Day 73 - Sign of Overtraining

How do you know if you are overtraining? There are a number of symptoms or signs that you may in fact be overtraining. These symptoms can include trouble sleeping, irritability, moodiness, lack of interest in training, etc. I feel like most overtraining symptoms can be pretty vague, however. There are a number of other lifestyle factors that can lead to lack of sleep or decreased interest in training for example. 

I would hate for someone who exercises once a week to say, "I am really dreading my workout today! Oh, that must be a sign that I am overtraining, I better take the day off."

On the other hand, one of the simplest ways to monitor your training status just so happens to be one of the most accurate indicators as well!

Everyone should have a pretty good understanding of what their resting heart rate is. You can find yours out by taking your pulse first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. By leading a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise and a healthy diet, your resting heart rate should come down. 

The reason why a lower resting heart rate is so beneficial is that it means your heart has become much more efficient at meeting the aerobic energy demands of your body in fewer beats. Fewer beats can potentially translate to a longer life with decreased risk of cardiovascular problems.

By checking your resting heart rate on a regular basis, you can not only gauge how well your fitness progress is coming along (by lowering), but you can also check to see if you are either overtraining or have a cold coming on. If your pulse is 10 beats per minute higher than what you are usually at, this can be a sign that you are overtraining and could benefit from taking some time off.

Keep in mind that not only is exercise and training important, but the time you take to recover is tremendously important as well. When you exercise, you are damaging your bodily tissues in order for them to recover and repair and come back stronger than before. This causes inflammation in the body. If, however, you are exercising or training too hard, you can actually cause a state of chronic inflammation in the body which can lead to complications.

Remember, exercise is good, too much can be problematic!

Quote of the day:

"Success does not come to those who wait, and it does not wait for anyone to come to it."

~ Author Unknown

Overtraining

It seems to be that many people need to spend so much of their time either motivating themselves or others to exercise. On the flip side of this coin, overtraining can be just as dangerous as not training, so this blog will hopefully allow others to understand, identify and avoid overtraining which can lead to short-term or even chronic injury!

What is Overtraining?

Overtraining is defined as excessive frequency, volume, or intensity of training that results in extreme fatigue, illness, or injury (which is often due to a lack of sufficient rest, recovery, and perhaps nutrient intake). To overtrain on a short-term basis is called overreaching. This, however, is often desired by trainees as this causes microtrauma in the body that needs to repair in order to improve. Overreaching can be fairly easily overcome by a few days rest with proper nutrient intake. The problems that arise is when an individual overreaches and does not allow sufficient nutrient intake or recovery time.

The whole basis of periodization or performance training is to overreach on numerous occasions (planned), which can suppress performance, but then the body will adapt and grow stronger, faster, better, etc. during tapering of training. This is also known as the General Adaptation Syndrome, but if there is too much growth stimulus or too-long of growth stimulus, an individual can get injured.

How Long Can it Last?

Overtraining syndrome can last as long as six months, and recovery can then be delayed. For many individuals, overtraining can be caused by doing too much, too soon, or repetitive overuse, but almost all cases can be reversed after proper rest and recovery.

Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic Syndromes
Scientists believe sympathetic syndrome can occur first which includes increased sympathetic activity at rest such as increased heart rate, disrupted digestion, etc. It is believed that all forms of overtraining will eventually progress to parasympathetic if allowed to.

Anaerobic Overtraining
An example of anaerobic training would be resistance training. Factors that indicate anaerobic overtraining would be a decreased desire to training, or a decreased joy from training. An individual may also begin to feel more jittery than usual during a workout, as if they have an increase in epinephrine. Although having this extra "surge" of adrenaline may sound like a good thing during training, an overtrained individual would see a decrease in performance.

Anaerobic Overtraining Hormonal Markers

Short-term overreaching can cause increased production of testosterone and insulin-like growth factors (IGF-1) which can improve the efficiency of the repair and recovery period, but once an individual reaches their overtrained state of chronic overreaching, their levels of testosterone and IGF-1 can end up back at regular levels decreasing the affinity for proper recovery.

Anaerobic Psychological Factors

Known as the "inverted iceberg" profile, individuals who partake in heavy resistance training programs can result in decreased vigor, motivation and confidence yet heightened levels of tension, depression, anger, fatigue, confusion, anxiety, and irritability as well as impaired concentration.

Aerobic Overtraining

Generally caused by extreme levels of training frequency, volume, intensity, or a combination of these variables without sufficient rest or recovery. Increased resting heart rates and increased creatine kinase levels (indicating muscle damage) are two of the indicators for aerobic overtraining. Also witnessed is: decreased performance, decreased % body fat, altered blood pressure, increased muscle soreness, decreased muscle glycogen, decreased total testosterone concentration, decreased ratio of total testosterone to cortisol, and increased sympathetic stress response.

A well-designed fitness training program will cause some overreaching in an individual to create enough response for growth and improvement. However, proper rest and recovery, as well as proper nutrient intake need to also be addressed in order for an individual to not reach a state of overtraining.

-Tyler Robbins
B.Sc. CSCS

Sources:
Baechle, Thomas R. and Earle, Roger W. Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning Third Edition