How do i prevent overtraining

Other triathlon training tools , like a power meter, when used efficiently can help guide you so that you will be less likely to go too hard too often. After you establish a baseline for recovery heart rate, note any adverse changes—your waking and resting heart rate deviating from your norm—as this is an indicator of overtraining.

Nutrition while training and racing will get you across the finish line, but this is only a small part of the triathlon training equation. Keep a food journal, and document what nutrition works best for you.

Don't forget to record when you're eating and drinking so you can finetune and optimize your recovery nutrition strategy. One perspective on overtraining is under-resting. Whether you're working out eight hours a week or 28 hours a week, you need to rest accordingly. Many wearable device s can help you track your sleep.

Use technology not only for pacing your training and racing but also to monitor your recovery. If you can't get the sleep you need, you may need to adjust your training accordingly. More Triathlon Articles. Look for this banner for recommended activities. It can aid in recovery by improving blood flow and reducing myofascial restrictions. To learn how to use a foam roller for self-treatment, please refer to Foam Rolling for Rehabilitation.

Active recovery. As part of your training cycles, be sure to include time to participate in other activities to help the body to recover and rejuvenate. Participate in a yoga class, take a leisurely bike ride, or take a walk in the park. Proper periodization. You cannot and should not train at a super high intensity all year long. Your work volume needs to be properly periodized. Well-balanced gradual increases in training are recommended.

Be sure your training plan varies the training load in cycles with built in mandatory rest phases throughout the year. The plan will likely be based on when you need to peak for certain events or races. During the high workload phase, try to alternate between high intensity interval work and low intensity endurance work. Taper up the training volume appropriately. The 10 Percent Rule is a guideline that many fitness experts use to help athletes of all levels avoid injury while improving performance.

Many cases of OTS can be attributed to increasing the intensity, time or type of activity too quickly. The 10 Percent Rule sets a weekly limit on training increases.

The guideline indicates not to increase your activity more than 10 percent per week. For example, if you are running 30 miles per week and want to increase the distance, add 3 miles during the next week for a total of 33 miles a week. The 10 Percent Rule is only a guideline. In some cases, 10 percent may be too much. Instead, a 5 percent increase per week may be much more realistic. Rest more. Your body must rest in order to grow and develop. Training every day is not the best way to improve.

It can lead to injury and burn out. Take a rest day and have fun. Sleep more. Proper programming includes mini cycles with an off season as well as active rest cycles in between heavy load and heavy volume training cycles.

Rather than train , rest , recover , and repeat , they are training, training, training, and their bodies can pay a heavy price.

The primary telltale sign of overtraining syndrome is an unusually powerful feeling of exhaustion. A normally high-energy player may find themselves forced to cut workouts short because they are physically unable to continue. If their fatigue persists during non-training days, and even when the athlete has been at rest, they are very likely experiencing OTS. In addition to the physical signs of overtraining, there are often accompanying emotional and behavioral issues, such as:. Clinical studies have shown the physiological consequences of too much training and not enough rest include the following:.

Fortunately, every one of these signs of overtraining syndrome can be treated simply and effectively. As long as no other complications exist, all that is required is rest and hydration. Complete rest is the single most effective means to treat overtraining syndrome. The amount of rest required depends on the length, intensity, and type of training that caused the OTS. Your personal medical history will also play a factor in the amount of rest prescribed.

For example, a high school football player who has been fatigued for 3—4 weeks will normally be instructed to top all training activities for 3—4 days.

It is important to note that complete rest is absolutely essential for full recovery from overtraining syndrome. This is because the body does not differentiate among different types of exercise. To the heart, lungs, adrenal glands, and other organs and systems, all stressed caused through physical activity is identical. Very often a new bodybuilder who thinks "more is better" is a victim of overtraining.

It is important for all bodybuilders to beware of the effects of overtraining and how to prevent it. Dilbert drags himself out of bed again, angry at the alarm clock and his job for ruining another streak of precious sleep. Even though he went to bed early and planned for a full 8 hours of sleep, he only got 5 hours, and woke up twice in the night for no apparent reason.

As he gets dressed for work he notices a tickle in his throat, just great At his job he is irritable and tired again, annoyed by the fact that the work just keeps piling on, his neighbor's dog, his slow muscle gains, Jill in the next office talking away on the phone, and pretty much anything that makes a sound.

Lunchtime comes along and Dilbert still feels full from the protein shake he drank for breakfast , but he knows today is his leg workout day, so he forces himself to eat a can of tuna and drink a bottle of water. As Dilbert arrives home from work he plops down on his bed and falls asleep for an hour. When he wakes up, he figures it's time to go to the gym today and get legs over with.

At the gym, he is so unmotivated to do anything, so he walks to the fountain, gets some water, comes back down to the bench where he sits down and look on his past workout log sheets. Gains have been few and far apart. After sitting down for a while he stands up to begin his warm-up for squats, yet he really isn't in the mood for squats, so he decides to call off squats and hit leg extensions instead. After 3 sets of light leg extensions he heads over to the calf machine, but decides that his calves got enough work walking today, and hamstrings aren't that important, so Dilbert decides to head home and watch a movie instead.

Now what is the difference between Dilbert and Arnold, who wakes up feeling great, eats a healthy meal, goes to work and enjoys spending time with his co-workers, gets home and admires his progress in the mirror, gets pumped up for the gym in the afternoon, goes in there and has a killer workout, comes home and can't wait to do it all again tomorrow? The difference is overtraining. Overtraining kills your whole day, not just your gains in the gym. We've all felt the effects of overtraining, whether we realized it or not.

Are you currently overtraining? Read on and make sure you are getting the most out of your workouts and your days, make sure you aren't the Dilbert and instead you are the Arnold.

Overtraining is a more complicated subject than most people think. A simple explanation would be overtraining is "Training too hard and too long, with insufficient rest, which leads to burnout and decreased performance. As you see, there is not one specific type of overtraining. There are three levels of overtraining:. Overload training is what most all athletes and weightlifters experience. It is hard training followed by a short term fatigue with adequate time given for muscle recovery.

However, if a person trains hard and does not give their body sufficient time to recover, their body moves down into the Overreaching stage. The 2nd level of overtraining. Performance is hindered, and may or may not include other typical stress-related mental and physical symptoms and signs. Overreaching can be recovered from within a week span.

However if the intensity and duration of the training is not reduced, the body enters the last stage of overtraining, named Overtraining Syndrome.

The 3rd and final stage of overtraining. Overtraining Syndrome - what most people are referring to when they speak of overtraining. It is characterized as a decrease in performance combined with stress-related mental and physical problems that can range in severity from mild to severe.

This is the stage where excessive amounts of cortisol are released, which is actually the complete opposite of what bodybuilders want. It tears down muscle in the body, reduces protein synthesis, increases protein breakdown, raises blood sugar levels, reduces growth hormone release, weakens the immune system, disrupts sleep, raises blood pressure, and increases blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Overtraining Syndrome can take from many months to years for the body to fully recover. The effects of Overtraining Syndrome are listed below:.

Part 2: Cardio Vs. To understand and answer this question, first you must know about the two theorized types of Overtraining Syndrome: Sympathetic and Parasympathetic. Characterized as "acute stress reaction," which is how animals react to threats. Sympathetic refers to the sympathetic nervous system, which activates the secretion of adrenaline and prepares the body for action.

During sympathetic overtraining Catecholamine hormones are released, which tightens muscles, increases heart rate, increases breathing, and constricts blood vessels in the body except for the muscles. This overtraining is believed to be present mainly in sprinters and power athletes.

Referred to as "athlete's burnout," parasympathetic overtraining is believed to increase with endurance-type training, which is when the body forces itself to slow down in response to overtraining. Parasympathetic refers to the parasympathetic nervous system, which decreases the heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature. It increases intestinal movement, fuel storage, recuperation, and circulation to non vital organs in order to conserve energy.

From this information we can conclude that Sympathetic Overtraining is more common in weightlifters, and Parasympathetic Overtraining is more common in cardiovascular athletes. Also from this information, with all factors the same nutrition, rest I believe that overtraining with weights sympathetic is worse than overtraining with cardio parasympathetic.

The reason being is since weightlifters do not usually enter the parasympathetic state during workouts, the body stays in a sympathetic state, which means the body is forcing itself to perform in an elevated condition.

The chances of injury are already higher with weights than cardio, and this elevated sympathetic state raises the chance of an injury even higher with weightlifting. When dealing with heavy weights, many types of injuries can occur from working out with an overtrained, fatigued body. Injuries that could result in:. These are much worse than injuries that may arise with cardio. In cardiovascular, or parasympathetic overtraining, the body actually does the opposite of weight training, it forces itself to slow down.

So no matter how much you overtrain in cardio, your body will slow itself down during training to where it needs to be. The second reason overtraining with weights is worse than cardio is the muscle degeneration that occurs when overtraining. Weightlifting does more damage to your body even without overtraining than cardio, and with the proper rest your body recovers stronger. However, when you overtrain with weights, you are constantly tearing down your muscles, and not allowing your body to ever catch up to repairing them, thus digging yourself deeper and faster into a diminished and overtrained state.

Overtraining with cardio, while still unhealthy, does not break your muscles down nearly as much as weightlifting does, thus your body is much quicker to recover from overtraining with cardio than weights. Someone overtraining may only experience a few of these symptoms, and even some may not realize they have any of these symptoms at all.

However if you have been training intense for a constant period of time with no rest, there is a very high chance that you are overtraining. Many people ask and search for ways to stay motivated when working out. The best answer for their question is usually to take a week off every few months. This is the sign of overtraining that is easiest for someone to point out themselves, yet often they do not know that their lack of motivation means they could be overtraining.

There are many bodybuilders who refuse to consider the fact they are doing something wrong and overtraining, yet if you notice any of the above symptoms with no logical explanation, or if someone else notices any of these changes in you, it would be best to consider that you may be overtraining. There are many individual factors that come into play on when considering a person's limit before they start to overtrain themselves. These factors include:. However there are ways to prevent overtraining, no matter what your personal limit is.

Some guidelines to prevent overtraining are as follows:. A balanced diet is one of the most important elements to prevent overtraining. This includes the right amount of calories from food and plenty of water to keep your body hydrated. Supplements and other nutritional modifications have not been proven to aid in preventing overtraining anymore than a balanced diet does. Iron is the most common deficiency, especially in females. Other nutrients that are commonly deficit are zinc , magnesium , and calcium.

The body may be depleted in various nutrients when overtrained, so it is important to match or consume a surplus of your calorie expenditure for the day. If you cannot consume or unsure if you consume the proper amount of vitamins and minerals in your daily meals, it is best to take a multivitamin to fill any deficiencies that may be in your diet to help prevent overtraining.

Your body is in its greatest need for nutrition right after a workout to be able to start its recovery process. The ideal method of post workout nutrition is to drink a shake high in whey protein and carbohydrates, followed by a small meal 45 minutes - 1 hour later.

Without the proper post workout nutrition, not only will workout progress be greatly hindered, but overtraining will set in incredibly faster. Possibly the best way to prevent overtraining is to take breaks in your workout routine. Depending on the intensity of your training regimen, coupled with the other factors in the chart, determines how often you need a break.

It is recommended to take a week off for every 12 weeks of constant exercise, however that number should be adjusted to how your body and mind feels in response to your workout routine. And of course your sleep should consist of straight hours to recover to the best of your potential.

There are supplements to aid in sleep if you have problems falling or staying asleep. There is a factor called "the law of diminishing returns" which is relevant for many things in the world, and it also applies to weightlifting and cardio. In terms of bodybuilding, the law states that for every unit of work you do sets, reps , the less benefit you will receive for each additional set.

For example, if you gain 3 points of muscle for doing 1 set of pullups, doing another set will only give you 2 more additional points. You now have 5 points of muscle, and you decide to do another set.

The 3rd set only yields you 1 additional muscle point, so you are now up to 6 points. Following this same principal, doing a 4th set will yield no benefit, and doing a 5th set onwards will start yielding negative benefits, your points will actually be taken away. Now these aren't hard numbers, they will differ from person to person, and it is up to you to decide when you can't benefit anymore from doing additional sets, reps, or exercises.

It is very possible to weight lift for days a week and not overtrain. The key is managing your splits. You won't get far without overtraining if you work your whole body every day 4 times a week. However if you devote one day to arms and abs, one to back and chest, one to legs, and one to shoulders and traps, then you'll be fine.

Some can even do a 2 day split without overtraining, which would be something like upper body one day, one to lower, and doing that twice a week, which allows your upper body to recover while working your lower, and vice versa.

To conclude, we all want the most bang for our buck, to make our hard earned time and work as efficient as possible. To achieve this we all must accept that we are human, and that the proper diet and training habits are a necessity. If you are currently feeling unmotivated and stressed out, don't waste your time being a Dilbert, take a week off and come back in full force, it will pay off. Contact This Author Here.

If you are a bodybuilder or simply interested in packing on as much muscle mass as possible then you must be prepared to train at the highest level possible. You must be able to increase your volume and intensity in each training session and each training cycle if you wish to maximize your full genetic potential. Unfortunately, these increases in volume and intensity often occur prior to the trainee's body being ready to handle them again.

When insufficient recovery takes places, the increasing strategy immediately backfires, resulting in a variety of negative effects on the body:. There are numerous abnormal changes that occur in the body when overtraining is suspected via the autonomic nervous system.

The bottom line is that a decline in performance will be observed which will reflect changes in the neural and endocrine systems of the body that are controlled by either the sympathetic or the parasympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic overtraining can lead to:. Many studies suggest that the parasympathetic nervous system is more dominant in overtraining but regardless the same performance decline will be shown in a variety of responses.

Signs of parasympathetic overtraining can lead to:. Just because one of these signs are present does not confirm overtraining. Often two or more symptoms must be present to prevent a false assumption of overtraining. It is difficult to confirm overtraining of the hormonal system because the measurement of these hormones is expensive, complex and time-consuming so there are not many tests that can be widely used to validate hormonal overtraining.

However, of the studies down, measurements of various blood hormone levels during periods of intensified training suggest marked disturbances in endocrine function accompanying excessive stress.

When training intensity is increases the following is often noticed:. Since the ratio of testosterone to cortisol regulates the anabolic process of recovery, this is an important indicator to predict overtraining. Increased cortisol combined with decreased testosterone can lead to more protein catabolism than protein anabolism in cells. This typically results in the loss of body mass because overtrained athletes have higher blood levels of urea and since urea is produced by the breakdown of protein, this indicates increased protein catabolism.

One of the most serious consequences of overtraining is an attack on your body's immune system. This is extremely negative because your immune system is your first line of defense against invading bacteria, parasites, viruses and tumor cells.