Am I overtraining?

[Beatlesboy]

I'm a little confused about overtraining in general. I know a karate teacher that told me it's possible to lose 50 lbs of fat in a month. He said his dad lost 60 pounds in a month and a half doing 6 hours of cardio a day and one hour of weight lifting (he was teaching cardio kickboxing for those 6 hours). But then he also told me last summer that I should keep cardio to an hour a day to avoid atrophy.

Also, I watched an episode of the biggest loser online yesterday where the final 4 contestants (of the most recent season) went home for 30 days to lose weight on their own before returning for the last round of elimination. The 18 year old guy lost 10 pounds and he was not happy about it. Jillian also said "that's not that much weight lose for 30 days". I've personally lost 10 pounds in the past 30 days and am very happy about it. Losing 10 pounds in a month requires a lot of work and to be expected to lose a lot more than that would most likely require a program that many would label as a high risk of overtraining.

So here's my program that I've been following for the week. Do you think it risks overtraining? How can the biggest loser contestants train for 6-8 hours a day and not overtrain? Thanks in advanced.


Morning: 1 hour elliptical
Night: 30 minutes jogging on the treadmill
10 minutes stairmaster
20 minutes ski like elliptical machine (don't know the name)
30-45 minutes weight lifting

6 days a week, one rest day. Cardio is the same but weights are chest/tri on sunday and wednesday, back/bi on monday and thursday, legs and shoulders on tuesday and friday. Saturday is the rest day.

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In the middle of week one and plan on doing this for at least a month, maybe two months. Diet is in check: salads w/chicken, nuts, skim milk, yogart, turkey sandwiches, fruit, veggies, multi vitamin.

 

[KaraCooks]

Hoo, boy. I'm gonna take this one point by point.

I know a karate teacher that told me it's possible to lose 50 lbs of fat in a month.

Any person who claims to be a professional trainer/teacher/coach who tells someone this needs to be smacked in the head with a 2x4. That's not only not true for probably 99% of the population, that kind of rapid weight loss is dangerous. It's stupid. It's foolish. I have no patience for a so-called professional who says things like this.

Sure it's possible. And of course the people on the The Biggest Loser have that kind of dramatic weight loss. That's because they don't lead normal lives while they're losing. They don't hold jobs or live lives with their families or go to school or anything but focus 100% on losing weight. Even when they go home, they're expected do devote 8+ hours a day to their weight loss efforts. That doesn't make it safe and that doesn't make it feasible for the vast majority of people who want to lose weight.

How can they train so much and not overtrain? Well, first of all, they're under the direction of trainers. But even so, I believe that most of them do overtrain. If you look at the stats of previous contestants there is not a single contestant who hasn't gained weight back. Now many of them have then dropped the weight again or have stabilized at a weight above what they left with, but they all have gained back.

That said, keep in mind that professional athletes train for many hours a day, every day, for years and they're not necessarily "overtrained". Much about overtraining depends on each individual and your relative level of fitness.

Morning: 1 hour elliptical
Night: 30 minutes jogging on the treadmill
10 minutes stairmaster
20 minutes ski like elliptical machine (don't know the name)
30-45 minutes weight lifting

6 days a week, one rest day. Cardio is the same but weights are chest/tri on sunday and wednesday, back/bi on monday and thursday, legs and shoulders on tuesday and friday. Saturday is the rest day.

Do I think that's overtraining? I can't say for you for sure, but if you're looking at exercise for weightloss? I think it's excessive, yeah.

And if you're planning on continuing that level of exercise, I hope you're increasing your calorie intake appropriately, because you need to be able to support that exertion.

Losing weight isn't a speed game that you play by piling on the exercise.

 

[Beatlesboy]

Thanks for taking the time for the lengthy reply.

I realize weight loss isn't a speed game, I've averaged a little over a 1 pound loss per week for 2 years. I'm getting close to the finish line where results slow way down and diet and exercise need to be revamped for results. So long as I have the energy for the workouts I'm going to go for it. This largely stems from a personal trainer at my gym telling me it will take about 9 months to get to 10% BF (my goal) on my own, but he could "guarantee" 10% BF in 4.5 months (half the time) paying him thousands of dollars for his personal training. I think I can do it in 4.5 months.