The Adonis Index workout program doesn’t look like most weight training programs. One of the things that seems to catch peoples eye is the breakdown of the daily workouts. It seems that many people think it might be too much, or maybe too often.

So I often get questions about overtraining, and if this program somehow will lead you to overtraining. This however raises a much bigger question, and that is “what is overtraining”.

Overtraining is actually poorly defined in the scientific literature. It seems to be a state of exhaustion that combines a feeling of fatigue, general weakness, sometimes even getting sick flu like symptoms, and an inability to perform exercise or physical activity at your previous level.

I guess the simple description would be feeling exhausted, tired, sore, restless and under the weather.

So how much exercise will get you to this point? The short answer: A LOT!

In most cases overtraining is only seen in elite level athletes who are training at the very peak of their physical ability. To actually get into this state of overtraining you would have to be doing maximum levels of intensity, frequency and volume.

In other words, working out 6-7 days per week, 1.5-2.5 hours per day, and pushing at world class intensity.

Unless this is a good description of your weekly workout schedule, you’re most likely never going to experience true over training.

What most people call ‘overtraining’ is simply ‘Underconditioning’.

Underconditioning is the simple matter of trying to do more exercise than your body can currently handle. For example if you just started weight training today, almost any amount of lifting will make you very sore. And you will most likely not be able to push very heavy weights yet.

This doesn’t mean you’re over training if you try to do more work, it just means that you’re not accustomed to it yet. As you build up your strength, power and endurance you will be able to handle more and more weight, sets, reps and intensity.

2 workouts per week, will soon become 3, and then 4 per week. 35 minute workouts can be extended to 45 and eventually 60 minutes and longer.

Working out multiple days per week on the same muscle groups will not cause over training. But if you’ve never done it before you’ll have to ease your way into it. This means starting with less sets and lighter weight at the beginning, and then adding sets, reps and intensity over time.

This is how true progress is made.

John

P.S. The Adonis Index workout system is designed in a way unlike most other programs, but that is also why it is so effective. Check it out here:  Adonis Effect Workout

For some reason people continually try to make the answer to most of life’s questions incredibly complex and painfully difficult to understand. In reality the answer is usually very straight forward and logical as long as you have all or most of the known facts surrounding your question. There is a simple principle called Occam’s Razor that you should use as your guide to tell if the answer someone is giving you is a load of BS or not.

Occam’s Razor is a principle that states:

“The explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory.” (Wikipedia)

This gets simplified to the statement “all other things being equal, the simplest solution is probably the best”.

Let’s apply Occam’s Razor to the very simple question: “How do I lose weight?”

Based on the principle of Occam’s Razor the answer must be: “Eat Less”

This answer requires the fewest other assumptions to be true. Even though you can add exercise to help aid in weight loss it is not REQUIRED. Therefore based on Occam’s Razor “Eat Less” is the simplest and the correct answer.

Let’s try another question: “How do I lose body fat only?”

Answer: “Eat less and workout with weights”

There is a second level of complexity here because although eating less will assuredly help you lose bodyweight, over time it can also contribute to some muscle loss if you are not working out. Therefore one extra assumption has to be made here about working out to maintain muscle mass.

In the fitness and nutrition industry the answers to these simple questions gets far too complicated, when in reality the solutions are straight forward. Useless unnecessary information can only bog your life down instead of streamlining it for greater success.

With that said you can save yourself a lot of time and effort by deferring to experts for the answers to any question you have (that you aren’t already an expert in). After all you cannot be an expert in everything.

Instead you should become an expert at finding experts. This way you will have the best chance at getting the right answer to any question in the least amount of time possible.