Help me understand something about 'overtraining"

[bignripped]

Ok, for a person who is natural, I see post after post, article after article about spending too much time in the gym, not having enough rest between workouts, etc, etc can hinder gains. I get it, it makes sense. So please explain this to me:

A few weeks ago at school, in the dorm a few doors down is a member of the mens gymnastics team. This dude is completely shredded, has shoulders, traps and arms that anyone here would kill for. His buddies are all the same way, they arent very tall, but they arent skinny either, just thick and ripped.

I started asking him about weightlifting and I learned that he nor any of his friends lift weights of any kind. They all pretty much explained they have been doing gymnastics since they were 10 and practicing 5 days a week of standing on your arms, lifting your own bodyweight, pulling yourself up on rings, balancing yourself on your arms, etc, etc, etc.

sounds like the dreaded 'overtraining' no? also, i dont need to say this, but they are clean, no juicing. some may say genetics come into play and I dont mean to be offensive, but one of the gymnasts is an indian dude and the other is chinese, both huge, shredded, shoulders, traps and arms.

how come they arent affected by 'overtraining'?

 

[UGAthlete]

Ok, for a person who is natural, I see post after post, article after article about spending too much time in the gym, not having enough rest between workouts, etc, etc can hinder gains. I get it, it makes sense. So please explain this to me:

A few weeks ago at school, in the dorm a few doors down is a member of the mens gymnastics team. This dude is completely shredded, has shoulders, traps and arms that anyone here would kill for. His buddies are all the same way, they arent very tall, but they arent skinny either, just thick and ripped.

I started asking him about weightlifting and I learned that he nor any of his friends lift weights of any kind. They all pretty much explained they have been doing gymnastics since they were 10 and practicing 5 days a week of standing on your arms, lifting your own bodyweight, pulling yourself up on rings, balancing yourself on your arms, etc, etc, etc.

sounds like the dreaded 'overtraining' no? also, i dont need to say this, but they are clean, no juicing. some may say genetics come into play and I dont mean to be offensive, but one of the gymnasts is an indian dude and the other is chinese, both huge, shredded, shoulders, traps and arms.

how come they arent affected by 'overtraining'?

This is just an observation and opinion with no scientific fact but I'd guess that it has something to do with them not using heavy weights, or any weights for that matter - just body weight.

 

[Tom]

for one thing

they don't exceed bodyweight as resistance. i would bet despite the muscle they carry not one of them is much above 180 lbs.

 

[Ruhlfreak55]

Ok, for a person who is natural, I see post after post, article after article about spending too much time in the gym, not having enough rest between workouts, etc, etc can hinder gains. I get it, it makes sense. So please explain this to me:

A few weeks ago at school, in the dorm a few doors down is a member of the mens gymnastics team. This dude is completely shredded, has shoulders, traps and arms that anyone here would kill for. His buddies are all the same way, they arent very tall, but they arent skinny either, just thick and ripped.

I started asking him about weightlifting and I learned that he nor any of his friends lift weights of any kind. They all pretty much explained they have been doing gymnastics since they were 10 and practicing 5 days a week of standing on your arms, lifting your own bodyweight, pulling yourself up on rings, balancing yourself on your arms, etc, etc, etc.

sounds like the dreaded 'overtraining' no? also, i dont need to say this, but they are clean, no juicing. some may say genetics come into play and I dont mean to be offensive, but one of the gymnasts is an indian dude and the other is chinese, both huge, shredded, shoulders, traps and arms.

how come they arent affected by 'overtraining'?

ummm that's a lie....in most college sports they throw them at the guys. I know more than a couple guys personally that were told if they wanted to play then they should use *insert gear here*

 

[concreteguy]

This is just an observation and opinion with no scientific fact but I'd guess that it has something to do with them not using heavy weights, or any weights for that matter - just body weight.

The answer is in his post. The body becomes it's duty. It has grown and developed based on what they are asking of it. I have made this point over and over. And yes you have to have proper diet also.

 

[bignripped]

they don't exceed bodyweight as resistance. i would bet despite the muscle they carry not one of them is much above 180 lbs.

so because they dont exceed their bodyweight as resistance, they are not overtraining?

also you are right they dont exceed 180 pounds, but they also are not very tall. but if you saw them, not a single person here would say they are 'small'. I know bodybuilding is about aesthetics and not really how strong you are, well these dudes have got the aesthetics down. V shaped taper, broad round shoulders, striations like crazy. Killer trap-delt separation.

 

[jalsmiley]

so because they dont exceed their bodyweight as resistance, they are not overtraining?

also you are right they dont exceed 180 pounds, but they also are not very tall. but if you saw them, not a single person here would say they are 'small'. I know bodybuilding is about aesthetics and not really how strong you are, well these dudes have got the aesthetics down. V shaped taper, broad round shoulders, striations like crazy. Killer trap-delt separation.

i bet they are even lighter then 180...and yes, that is teh reason...think of it as benching 150lb all the time...never going up in weight...how much are you going to damage your muscles not increasing the weights and putting more and more stress on them...not much...so not much recovery needed, aslo, i bet there is a big difference in the density of muscles and some other physiological aspects of their bodies too that develops because of this certain type of training they do. all athletes have a certain body type because of their sport specific training

 

[Gutz4glory]

Most athletes will take time off to let their bodies rest. Its not like they train 5days a wk every week forever either.

 

[teslacsten]

You said they have also been doing it consistently since they were 10 or younger. That doesn't hurt

 

[pesty4077]

Famous quote from Arnold "There is no such thing as overtraining, it is under sleeping and under eating" You take it from there.

 

[waynaferd]

i bet they are even lighter then 180...and yes, that is teh reason...think of it as benching 150lb all the time...never going up in weight...how much are you going to damage your muscles not increasing the weights and putting more and more stress on them...not much...so not much recovery needed, aslo, i bet there is a big difference in the density of muscles and some other physiological aspects of their bodies too that develops because of this certain type of training they do. all athletes have a certain body type because of their sport specific training

^^^^^Yeah, what he said!!!^^^^^


They stay at the same intensity I'm sure, doing their routines, probably have a pretty set diet, etc....

 

[duke123]

the other fact is they will not continue to get bigger like we do as bodybuilders.There body has adaptedt to the amount and style of there training by building enough muscle for the job at hand.For them that is gymnastics.

 

[Jarconis]

its easy to be huge and ripped when you are 5'4 hehehe

 

[fury-]

Yes they can overtrain, i think u said it in your post about them training since they were 10... Charles Poliquin has mentioned things like this, clearly they did not train 5 days a week at 10, actually the ones that started at age 5 probably did if they were high caliber. And clearly they have built a tolerance for the volume over time...

most of these guys are probably less than 165 but u would have to be shitting me if u think oh they only move body weight so it isnt as likely to lead to overtraining. I do not think u realize the level of effort the moves take, even at elite level try holding an iron cross over and over practicing a routine the amount of tension u are creating is insane...

juice...meh, check this guys sight out chris sommers **broken link removed**
he trains elite level guys and if u ever try the simplist of moves u will fatigue so fast, that is why i was so impressed with kai greene's arnold posing, the way he could hold his body inverted and smoothly move was awesome and would take tons of muscular effort.
my .02

 

[builder]

Famous quote from Arnold "There is no such thing as overtraining, it is under sleeping and under eating" You take it from there.

+1

 

[maldorf]

The answer is in his post. The body becomes it's duty. It has grown and developed based on what they are asking of it. I have made this point over and over. And yes you have to have proper diet also.

Exactly. I just thought of a classic scene in Conan The Barbarian. Its that scene of him as a boy pushing that big turnstyle around and around for many years. Over that time he grew stronger because his day to day existence depended on it. As the other boys died he took over their workload and grew more as he was having to do move a heavier load. I doubt hed get as big as Arnold was doing just that, but you could bet he would be built well.
Like others have said here, the load or resistance they are lifting is capped at their bodyweight. Because of this limit, the intensity cannot get too high. THey are able to exercise for many hours because of this. Their muscle growth thouhg is going to be limited though since they cannot increase the load they lift.

 

[maldorf]

Famous quote from Arnold "There is no such thing as overtraining, it is under sleeping and under eating" You take it from there.

I used to think that too, but discovered different after many years of training. If you train for too long and too intense, no amount of food/nutrition and sleep is going to heal you enough for your next training session.

 

[maldorf]

the other fact is they will not continue to get bigger like we do as bodybuilders.There body has adaptedt to the amount and style of there training by building enough muscle for the job at hand.For them that is gymnastics.

Right on.

 

[BigJB]

"They're on a gram of test a week at LEAST, because they have muscle definition and some size, no question about it." - average response to a thread here.

 

[maldorf]

"They're on a gram of test a week at LEAST, because they have muscle definition and some size, no question about it." - average response to a thread here.

Yeah, we all know that using a decent sized dose of AAS is the answer.