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Monday 30 January 2012

Overtraining


Overtraining

A major, potential, problem with people exercising is overtraining. Many beginners, when they first begin training, over train, I know I did. Overtraining, as the name suggests, is essentially when some trains too much so that their body cannot recover in time. Overtraining is most common in weight training, but can also occur with runners and other athletes. Overtraining can stem from many things. For example, some people feel that the more they workout, the more they will benefit and they allow for no recovery time.


Symptoms of Overtraining

There are a wide variety of problems that can develop through overtraining. This list covers many of them:

  • Plateau in performance
  • Chronic Fatigue
  • Injury
  • Sore Joints and Muscles
  • No motivation to workout
  • Lack of Appetite
  • Weight Loss
  • Insomnia
  • Depression
  • Illness
  • Lack of Sex Drive


Recovering from Overtraining

Luckily, overtraining is easy to get over. Essentially, the only thing that needs to be done is rest. We still need to maintain your diet as we would normally, but the rest will allow the muscles to recover and get back to the levels they should be.

Prevention of Overtraining

There are simple ways of ensuring that we do not overtrain in the first place. Firstly, and possibly the most important factor, we should allow for a substantial rest period between workouts. If we have an intense arms workout on Monday, then Tuesday we should rest the arms and focus on other muscles. Another good method is to ensure that we have a variety in our exercise routines and training techniques. Outside of exercise, things like a good diet and the correct amount of sleep will help to ensure that we do not overtrain.

4 comments:

  1. Great post, have had this a couple of times and it's the worst feeling ever.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You can lose your sex drive from overtraining? Never knew that...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. According to the research. That doesn't mean you will, it just means that it is a possibility, as with each of the potential problems.

      Delete