Signs of Overtraining and the Importance of Active Rest
It's that time of the year where if you're an athlete and/or a fitness fan, you may be hearing these common mantras: ‘push your limits’, ‘do as many as you can and then do one more’, ‘never quit’. While these phrases can certainly be inspiring, especially near the end of a challenging session or during a full season of your sport of choice, there’s one factor they don’t consider: the risks of overtraining.
Overtraining refers to a situation where a person does not take adequate time to rest and recover between sessions of physical activity. Anyone that does anything physically strenuous can theoretically overtrain, whether you’re a runner, a boxer, a tennis player, or anything else.
Understanding the signs and risks of overtraining is an essential part of staying active responsibly, and should be a priority for anyone who takes their fitness seriously. Let’s have a look at what you need to know about overtraining and the importance of active rest.
What are the risks of overtraining?
Depending on the nature of your sport or activity, the hazards of overtraining and not resting enough can vary greatly. However, it’s fairly common to see a few health challenges crop up again and again in those who push themselves too hard. These risk factors include:
Increased chance of injury, such as muscle strains, sprains, tears, or even bone fractures
Excessively elevated resting heart rate
Frequent (or constant) muscle soreness
Poor performance in your sport/activity
So with these risks in mind, you need to ask yourself: are you giving yourself enough time to rest and recover, or are you pushing your body past its limits?
These are the most commonly seen signs of overtraining that are worth being on the lookout for.
1. Excessive pain and soreness
Some muscle soreness and slight pain should be expected after a tough workout. Whether it was a long run, a heavy set, or a strenuous game, it’s perfectly normal to wake up the next day with some sore muscles. This is caused by micro tears that occur in muscle tissue during exertion. These then heal and grow slightly, which is what causes muscle growth over time.
However, if you’re finding that your body is always sore, and you’re continuing to push yourself despite this, you’re likely overtraining. Rest days aren’t just to wait out physical pain—they actually help you reach your fitness goals sooner since your body can’t regenerate and strengthen if it’s constantly exerting itself.
2. Stress and overuse injuries
If you find that you keep experiencing the same injury, or even the same type of injury over and over, it’s almost certainly a sign of overtraining, poor form, or both. These are especially common in high-impact physical activity (such as running) and in sports with lots of repetitive movements (such as tennis). Examples of overuse injuries include shin splints, plantar fasciitis, joint strains, stress fractures, broken bones, and soft tissue pain.
3. Reduced appetite and unintended weight change
You would think that if your body is being regularly pushed beyond its limits, you’d be ravenously hungry all the time—but that’s not always the case. Overtraining can lead to disruption in your delicate hormone balance, meaning you may actually have a reduced appetite despite burning large amounts of calories in each session. Over time, this can lead to unwanted weight loss (including weight from muscle tissue).
4. Fatigue and/or trouble sleeping
Similar to appetite symptoms of overtraining, hormone disruption can cause trouble with sleep as well. If you find it difficult to fall or stay asleep, even when exhausted from a tough day of physical activity, it’s possible that overtraining has thrown the hormones responsible for sleep cycles out of alignment. This can also lead to poor sleep quality, leading to fatigue and preventing your body from fully recovering.
5. Mood issues
It’s not uncommon for people who are overtraining to exhibit uncharacteristic irritation, frustration, or depression. This is due to the effect on your stress-regulation hormones, and can also lead to challenges with brain fog or leave you prone to agitation. If you find yourself acting out of the ordinary, it might be time to rethink your training regime.
6. Persistent injuries
If your pain isn’t going away or your injuries simply won’t heal, it’s a sure sign that your body needs a solid break before it can get back to 100%. Extreme physical exertion places excess stress on the body, slowing or stopping the recovery process. Even ongoing muscle soreness should be treated seriously if it doesn’t go away with time.
7. Weakened immune system
Since overtrained bodies are under excess stress from constantly playing catch-up with your fitness routine, it’s understandable that it can lead to weakened immune defense. This may manifest as simply feeling run-down or tired all the time, but it can become more severe, leading you to catch illnesses more easily and be more severely affected by their symptoms. Always take time off from fitness to fully recover if you start to feel sick.
8. Poor performance in your sport/activity
Last but not least, it’s common for athletes to begin to see diminishing returns in performance when they overtrain. This can be counterintuitive for some—after all, the more you train, the better you should be. However, this comes with the essential caveat of active rest. This means factoring time to rest and recover into your fitness routine, prioritizing it just as much as the time you spend exercising—if not more so. The whole point of training is to become better at your activity of choice, so make sure you provide your body with the time it needs to heal, strengthen, and improve.
Managing a healthy training routine in balance with active rest
With so many potential signs of overtraining, it’s important to be on the lookout for symptoms. Being aware of these signals can help let you know when it’s time to ease back on the intensity and give your body a chance to catch up. However, it’s even better to develop a healthy training routine from the outset to save yourself the trouble.
When creating your fitness routine, ensure you’re prioritizing rest in parallel to exercise. Don’t exercise the same muscle groups day after day without ever taking a break. Switch it up—cross-train your body, work on your cardio, focus on different areas, and then take a day or two off to eat, sleep, and relax so you can do it all again.
If you’re looking for more personalized support on developing a fitness routine that makes sense for your body and supports your performance across the board, our staff at Triumph Physio and Wellness can help. We’ve had the privilege to support countless clients in this process, helping them to build a hand-tailored program that works for their unique needs.
Get in touch if you need relief from the symptoms of overtraining, or you'd like some more advice and assistance with adding active rest to your routine!
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