Are you overtrained?

Whenever we exercise, whether it is cardio, strength or endurance training, we run the risk of overdoing it and putting our bodies in a state of “overtraining”. It’s sometimes hard to get motivated to exercise, but quite often, people feel they aren’t making enough gains or progress than they would like, and push their bodies and minds too far. Some symptoms of overtraining may include:

1. Reduction in strength from the previous workout. Generally speaking, if you are training correctly and eating right, you should be stronger at your next workout, meaning you can lift a bit more, or perform more reps.

2. Can’t sleep at night (insomnia) even though you are tired. Do you find yourself laying there at night when you would normally be snoozing peacefully, unable to sleep, feeling irritable and can’t quite put your finger on what’s bothering you? Sometimes insomnia or sleep disturbances can be cause by stress, diet, sickness or other problems in your life. However, many people who are over trained also suffer sleep disturbances.

3. Irritability. Are you snapping at your co-workers or loved ones for no apparent reason? Do you feel twitchy, tense and irritable? Many people who are chronically over trained become tense and irritable.

4. Muscle soreness that just won’t go away. “Normal” training soreness should go away after a few days. Persistent soreness in your legs or other body parts may be a symptom of overtraining.

5. Persistent fatigue. If you do feel like you are getting enough sleep, but are still tired all the time, overtraining may be to blame.

6. Compulsive need to exercise. Strangely enough, some people who are very overtrained have an inexplicable compulsion to exercise even when they are tired and sore. We suspect that in some cases the endorphin and dopamine release resulting from intense may temporarily offset the effects of overtaining in some people, leading them to feel that exercise is a way to “feel better” - even though excess exercise may be contributing to their symptoms.

7. Catching more colds than usual (compromised immunity). Are you getting more colds than is usual for you? Or are you taking longer than usual to get over colds? Even though regular exercise may improve your immune function, chronic overtraining can actually compromise your immune system, making you more vulnerable to colds and flus.

Other symptoms may include:

• Inability to get a “pump” while working out.

• Inability to concentrate

• Increase in occurrence of injuries

• Depression

• Decreased interest in sex (or sudden erectile dysfunction)

Although it may be difficult to analyze correctly, another symptom of overtraining is an increase in your resting heart rate and/or orthostatic heart rate. This may not be a good way to determine overtraining for most people though, since they are unaware of their “normal” resting heart rate and orthostatic heart rate, and the best way to determine your “normal” readings is to measure them over a period of time when you are NOT overtrained.

Over-training can be caused by many factors. However, in our experience the primary causes for overtraining more often than not are:

1. Inadequate recovery time between workouts

2. Poor sleep habits

3. Multiple nutritional deficiencies

4. Excessive workload

Other causes may include:

• Inadequate sleep

• Nutritional deficiencies

• Excessive workload (even given adequate recovery time)

• Inadequate protein intake and/or inadequate caloric intake

• Lifestyle (partying, drinking, smoking, drugs, stressful situation at home)

Recovery Process

Depending on the level of overtraining, it may be advisable to take some time off heavy training completely. Some people who are only suffering some of the symptoms of overtraining may just need to reduce the intensity and duration of their workouts and make sure they are getting enough sleep, nutrition and recovery time.

Recovery Time

Some people may require only a few days of rest and relaxation to recover from overtraining. However in severe cases, recovery may take much longer (as in a month or two). Many professional bodybuilders also (as part of their annual routine) take off a month per year to ensure adequate recovery from the long-term intense training they subject their bodies to.

Preventing overtraining

In our opinion, the best way to prevent overtraining is to maintain a detailed Training Log. The log should contain entries for the duration of your workouts, how you feel before and after, as well as the maximum loads and/or intensity performed during the workout.

For example, if you performed 4 sets of 10 reps of 135lbs on the flat bench one day and felt fine, but then the next week you performed a similar exercise and were struggling to get through your sets, this may mean you did not recover adequately between workouts. If you see similar reductions in strength and endurance in all your subsequent workouts, you may be experiencing overtraining. Sometimes though, the only way to really remember how many sets, or how you felt during your workout is to keep a log. Most professional athletes maintain precise workout logs to measure their performance and efficiency.

The key point to remember is that your body absolutely needs adequate amounts of sleep and recovery, ESPECIALLY when you are subjecting your body to the stresses of intense exercise. In our opinion, even people who are on a weightloss or calorie restricted fat loss program should be getting extra sleep to reduce stress hormone loads in their body and speed recovery times. Growth hormone production peaks during sleep and studies have shown that chronic sleep deprivation results in elevated levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) and decreased levels of leptin (a hormone implicated in satiety).

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