Are You Overtraining? Understanding The Symptoms Of This Condition
Overtraining is a very serious issue in those who are regularly participating in some form of physical activity. The body is only able to handle so much stress and when you place more demands on it than it can effectively recover from, it’s going to scream.
Loudly.
In some cases, overtraining can become so bad that months are required to be taken off the workout in order to get the body back to where it should be. Not to mention that with that, there are often a large number of physiological issues going on that can take even longer to fully recover once you’re back at your training.
Since prevention is the best strategy for overtraining, it’s vital that you understand exactly what the symptoms of overtraining are and then take pro-active steps to prevent it from setting in.
Physical Symptoms
The most noticeable physical symptom you’re going to notice is persistant feelings of fatigue that do not seem to go away, both during and after the workout. When you’re experiencing fatigue all day long for longer than a week, that’s a very strong signal you are overtrained. Some fatigue after a workout can be normal, but it should not be something that’s occurring every day and becomes limiting in other areas of your lift.
Other physical symptoms include:
-increased injury rate
-increased illness occurrence (depressed immune system)
-weight loss or weight gain
-changes in appetite
-decreased or stagnant performance
-lack of physical coordination
-feeling ’slow’ to respond
-leg soreness
-headaches
-elevated heart rate
Psychological Symptoms
Additionally, when overtraining begins to set in, there will also be some notable psychological and behavioral symptoms that set in which will also make it difficult to continue on with your usual activities. These include:
-depression
-irritability
-lack of desire to do activities formerly enjoyed
-no motivation to train
-insomnia
-moodiness
-anxiety
So, make sure you’re constantly monitoring how you’re feeling and any symptoms you’re showing. Often it will set in gradually, first as ‘overreaching’ and then progressing to overtraining. If you can catch it initially in the overreaching stage, you can overcome it quite quickly with the right action steps, greatly reducing the need to take a high amount of time off.
Related posts:
Leave a Comment