Are You Over Training?
There is such a thing as overtraining! And it can be counter productive.
Overtraining happens when we engage in strength training or exercise and not give our bodies enough time to recover, rest and / or not fuelling our bodies enough.
Some people take strength training to far as they believe they will get stronger, lose weight or bulk quicker – this is not the case!
OTS (overtraining syndrome) is and can be very harmful, it can cause injuries, lower your fitness levels, affect your overall performance and potentially cause burnouts.
To avoid this keep your sessions within your limits, or to your abilities. NEVER neglect your recovery time. Swapping your rest days for training is not going to get you to your goals quicker!
Ensure you are eating enough to fuel and sustain your workouts. Protein and carbs before your work and a high protein meal after. This will fuel the session but also build and repair the muscles. If you want advice on what is best to have as your pre workout or post workout meals have a chat with Ellie our founder, strength coach and nutritionist.
If you are not sure what overtraining feels like or is, here are a few signs to look for..
- Not enough food.
It is common for people to workout more and reduce calories thinking it will speed up the process for some goals. This will actually have a negative impact as your body will always be drawing energy from its reserve stores, resulting in health and performance issues, sometimes even deficiencies, and may effect cardiovascular, endocrine, and gastrointestinal systems.
We as professionals never advise skipping a meal. Your body needs a consistent intake of food to fuel and sustain workouts and everyday life!!! Number 1 message here.- never miss a meal and also fuel to support your goals and workouts. Have a chat with us about this…
- Fatigue
It is normal to feel a bit tired after a workout as well as on that workout adrenaline high! But fatigue can kick in later in the day, after the workout or sometimes during. Allow your body to rest, don’t overdo it and refer to point number one – fatigue will kick in if you haven’t set yourself up for the day and workouts.
- Performance dip.
If you are not listening to your body or your coach for that matter, you may experience a dip in your performance or you may just plateau along and not make any progress. You may feel or see a drop in strength, agility, endurance. Take a de-load week or those rest days and I promise you, you will come back stronger.
- Agitation
Overtraining can affect your hormones and send them into overdrive! It can cause depression, mood swings, brain fog, loss of concentration and you may become restless even though you need to rest! If you feel any of these – listen to your body and take a break or eat some more food!!!
- Lack of sleep
As we mentioned above overtraining can mess with your hormones and cause extra stress on the body! And mess with the stress hormone, causing an imbalance which may make it harder to switch off at night and sleep. Not getting enough sleep means your body has less time to recover, restore and repair. It does all these things while we sleep. This will then lead to fatigue, mood swings and less energy!
You see they are all connected and one of them can lead to the other. So, prioritise rest, sleep and make sure you are fuelling right. If you want to get stronger, faster, hit your goals but feel any of the above – drop me a line or message and I can help you reduce the above and hit your goals sustainably.
Feel Fit - Building a healthier, stronger tomorrow for People & Planet