Signs of Overtraining

Overtraining syndrome happens when you don’t adequately recover after repetitive, long intense training, and can include fatigue, declining performance and potential injury. It can lead to injury & indeed be potentially dangerous.

Overtraining will also occur when you work out without allowing enough recovery time between sessions. You see, after a certain point, too much exercise can be harmful to your health and even slow or hinder your results, especially if your workouts are close together.

It’s admirable to train hard to succeed in your chosen sport. Logging many miles, spending hours at the gym and working hard day after day can certainly help you achieve your athletic goals. But too much training without sufficient recovery can hinder your progress — and even lead to a decline in your performance.

Signs And Symptoms of Overtraining

You may experience symptoms of overtraining that are directly related to exercise, including:

Exercise-related symptoms

• Increased muscle soreness that gets worse the more you train
• A plateau or decline in athletic performance
• Inability to train at the level you usually do
• Excessive sweating and overheating
• Feeling like your muscles are heavy or stiff, especially your legs
• Injuries that keep coming back, like muscle sprains, stress fractures, and joint pain
• Loss of enthusiasm for exercise, or feeling like you want to skip your workouts altogether

Health-related symptoms

• Repeated illnesses, like colds or respiratory infections
• Increase in blood pressure or resting heart rate
• Changes in skin, hair, and nails that make you appear unwell
• Digestive issues, like diarrhea or constipation
• Irregular menstrual cycles or loss of menstruation completely
• Sudden weight loss, loss of appetite, or disordered eating

Lifestyle-related symptoms

• Persistent fatigue, exhaustion, or low levels of energy
• Poor sleep or insomnia caused by not being able to relax
• Decreased motivation or self-esteem
• Signs of depression, like loss of enjoyment in activities or moodiness
• Increased feelings of anger or confusion
• Inability to concentrate, which affects your performance at work or school

How To Recover From Overtraining

If you’re like most people, you have been wondering how to recover from overtraining. Chances are that at least once or twice you have pushed your body too far and then began to see some negative side effects related to overtraining. When people first begin to exercise or are working out with a specific timeline and goal in mind, quite a few will tend to push themselves too far without even realizing it. This leads to a condition of overtraining, which for the average gym-goer or athlete can be quite draining on both their physical and mental health.

Take Break

Overtraining or overreaching is caused by not taking enough rest days in between your exercise routines. The first thing to do is to stop going to the gym or for those exercising at home, to stop doing home workouts. Try taking a week-long break from all exercising. Go and have a talk with your doctor and after speaking with your doctor you can work out a plan for going back to working out or maybe instead to just do simple stretches so that you may keep yourself flexible.

Get A Massage

This is one of the favorite go-to fixes for professional athletes on how to recover from overtraining. They often receive deep-tissue sports massages after intense workouts or games. Getting a much-needed massage on the affected muscles can help you recover faster and offers relief from painful muscles that often hurt a lot from too much physical activity.

Drink More Water

Training and drinking water often go hand in hand. As you rest to recover, remember to hydrate. Men should drink about 3.7 liters of water a day while women should consume about 2.7 liters each day

Start Cross-Training

Once you are well enough to start working out again, i.e., you have been cleared by a doctor, be sure to mix-up workouts. This is a great way to target the conditioning of different muscle groups, develop a new set of skills, and work out some muscles while allowing others to rest and recover.

The Bottom Line

The secret to how you may recover from overtraining largely lies in taking rest days every week. Doing this once or twice a week gives your body ample time to recover from all you have been putting it through while working out during the week.

However, other factors can also contribute to overtraining. Besides being sure to get enough sleep, eat well and set realistic goals for your fitness. Please note that while this article could be used to self-diagnose, it is always a great idea to visit a doctor for a professional diagnosis. This article just helps give you clues on what could be happening and what you can ask your doctor.