New to working out and not sure ....

[jjldm321]

I currently work out five days a week: two days on, one day off. The workouts look like this:

Day 1 - 1.5 mile run, chest, triceps, core

Day 2 - 1.5 mile run, back, shoulders, biceps and legs

Day 3 - off

My friend recently gave a whole bunch of articles about overtraining. Apparently the big thing is 3 days a week of total body workouts. But I kind of like the setup I have. I feel fine (although I've only been working out for two months, so it might still be new), I'm not overly sore after workouts and technically each muscle group gets two days of rest before being worked out again.

So I have two questions: 1) am I overtraining, or in danger of overtraining? and 2) can someone who's been working out for a while critique my workout plan?

thanks

 

[DEF]

Your friend sounds way too worried about overtraining, in my opinion. Two on, one off is very common and it's not like all 5 days are leg days. If you start feeling the signs, then take another day off. 3 day full body workouts are great, but 4 and 5 day plans can work just as well.

 

[Goldfish]

I have to agree with the above advice.

As for critiquing your workout, it would probably be wise to do the running after the resistance training so that you're not fatigued by the time you start lifting. And I'd probably do legs on Day 1, core on Day 2. Since I don't know what exercises your using for each bodypart, I realise that this may mean you have to adjust other things to keep everything together (eg, Deadlifts are both a leg and back exercise, so if oyu're using them, it may be better to simply swap day 1 and 2). My concern is simply that if you exhaust your core one day then try doing anything like squats or deadlifts the next day, you won't be able to perform the exercise with anywhere near as much strength, and your technique might not be as good. Case in point, the other week I did a pilates session on Wednesday, then a strength session on Thursday, and my lifts were down about 10-15kg.