How Do I Tell If I Overtrain?
Posted on 21. Dec, 2009 by Guy in Fitness & Exercise
A little exercise is good for you, so more must be better, right? Well, sometimes, and sometimes more is just too much. There comes a point of diminishing returns or, worse, a point where your body says, Enough! If you are trying to train like a competitive athlete, it is a must to treat you body in the same way. This means proper nutrition and sufficient rest.
Everyone reaches this point at different times. Triathletes, for example, are able to withstand the rigors of three-sport training – running, cycling and swimming – at levels unthinkable to most. For others, an extra step class or hitting the weights too hard can put them over the top. In the quest for better health and fitness, it is sometimes difficult to quell one’s enthusiasm and take a break from exercise. Especially as most of us have hefty work/life/family commitments But if exercise is leaving you more exhausted than energized, you could be suffering from an acute case of overtraining most likely produced from a combination of over-doing it on all levels.
Know the signs
It’s important to be able to recognize the signs of overtraining before they become chronic. Physical/psychological signs of overtraining include:
- Fatigue only remedied by more exercise
- Decreased fatloss, especially around umbilicus area
- Prolonged recovery
- Elevated morning heart rate
- Decreased ability to ward off infection – Colds, virus’, long-term illness
- Headaches
- General aches and pains in muscles and joints
- Increased incidence of injuries
- Reoccurring injuries
- Loss of concentration
- Sleeping difficulties
- Sudden drop in performance and training capacity
- Increased moodiness and irritability
- Depression, melancholy or feelings of insecurity
- Increased feelings of anxiety
- Over sensitivity to criticism
- Loss of enthusiasm for training in general, and or your sport in particular
- Loss of appetite
- Gastrointestinal disturbances
Keep in mind that not all of the signs of overtraining are physical. Much like regular exercise has a positive effect on mood and stress levels, too much exercise can do just the opposite, leaving the exerciser irritable and depressed, particularly as the quality of the workouts declines. Psychological and emotional signs of overtraining include depression, apathy, difficulty concentrating, emotional sensitivity and reduced self-esteem.
Understand the cause
Once you recognize the symptoms of overtraining, it’s important to understand and honestly confront the cause. For some, overtraining occurs as a result of an upcoming competition. Increased training prior to an event is understandable, but if it’s interfering with your health and well-being, you have to question its worth.
The solution? May be as easy as reducing the rate at which you increase your training intensity. The body needs sufficient time to adjust to your increased demands. Triathletes don’t start out running 10 miles, cycling 100 miles and swimming 1,000 meters all at once. They gradually increase their training to allow their bodies to adapt.
Correct nutrition, eating regularly balanced meals to ensure blood sugar is relatively constant throughout the day. That means choosing a suitable balance of protein, carbohydrate and good quality fats so the body can rely on regular food coming in. Having to use stores from your muscle to fuel activities, can be damaging to your health and detrimental to your efforts to lose bodyfat, as a stressed body will store more bodyfat.
For others, the basis for overtraining may have more to do with emotional or psychological reasons than physical ones. Much like eating disorders, exercise addiction is now recognized as a legitimate problem. Exercising beyond the point of exhaustion, while injured, or to the exclusion of all other aspects of one’s life – these are some of the signs of exercise addiction.
It’s a difficult problem to recognize, particularly in a culture where discipline and control are lauded.
Individuals who exercise excessively are risking more than poor performance: They’re risking their health. Overuse syndrome, which may lead to more serious injuries, is common. And the emotional cost of isolating oneself in order to exercise can be devastating. If you recognize these symptoms in yourself or in a friend, it is essential that you seek professional help.
The ‘M’ word
The key, it seems, to staying healthy is to do everything in moderation, which is best viewed as something relative to one’s own fitness level and goals. Don’t expect to exercise an hour every day simply because your very fit friend does. The body needs time to adjust, adapt and, yes, even recuperate.
Exercising to the point of overtraining is simply taking one step forward, two steps back – not exactly good training tactics. The truth is there is no right or wrong, just a balance between the intensity of your workouts, the frequency and ultimately your health. So intense exercise should be balanced with mobility work, rest, relaxation exercise, stretching and of course, the best nutrition!
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