Many athletes think that training as hard as possible and as often as possible is the best way to improve performance. Elite professional athletes have coaches at every session, and part of their job is to monitor them for overtraining. Overtraining can have devastating effects.
The Effects of Over-Training
Nervous system:
- Higher resting heart rate
- Weak appetite
- High blood pressure
- Weight loss
- Trouble sleeping
- Increased metabolic rate
- Irritability
- Early onset of fatigue
Hormones:
- Decreased testosterone levels
- Decreased thyroxine levels
- Increased cortisol levels
The increase in cortisol levels along with the decrease in testosterone levels is a deadly combination, since this leads to protein tissue break down. This will ultimately lead to a loss of muscle tissue.
Metabolism:
- Chronically depleted glycogen levels
- Slow, weak muscle contractions
- Depleted creatine phosphate stores
- Excessive accumulation of lactic acid
- Extreme DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)
- Tendon and connective tissue damage
Immune System
Perhaps one of the most alarming repercussions of over-training is it’s negative impact on the immune system — your body’s first defense against harmful viruses and bacteria.
Over-training can drastically decrease the levels of antibodies and lymphocytes in your body, making you much more susceptible to illness. Simply put, this means that if you are in a state of over-training, you are much more likely to get sick. Since you will have to skip workouts while you are sick, your muscle building progress will slow considerably.
Sounds Bad… I’ll Just Train Light
Now this doesn’t mean you don’t have to put plenty of effort in to see some decent results… Whether you are a bodybuilder, athlete, or just someone that wants to add some additional mass to your frame, you need to train hard and be consistent-that’s a given. In order to get the most out of your genetics, you have to progressively overload the muscles by increasing the weight and/or intensity of each weight training workout.
The problem is that many of us increase the intensity of our workouts or get insufficient amounts of rest, or even worse, a combination of both. The trick is finding the right balance between workout volume and intensity, and rest and recovery.
How Overtraining Happens
In order to grow, muscles must fully recover from their last workout, every workout. If you are over-training and work the muscles before they have fully recovered, you will break down the muscle tissue before it has rebuilt-making it impossible to build muscle! To train and prevent your body from adapting makes your systems upset, which is expressed by the list of problems above.
Am I Over-training?
Determining if you’re currently over-training is fairly simple. If you’re in tune with your body, you can often see the signs of over-training before they get serious. If you are losing interest in workouts, are having trouble sleeping, and feel weak and irritable, you may be in a state of over-training and should take a week or more off.
If you are experiencing two or more of the symptoms outlined earlier in the article, this should raise a red flag.
Another variable you can use to determine if you are over-training is by tracking the performance of your workouts.
No Consistent Improvements?
For example, let’s say last workout you were able to perform 8 pull-ups using your body-weight, but were only able to perform 6 pull-ups the following week. This means that you have not &lquo;out done&rquo; your previous workout, have not fully recovered, and therefore are likely over-training. You nave to re-asses your program and make modifications so that you see progress every workout.
It’s better to find out before you do a workout, though. A very easy test is to measure your vertical leap at the same time every day, preferably in the morning. Do your normal morning warm-up and stretch, then do a vertical leap beside a wall. Try to touch as high as you can. Hold a piece of chalk in you fingertips and make a mark. If your vertical leap shows a noticeable drop one day, it’s time to consider relaxing.
How Can I Prevent Over-Training?
Determining the correct training volume and intensity, eating the right foods, and getting the right amount of rest and recovery are all factors.
Determining the correct training volume can be difficult, especially when you are first starting out. You have to determine how much weight to lift, how many repetitions and set to perform for every single workout.
You need to use your own judgment in this case, based on your recovery ability and your recovery methods. Remember that the goal is that you improve every single workout, and if this isn’t happening, you have to decrease the intensity of your workouts.
This is where many people go wrong though. You begin your workout and realize that you have not fully recovered. You can either continue to train at a lower intensity than the previous workout, or skip the workout entirely.
As hard as it may be, skipping the workout is the right way to go. Just turn around and go home! Your body is telling you that it needs more rest, and you must listen to it!
There is no point in training at a lower intensity, further breaking down the muscle tissue. By doing this you will increase your risk of injury, and make it harder for your body to fully recovery for your next training session.
Proper Nutrition
Your diet plays a huge role in your muscle building program. It helps regulate hormone levels, provides energy, and provides the raw building blocks that are used to create new tissue.
Here are some dietary recommendations that will limit the chance of over-training:
- Do not skip breakfast. This is one of the most important meals of the day. Skipping breakfast is very catabolic, and can promote muscle loss.
- Never let yourself get hungry. If you’re trying to build muscle mass, you have to constantly feed your body quality foods so that it never has the chance catabolize muscle tissue.
- Unless you are trying to build muscle and lose fat, make sure you have eaten prior to your training session and are not hungry.
- Have the largest meal of the day within an hour after your workout. Do this every single workout!
- Consider taking proven supplements like creatine, and antioxidants to increase performance and fight free radicals.
- Eat every 2-3 hours to ensure that your body remains in an anabolic state.
- Keep glycogen levels at full capacity to inhibit muscle tissue breakdown.
Rest & Recovery
Rest and recovery is essential when it comes to avoiding over-training. Make sure that you get at least 7 hours of sleep each night, and that you are on a consistent schedule. As for recovery time, it’s important that you have days off between weight training workouts. Try to have one rest day between weight training workouts, and never train the same muscle groups on consecutive days.
Every 6-8 weeks, you should take a whole week off.
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