Tag: overtraining syndrome

How Over Training is Holding You Back

We’ve got six more days left of the 20 day challenge, and if you missed out on the first fourteen days…you can still start NOW! Click below to download the workout program, and #gohardorgohome 😉

20 Day Workout Challenge

I want to briefly talk about Overtraining with you. For some of you, just getting in your 3-4 workouts per week is an accomplishment in and of itself, and every time you accomplish that goal…pat yourself on the back!

However, it’s easy to become a gym addict…working out 6-7 days per week and each workout session is 60-90 minutes or even more. THIS is Overtraining. This is the technical definition of “Overtraining”:

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a physical, behavioral, and emotional condition that occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual’s exercise exceeds their recovery capacity. They cease making progress, and can even begin to lose strength and fitness. Overtraining is a common problem in weight training, but it can also be experienced by runners and other athletes.

It won’t get you lean, strong and healthy…and this is why:

  • Microtrauma to the muscles are created faster than the body can heal them.
  • Amino acids are used up faster than they are supplied in the diet. This is sometimes called “protein deficiency”.
  • The body becomes calorie-deficient and the rate of break down of muscle tissue increases.
  • Levels of cortisol (the “stress” hormone) are elevated for long periods of time.
  • The body spends more time in a catabolic state than an anabolic state (perhaps as a result of elevated cortisol levels).
  • Excessive strain to the nervous system during training
  • Persistent muscle soreness
  • Persistent fatigue
  • Elevated resting heart rate
  • Reduced heart rate variability
  • Increased susceptibility to infections
  • Increased incidence of injuries
  • Constipation or Diarrhea
  • Irritability
  • Depression
  • Mental breakdown

So please make sure to have rest and recovery days. Working out any longer than 60 minutes increases your cortisol levels above proper levels and can create an environment suitable for the overtraining syndrome described above. If you really like working out, you can workout 5-6 days per week but make sure your workout sessions are kept to a minimum of 20-40 minutes maximum. You can throw in a couple longer sessions but you need to make up for it by decreasing the length of some of your other workout sessions that week.

Now….Happy Monday and #HIIT it!