To achieve your fitness goals, you need to train and train hard.
But... you also need to rest!
Too much exercise can actually make you WEAKER!
This isn't just for high elite athletes, beginners and everyday gym goers can experience overtraining too!
Overtraining refers to the mental, physical, and emotional consequences of exercising too much without enough rest and recovery
What are the signs?
How to know if you're overtraining
PERSISTENT FATIGUE
Tiredness after a workout is normal but on going fatigue that doesn't go away or stops you from doing your other everyday activities is a sign you're overstraining your body.
This can also occur when you aren't fuelling your body with enough energy and substance to not only recover but also enough fuel to sustain.
CONSTANT SICKNESS
If you feel like your body can't catch a break it could be a sign that you are overtraining and not allowing your body enough rest. When our body is run down our bodies ability to fight off external stressors such as illness diminishes and we catch things easier and also don't recover from illness as quickly or easily as normal.
ONGOING NIGGLES AND MUSCLE SORENESS
Without adequate rest, your body doesn't have time to recover from the stress being placed on it workout after workout. Overtraining increases your chances of injury and reduces your body’s ability to recover due to excessive inflammation.
DECLINE IN PERFORMANCE
You might find you've suddenly hit a wall and not only not progressing but feeling weaker, less fit, and more tired. This is a big sign of overtraining as it's your body shouting out for a break.
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PREVENT OVER TRAINING
To make sure you give your body the best chance to stay healthy and strong here are some tips to stay clear of burn out!
- PLAN REST DAYS
This should be done BEFORE you're dying for a rest day not when you're already burnt out!! Schedule the days you're going to train and work hard but also schedule in when you will rest and recover.
- RE FUEL YOUR BODY
Post-workout nutrition isn't the only focus we should have. We should be fuelling our body throughout the day EVEN on rest days when our output is less
- MANAGE YOUR STRESS
Not just physical but emotional and mental stress too. Practice slowing down with meditation, stretching, yoga, and breathwork. Anything that gets your mind out of the fight or flight mode
- VARIETY IN TRAINING
Making sure you aren't just doing high-intensity interval training 6 days a week but breaking up your workout schedule with some strength, some cardio, some mobility and some core so there is variety in intensity
- DROP THE CAFFEINE
This can be a vicious cycle! People start to train more so they get more tired so they increase stimulants like pre workout and coffee to keep their energy up even though their body is shouting out for rest they are slamming it with stimulants leading them to train more and get more tired and upset their adrenals WOAH disaster! So limit your caffeine intake to an amount that doesn't leave you unable to sleep, unable to slow down at the end of the day, doesn't push you to train even when you need rest
- HAVE A DE LOAD WEEK
By dropping the weights and intensity back you can still keep training but not aiming for the weights and intensity you were in weeks before. You might think this will make you weaker BUT you'll be surprised at how good you feel the following week.
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THE TAKEAWAY
Overtraining sucks!!!
Prevention is KEY!
Make sure we schedule rest when we schedule workouts to make sure we have ENOUGH recovery.
Make sure we fuel our body with enough food and water as well as prioritize good sleep
Check in with your body and how it feels and look out for signs of fatigue.
We only get ONE BODY so lets not run it into the ground!
Lets take good care of it! It does so much for us!
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