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Overtraining
By Dr Lee Naylor
There are two common training
errors that people may fall a victim to, with the first not being an
issue other than it being unproductive, that is, under training.
However, that which is a serious physical error is the opposite of
under training and that’s overtraining. Overtraining is constituted by
workouts that are too long or too strenuous and can be a build up
effect over a period of time because the body has had insufficient
recovery.
The reason that overtraining is a serious problem is that it may
result in injury, or reduce an athletes resistance to disease and can
also cause psychological staleness, resulting in lack of enthusiasm to
exercise.
General symptoms for overtraining include one or all of these symptoms:
- Loss in body weight due to a reduction in appetite
- Chronic fatigue
- Psychological staleness
- Elevated heart rate and blood lactate levels at a below maximal work rate
- Multiple colds or sore throats
- Decrease in performance
- Loss of libido
- Insomnia
All of these key points not only affect your exercise, the problem with overtraining is that it can affect all facets of your life, even social and work environments. Similar to when you’re at work your body needs annual leave from exercise.
It is therefore very important to listen to how your body feels each day and decide whether or not your body needs a rest.
A good judgment in making that decision could be determined by these points:
- When was the last time I had time off exercise?
- Has it been more than three days in a row that I’ve under performed?
- Have I not been motivated to exercise for more than five days?
- Am I struggling to sleep at night?
- Am I having uncontrollable mood swings?
- Am I not eating as much as normal?
- Do I feel like I’ve had this sore throat / head cold since I can’t remember?
In response to the last point if you do feel as though you are becoming sick or have an illness you should cease training during this period. Training only reduces the body’s ability to fight off unwanted disease and bacteria.
Most people don’t believe they require a break from training. Even elite, highly trained athlete’s require periods of time off training, including rest weeks and rest days. Typically an elite athlete would take at least one day a week off training, have an easy week every four to six weeks and take around two to four weeks off full training at the end of the season. If the best athletes at optimum fitness use this schedule than you couldn’t possibly expect an average fitness runner to exceed those expectations.
Never underestimate the opportunity to rest, however just not too frequently. Taking easy days and rest days may actually rejuvenate your body allowing you to train even harder. Listen to your body and the tell tale signs of overtraining and try to keep your body from falling into the abyss of mental and physical exhaustion.