Instinctive training;

For the past several months we have been on a six day a week program, working one bodypart per day and arms only on saturday. Due to my work schedule, i train my triceps with chest on tuesday and biceps with shoulders on friday. Lately however, we have been working out so hard on monday through thursday that i have been taking fridays off due to the fact that i am so exhausted by the time friday rolls around, that i see no reason to try and train when i am that tired, for fear of injuring myself. Over the many years that i have been training i have learned to listen to my body and what it tries to tell me and have become quite proficient at it. Sometimes it is more important to allow the body ample time to rest than it is to get to the gym just to be able to get the workout in. You have more to gain in the way of muscle by taking the day off than to try and get that day of training in. Even if you haven't been training for very long, you can begin to slowly listen and learn the warning signs that your body is giving to you. Perhaps you are not overtraining, or on the verge of it, you can curtail the muscle wasting that takes place when your body is in an overtrained state by taking in some more high quality calories and taking a couple of days off from training. Even one day off from training will help, provided your diet is on target and you use that day off to get the quality rest and recuperation that your body so despeartely needs. There are a wide variety of great books out there on instinctive training and some are worth reading, espically if you are new to this style of training and your gains have slowed down a bit but you continue to religiously get to the gym and train hard. First look at your diet and if that is allright then try to cut back a little on the volume of your training, in other words get more done in less time at the gym. If the gains still don't come, then it may be time to take a short layoff to get things back on track.