Is my workout out too much?

[RobertG]

I have been working out for a month now and I feel like nothing happened.

I read that overexercising can actually impede you from build mass and getting toned.

Here's my schedule:

Monday through Saturday (keep in mind I do all these things every day.)

Bench press (12 reps 3 sets)
Bicep curls (12/3)
Tricep kickback (12/3)
Standing alternate bicep curls (12/3)
Shoulder press (12/3)
Tricep extensions (12/3)
& a lot more back exercises. (12/3)
Some ab exercise too

Cardio: 30 mins stationary bike and 20 min jogging or free biking.

I drink about 3 protein shakes a day if not more and I try eating lots of protein (meat eggs..)

As you can probably tell,
i have aches every morning but I cope very well.


What I need from you guys who have done this for awhile now is your thoughts on how I could drastically improve my schedule. A lot of people tell me I over train.

Or maybe just tell me your schedule so I can maybe take example on you guys.

 

[theartofphysicalfitness]

RobertG,

First off, training for physical fitness is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't expect overnight success.

Secondly, what are you exact goals.

Lastly, do you have some type of disability preventing you from training your lower body?

Best wishes and I will talk to you soon,

Kyle Bohannon, The Art of Physical Fitness

 

[fazahcrahn]

You are definitely overtraining and I would recommend you take a few days off entirely, preferably a week. Your muscles get bigger and stronger in the time you're resting. You aren't giving your body sufficient amounts of rest, so not only will you not gain muscle, you'll screw up your central nervous system and be at a very high risk of injuries. It might suck to take a break and start back at square one but an injury can put you out of the gym for months and even permanently. Bodybuilding is a lifestyle, not a quick fix, so don't take shortcuts and you'll reap the rewards in the long run.

You should only be working out 3 times a week. Your routine is actually not a bad beginner upper body workout, but you should be doing it only twice a week to begin with. You should then include a leg routine for your third day-- do not ignore your legs as your figure will look weird and the squat is an excellent full body exercise.

So Monday and Thursday do your upper body workout, hit legs on Saturday or Sunday, then repeat for a few months to adapt to lifting both physically and mentally. Make sure your nutrition is in check ( don't have protein shakes in place of meals, they are called supplements for a reason), hit your macros and see the gainz!

 

[Jrahien]

I wouldn't say that you should only work out 3 times per week, but you definitely shouldn't be doing the same workout every day. You're not going to see much gain from your routine because you are giving your muscles absolutely no time to recover and build up. After training a given muscle group, you should be giving it 24-48 hours to rest, and then you'll start seeing results. That being said, then yes, if you stick to THAT workout only, then 3 times per week would be good, with a day in between each.

The other option is the actual healthy one, which involves training parts of your body other than just your arms and abs. If you stick to just those exercises, then you're going to end up with crazy muscle imbalances, detrimental body composition, and, in layman's terms, end up with "chicken legs". So it's fine to do that workout 2-3 times per week, but you should do different routines in between each.

Oh yeah, and massively consuming protein drinks is only going to waste your money. People think that tons of protein is the easy secret to building muscle, but you need to keep in mind that your body is only able to use a certain amount before it stores the rest as fat or excretes it in your urine. The proper amount of protein intake per day to receive is about 2g of protein per kilogram of your bodyweight. (So if you weigh 60kg, for instance, you should intake about 120g of protein.) I'm pretty sure that you're overshooting it by quite a bit, and it's causing you to just literally piss away money, as well as possibly backing up your GI tract.