do six to ten sets of between ten and twenty reps could be pushing themselves too hard. I find it is better to adjust your personal training frequency.

Keeping your Nerve

I have recently adjusted my workout frequency and I admit I am experiencing muscle soreness. I am aware my central nervous system has total control over my body and signals sent from my brain to my muscles tell me I’m tired.

I asked my fitness instructor to explain why this happens and this was his answer: You will have no energy and difficulty focusing if your neurotransmitters are tired. Your body is running in slow motion, your whole body feels stressed and a few aching muscles are the least of your worries.

I am not training to failure on each of my weightlifting sets; I am trying to keep my nervous system fresh. It doesn’t pay to get too excited before sets; I know it won’t make any significant difference to my weight lifting skills. A last bit of advice – Steer clear of lifting weights in one rep max.

So, how are you developing your workout frequency without over-training?