It’s common knowledge that physical exercise is one of the keys to longevity. The average person should do at least two hours and 30 minutes of intense physical activity per week to maintain physical health. Of course, exercise is a personalized endeavor, and your training load and program depend on what you’re trying to achieve.
Of late, the Covid-19 pandemic has shed a spotlight on physical health, motivating many to start, or ramp up, their physical training. While this increased focus on exercise is generally positive, there is always the risk of overtraining. Our bodies have physical limits, and overtraining can affect anyone from casual gym-goers to professional athletes. From aching muscles to burnout, here’s how to tell if you’re overtraining.
Overtraining happens when you train more than your body can recover from. As a result, your physical performance declines due to overexertion. High-intensity exercise and high-volume training plans are not necessarily harmful, but you must carefully plan your training schedule so your body has adequate time to recover. Your body requires downtime to build strength, muscle, and endurance, which is why you should have sufficient rest between training sessions.
Additionally, you need to scale your training load in manageable increments. If you’ve never trained before, you shouldn’t go from zero to ten hours of physical activity in one week.
There are generally two types of physical exertion: overtraining and overreaching. Overreaching is the first phase of overtraining, where your muscles become sore and/or stiff because you haven’t given them enough time to recover between workouts. Overtraining occurs when you push your body to its limits consecutively, and in severe cases, can take weeks or months to recover fully.
The many signs of overtraining syndrome usually manifest both physically and psychologically. Here’s how to know if you are overtraining:
● A weaker immune system: An exhausted body has a weaker immune system, so you are prone to getting sick more often.
● Weight loss: Overtraining can result in a lack of appetite and unhealthy and/or unintended weight loss.
● General fatigue: In some cases, you may experience insomnia accompanied by a feeling of constant exhaustion.
● Burn out: Increased irritability, feeling down and/or depressed for no apparent reason.
● Persistent muscle soreness: Due to overtraining muscles, you cannot continue to exercise at your usual pace and intensity when you experience persistent muscle soreness.
● Delayed recovery: Delayed recovery occurs when your body requires an unusually long period between sessions to feel normal again, which is caused by overworking muscles. Symptoms include a feeling of “heaviness” in your body, even during light workouts.
Overtraining doesn’t just affect the body physically; it also has adverse effects on mental health. In the worst cases, it may lead to feelings of hopelessness, depression, and insomnia. On the physical front, you can become seriously injured if you continue to train when you’re exhausted. This may result in a complete halt in training for a prolonged period (from weeks to months). While it may seem necessary to train as hard as you can to reach a peak, or maintain your physical fitness, overtraining can derail all your training goals.
If you’re experiencing any overtraining symptoms, you should immediately talk to a certified professional. This could be a coach, doctor, or trainer, who can help you recover by employing some of the following techniques:
In the same way a car needs fuel to drive, your body needs nutrients to perform properly. Working out causes your body to burn more nutrients than it would if you were sedentary. So, it’s crucial that you replace these nutrients to keep your body running well. You must ensure that you have the appropriate diet for the type of training you’re doing. You may need to develop a new eating plan or add pre and/or post-workout supplements to your current diet.
If you’re a professional athlete, you may struggle to stop exercising altogether. However, sometimes rest is necessary to make a full recovery. If your case is less severe, you may need to introduce additional rest days to your current program. A health professional can help you determine how and when to ease back into training. Initially, you may need to reduce your training volume by 50-60% and then increase it by 10% each week to return to your normal volume.
Is your exercise routine appropriate for your fitness goals? Do you need to adjust the number of sets and reps you’re doing? Do you need to train for less time and with lower intensity until your body recovers? These are all factors to consider before you go back to training.
While you can gain a lot by pushing your body during training, you should never do so if it causes over-exercise symptoms or pain. So, it's important to know the difference between a healthy dose of discomfort and pain that’s causing damage. When exercising, you should always wait for 48-hours before training the same muscle group, and if that group is still sore, then allow a longer recovery time. While training plans can be excellent tools for motivation and organization, be mindful not to follow them with reckless abandon. Listen to your body, and tailor your workout to how you’re feeling in the moment.
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