Overtraining?
 

So I'm trying to work out my work out...

Last year I was:

Lifting 4x a week...

Running every other day...

Swimming 1x a week...

Biking on the days I didn't run or swim...

Now I've picked up a new thing on Wed & Fri that absolutely kicks my arse...

How do I know when I'm over training? Obviously I'll be sore and tired for a while, but how long should I keep it up before I decide that I'm burning out or getting better?

Show off!

I think as long as you give your muscles a chance to recover you're fine. After I work a muscle group I wait 48 hours before I work that group again. That's with strength training though. I could burn out my legs doing squats and lunges but it wouldn't keep me from going out and doing a run the next day or hitting spin class.

This would be the case if I had something to show for all of this working out. I remain about 50 lbs overweight and otherwise just plain "tubby."

what is your fitness goal? I don't think we can advise you until we know what your goal is.

I honestly don't have one specific goal.

I'd like to lose about 50 lbs (over a year or so) and just be in much better shape. I am 5'11" 255 lbs with depression, migraines, and a potential blood sugar problem.

I ride because I love it.

I run because I'd like to do a short triathlon.

I lift because it's a social thing.

I take Krav Maga because it interests me and it relieves stress.

My only real worry is that I will do too much and my body will break down rather than get more fit.

I say do what's fun for you. If you like going balls out, go balls out.

There's no such thing as overtraining, but there is undertraining. Right now, injuries are limiting me to undertraining.

The human body is remarkably resilient. It has a way of surviving just about anything you can throw at it. If whatever you're doing doesn't cause pain (different, of course, from mere discomfort and/or soreness), then I personally wouldn't worry to much about the body breaking down.

The reason people talk about over-training is because effort is wasted. Twice as much work does not usually result in twice the results. This is where setting goals becomes important. This summer, I was sitting at a cool 190 lbs and I wanted to drop down to 175, and I focused workouts to that end. Once I got there, I wasn't happy with how scrawny I looked, so I shifted the focus on building muscle mass. I'm now up to 205 or so, with less body fat now than when I was at 175. You get better results when you focus on a particular goal and work towards achieving it.

One other thing I learned: the body is not usually able to anabolize and catabolize simultaneously. If you want to build muscle mass and lose fat, trying to do both at once is usually counterproductive. Best results come from focusing on one or the other.

Not even in powerlifting? Heavy deads, squats, and presses every day would lead to overtraining. (Of course, I will defer to your judgment since you were clearly a more impressive lifter than I have ever been).

Hyperbole, my friend.