If you are new to exercising and muscle building, chances are you may hurt yourself by over training. Working out to build your muscles slowly and steadily gives the best results. However, over doing your exercises can be damaging to your health and body. When exercising with high intensity, as is the case when you are muscle building, you will reach a point when your body will begin to stop responding to your commands. Depending on an individual’s body, fitness level, intensity as well as frequency of the workout, etc you can reach this time after only a few weeks of training or after several weeks. So, if you feel more worn out rather than well-worked out, it’s possible that you are over training. 

Learn The Signs Of Over Training
Our body has its own radar system and it tends to give out warning signals periodically to make us aware of mental and physical fatigue. Your body will most likely be able to tell you if you are over training your muscles. It does this by behaving in a particular way and acting problematic. Therefore, it is in your best interest to recognize the signs of over training by gaining knowledge of what these warning signals are. Take a look:

1. Decreased level of performance
2. Inability to self motivate 
3. Poor coordination
4. Loss of appetite
5. Continuous soreness in muscle 
6. Continuous stiffness at the body joints
7. Chronic headaches
8. Lengthier recovery times
9. Inability to concentrate
10. Low self esteem
11. Bouts of depression

Give Your Body Time to Recover
One of the most important things to understand when exercising to build muscle is that your body has some limitations and it’s advisable that you work within those limitations to get the desired results. If you push your body too hard, don’t give it proper time to recover, you’ll just end up in defeat and with a torn ligament or overly sore muscles! The one basic principle of exercise you must remember is: “don’t try to do too much, too soon!!”

Learn to Deal with Your Body’s Issues the Right Way
Expressions like “work through the pain”, “tough it out”, “no pain, no gain” or “push harder” are all too commonly heard in most gyms. However, when your body gives you warning signals that it is tired and needs time to recover, you may be better off heeding them rather than ignoring them despite what others say. While for many of you who have been exercising for some time, these signs may seem like an obstacle that needs to be overcome, for others these could have a psychological connotation. It’s important that you learn to deal with your body’s issues in the correct manner and not over train yourself in a quest to achieve those six pack abs!

Rule of Thumb: Listen carefully to what your body is saying! 

The best way to train well is to exercise in moderation, stick to a schedule and cut back on your workouts when your body says so, giving it time to recover.