Long post: 45M - 6'6" 250lb. Am I overtraining and/or advice on with my diet/sleep/supplement regimen. Getting tired more often and looking for help

[baseball1846]

Hi all! As the title states, I am a pretty big guy, but I would like to think that I am in reasonably good shape and have decent lean muscle mass (body fat varies from 13-16% this past year). I wear size 38 pants that fit pretty loose and usually fit onto an XL t-shirt, if that helps. I have been training 6 days a week for the past 2 years, and also walk/train my dog every day and do the occasional hike or round of golf. In the last few months, my gym has mixed up the training routines to be much more difficult, so that may be a factor. Here is my usual routine:

4:45 - wake up, get to the gym by 5:15. I am usually in bed by 9:30 or so, so i get around 7 hours of sleep, and I have ZERO problems sleeping. No food - I have a black cold brew (no cream/sugar - 220mg caffeine) on the drive over there as my pre-workout. My Hydroflask is 40oz and i put in a pack of Athletic Greens and either a pack of LMNT or Liquid IV, depending on what i have at home and i drink that during the workout.

Workout is 60 min semi-private circuit training and pretty intense. Trainer is an ex-professional bodybuilder, but he doesn't push that philosophy in his training, and the clientele there is pretty diverse so he caters to each individual. Monday (Legs) Tuesday (Back/Shoulders) Wednesday (Cardio) Thursday (Legs / Core) Friday (Chest/Arms) Saturday (Kickboxing/Cardio)

After every workout I walk on the treadmill at incline - 10 minutes total at 6' incline side step and walking backwards at around 1.5-1.8mph, 15 minutes with a 40lb TRX power bag on my shoulders at 15' incline at 2.0-2.5mph depending on how I feel.

After workout I have a NutraBio Whey protein with unsweetened almond milk or water, usually with some unflavored collagen as well.

Home by 7:30, get some work done, usually take a 30-45 minutes nap at some point in the morning. I don't eat any breakfast other than the protein shake. For lunch and dinner I usually eat some type of meat and rice with a vegetable. I probably have 40-60oz. more water during the day. I have some "healthy" protein bars that I might have one of per day as a snack. Sometimes I make a second protein shake to drink with my dinner. I do not eat after dinner at all, so I fast

Lately even with the nap I have still had a significant lack of energy, and some muscle soreness that I haven't really had before. Some of it is most likely due to the harder circuits, but on days I feel tired I will train lighter, but still am tired/sore.

Supplements - I take all Pure Encapsulations supplements, 1 serving of UltraNutrient, 10,000 IU Vitamin D (i have been deficient in the past), Macular Support and Nordic Naturals 2X Ultra Omega, and a few others depending on how I feel. I just ordered some Glucosamine/MSM, Genius caffeine-free pre-workout, L-Glutamine and ZMA based on spending about a half hour in this sub.

So, too much training? Diet sucks? Supplements wrong? What say you Reddit?!

Thanks in advance for any advice/opinions.

 

[lifeguide72]

@baseball1846 With a little piano music in the background this reads like the opening monologue of America Psycho.

Are you getting any satisfaction out of this regimen?

Supplements are as their implies, a supplement not a replacement. You need food.

 

[baseball1846]

@lifeguide72 I actually do enjoy it. By waking up first thing in the morning and accomplishing something that has significant difficulty, it makes the rest of my day much easier. But yes - after reading the comments in this thread I am thinking diet should by my starting point, and possibly dropping one day per week to recover. Maybe Go M,Tu, rest W, train Th,Fri, rest Sat/Sun.

 

[hydroplane]

@baseball1846 Do you know about blood sugar spikes and crashes? I don’t know what is in your protein bars, but maybe it’s from glucose spikes?

 

[baseball1846]

@hydroplane I was actually considering getting a CGM for a month or two for this exact reason toget some more data to correlate with when I experience crashes. The one i was looking at was from Levels Health. Anyone used on of these before?

 

[hydroplane]

Here is a video about food combining that you might find interesting:

 

[ericph]

@baseball1846 Some things to think about:

• are you eating enough, go figure your maintenance (Google TDEE calculator if not sure) and track your calories for a few weeks.
• do you take deload weeks? This could be complete rest, lighter weights or something completely different
• getting enough water? Drink more and see if it helps?
• worth checking in with your coach see what he recommends?
• overtraining is a specific condition that isn't easy to get into, there was a good post in the r/weightroom I'll see if I can get it for you. I wouldn't rule it out of course but maybe try a few of other things first?
  Failing that maybe chat to a Dr or something?

 

[baseball1846]

@ericph Thanks for these points. I just did my TDEE and it looks like my maintenance calories is 3,300 - 3,700... I can almost guarantee that i don't consume that much on a daily basis.

I haven't ever taken weeks off at a time. Most I would do is skip 1 day per week, but I probably only do that once every month or two (like today, becuase I am feeling REALLY tired).

My estimate on how much water I drink is around 120-150oz. Based on what i have read that probably isn't enough and I need to get closer to 200oz.

 

[ericph]

@baseball1846 Ah cool maybe bump up your calories for a few weeks see how you feel. Everyone is different but underecovery can come in lots of forms such as fatigue, aching, fluey symptoms etc your does sound similar. Best way to treat is stuff your face and see if it gets better.
Maybe think about taking a deload week every so often. Some popular programs like 531 have them programmed in (typically every 7 or so weeks).

If it interests you this is the overtraining topic I mentioned

https://www.reddit.com/r/weightroom/comments/10obeki/overtraining_exists_but_you_are_not_at_risk

 

[az09]

@baseball1846 I am a fat sedentary but.. maybe try a pre-workout snack 1.5 hour before workouts consisting of a little oats, a little coconut oil, and a little protein powder and a little apple sauce. This did help me with energy levels. But you are probably just not eating enough carbs and eating too much processed weird chemical stuff in the supplements.

 

[baseball1846]

@az09 Problem is that I wake up and go straight to the gym. And now that I am used to working out fasted, I have a hard time if I eat food first. The supplements I get are as clean as I have found (and sadly have the price point to go along with it), but I am open to trying different brands if there is something better. I used to take pre-workouts from C4 or Celsius but after reading all of the crap that goes into them I switched to just black cold brew about 4 months ago and it's been great.

 

[az09]

@baseball1846 If you can eat food from a local farm - it can give an energy boost. I think you are giving yourself malnutrition and adrenal fatigue and lack of serotonin. Not eating = being unhappy. The hangry or hungry and angry phenomennon.

 

[mammut]

@baseball1846 What’s your diet?

Being more tired could be diet, a health issue or aging. It takes more time to recover as your age. Explore all options with your doctor before assuming it’s your workout plan.

Overtraining isn’t likely; but anything is possible given your condition and intensity of your training. your trainer can help a see that.

 

[dowthut]

@baseball1846 I didn't see any mention of post workout stretching which is probably contributing to the soreness, but sounds to me like you are overtraining and not giving your body any time to rest. Try going down to lifting/training hard 4 days a week and see if things improve. I would also cut back on supplements and try to get more fruits/veggies in your diet. Doesn't seem like you actually eat much.

 

[baseball1846]

@dowthut Forgot to mention, I do stretch for about 15 minutes per day, and once a month I go to a sports/recovery therapist for 2 hours who does full body Graston, ART, and cupping. This has made a HUGE difference, mostly in my flexibility which I was not expecting as a side effect.

 

[teenawood]

@baseball1846 First thing to consider for diet: Download an app like Cronometer (free version is all you need) and track your macros for a week without changing anything. See what you’re consuming before making diet adjustments. Feels like you may be under fueling yourself with the amount of workouts you’re doing.

Also could just be the fact you’re not taking any deload weeks. Typically every 6-8 weeks is a good cadence to take a deload. It’s a mental struggle to do so if you’re not used to it but you come back feeling stronger afterwards. You don’t have to do nothing those weeks but you need to cut volume in half or more or do other activities (walk, yoga, play a sport, or something else light).

 

[dawn16]

@teenawood Is volume weight, reps, or both? Looking to incorporate deload weeks.