Over Training

In the “old school” we used to say; “there is no such thing as overtaining, just under-eating”. All kidding aside, I am still a big believer that if you are still sore in the body-part you are about to train, DON’T. Mother nature created DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) for a reason, and although you can increase the days of soreness by numerous ways, most of the methods are designed to increase the intensity, load or volume in which the muscle is exposed to. In other words, upping the intensity, load or volume of training usually requires more days between exercise sessions.

Some of the typical symtoms of overtraining are:

1)Constant fatigue during waking hours 2)Elevated resting heart rate 3)Getting frequent colds and or infections

If you see any of the 3 listed above creeping into your life, take a break, and make it 4-7 days, as you probably missed some other signs before you get to that level.

In my view persistent muscle soreness (just poke your muscles) is a tried and true method of judging if you can hit that bodypart again, and if you are still sore, it is better to take the day off.

Beyond the physical you need to keep track of your mental outlook to avoid overtraining. From a mental standpoint overtaining may cause you to become irritabile, and depressed which is usually followed by trouble sleeping or feeling like you could sleep all day. So even if your body feels like you could train (or your program calls for it), be aware that if your mind is not “hungry”, any workout you take might be of little of no benefit. In the old days we just left the gym if we felt a bit less hungry for the iron, and went to eat.

Now, the kicker is that nutrition is key to recovery and overtaining is simply the result of incomplete recovery. So, if you think you should be training more often, or see any of the warning signs above ask yourself:

Do I eat breakfast on a regular basis (at least as much protein as carbs too)? Do I eat a high protein meal within 2 hours after each training session?

Do I eat often enough so that I am not overeating at any one meal to make up for a “too busy” schedule?

For most people eating over 60 grams of carbs per meal can flip your insulin switch on HIGH to enhance fat storage and make you lethargic, causing you to feel burnt out when in fact all you need to do is eat more evenly spaced out meals.

Vince