OVERTRAINING fact or myth

Over-training

Is it a fact or myth?

Well, guess what...it's a fact. It does exist.

You can definitely 'over-train'. But you have to be aware of the differing levels of over-training, which also tend to go hand-in-hand with poor diet.

First off there are the issues associated with over working the muscles. Exercising your muscles too much, or too frequently without giving them the proper recovery can, at worst, cause damage that can take months to repair, and at the least negate all of the gains you have been working towards.

What can happen is that you don't see any gains after working in the gym all week. So, you think to yourself “I'll hit the gym harder”, because you think your progress is going backwards. But in a lot of cases, the best result may be to ease up on the workload and exercise less. It's not about how much or how hard you work, it's about how effective your workouts are.

If your weight loss or muscle gains have 'stalled' it could be due to over-training and over-stressing your body. If you are constantly working out at high intensity for long periods most days of the week, when does your body get time to recover and repair itself to become stronger and adapt? If you are doing this and not scheduling in recovery days, you are toeing a fine line between total dedication (which is admirable) and counter-productive over-training.

Some of the signs of these issues are: irritability, depression, inability to concentrate, altered resting heart rate and blood pressure, changes in iron status, electrolyte imbalance (just to name a few). Then there are the abnormal aches and pains, and nagging injuries that never seem to get any better. As well as muscle wastage and putting on fat even though you are low-calorie dieting. And then you have to worry about a compromised immune system on top of all this.

Then there are the issues of training heavily on a poor diet so that the body doesn't get sufficient nutrition, or training fasted (training without eating in the morning). Both of these issues can do serious long term damage, not only to muscle growth, but to other parts of the body that may end up needing medical attention long term.

From my experience, clients that are no longer seeing progress towards their goals should have their workout duration timed, or the amount of workouts tracked. Just in the same way we track our caloric intake. From there, correct rest periods can be scheduled, or workout routine altered so that the issues can be reversed or repaired. This can take time if the problems have become deeply rooted, or the physical damage extensive.

So...what do you do?

First off, STOP.

Take a week off to rest.

Eat sensibly.

Get a decent amount of sleep.

(The reason for the last 3 things is that your body and hormones are imbalanced. It will take at least a week of normality to begin to rebalance them.)

Then consult your trainer. He/She will be able to assist you in assessing your training routine, and then you can begin your recovery and move forward again towards those goals.