Intensity Increase

For the past two months, I've been training 2x a week. One day was Bench Press, Military Press, shoulder work, Chin-Ups, and Dips. The other day was Squats, Deadlifts, and DB Bench Press. It was Tuesdays and Fridays, so I had 2 days of rest before the Deadlift day, then 3 days off until the next day. The extended recovery has helped my joints heal up from more vigorous training. I'm lifting the heaviest in Bench Press and Deadlifts.

What I found is that my Bench Press day had my muscles fatigued only half way through the workout, but I still finished the workout, and with heavy weight. I have very good endurance, but recently I've been getting nauseous at that halfway point too, but could still continue to lift impressively. I've been wanting more cardio in my routine. So I decided to cut that workout in half, and have 3 training days a week instead of 2.

I"ve heard that it's actually better to lift 2x a day because you have more intensity for the exercises. I found this hard to believe because I enjoy long workouts (3 hours). I figure that my endurance is good enough and I have enduring willpower to make it through these workouts, but what I've learned is that hard work is not necessarily the path to success. To work smart is more important than working hard - of course working smart and hard is ideal.

So am I now down to 6 exercises a workout, and 3 training days a week. That second half of my workout routine that had me exhausted to begin with now hit my muscles in ways they hadn't before. People love to say overtraining is a myth, but in my experience it's very easy to overtrain. The extra workout day also gave me the extra cardio I was looking for.