I’m on another rest day — and reading about Overtraining. It’s an interesting topic and one of those that has you saying is that or is that not me –hmmm.  I took off an extra day this week but reading all this, maybe I need to take off a few days in a row –to really let my body recover properly. I just don’t see myself as one of those hard core athletes but if I really sit down and think about it — i work out pretty damn hard day in and day out. Most people go to the gym and walk on a treadmill — I am lifting heavy things, jumping all around, and running –all usually in one workout. I am not a spring chicken either –and add that to the already stressful life I lead, I could see how it can take its toll.  It’s definitely food for thought for me —

Overtraining – The Basics

The general definition of overtraining is this – a syndrome occurring in athletes who train too frequently/in excess OR who may not allow for adequate recovery from intensive exercise. As a result of this inadequate recovery, performance is impaired (1). While poor sport performance is the main symptom of overtraining, other non-specific symptoms may include other oldies but goodies such as: decreased motor coordination, decreased force production, altered immune, hormonal, and autonomic activity, and emotional, mood, and sleep disturbances.

While overtraining may seem scary, you don’t just feel great one day and then wake up the next overtrained. There is a phase that precedes the overtraining syndrome called “overreaching” (or “short-term” overtraining). Overreaching is characterized by training fatigue and a reduction in maximal performance capacity that that can last a few days up to 2 weeks. Typically, overreaching is inevitable during competitive training and therefore it is usually built into the program as a planned overreaching phase (and followed by a planned recovery phase). Without the recovery plan, overreaching can, however, progress into full blown overtraining.

Again, with overtraining, you may experience the symptoms listed above. While researchers aren’t completely clear on why it occurs, many suggest that overtraining results from the accumulation of exercise and non-exercise fatigue/stress. These stressors build up leading to exhaustion and mood disturbances that can last months (2). If left unchecked, overtraining can necessitate recovery periods lasting up to a year (3). No, that’s not a typo. If you fall into full-blown overtraining, it could be a full year before you feel good again. Imagine how that might impact a pro athlete.

*As a side note, I think it’s also important to note that overtraining stress equals the sum of the training and the non-training stress factors. Although training is the major contributor to overtraining syndrome, occupational, educational, and social stressors are accumulative and play a significant role (2). That’s why someone who’s only training 3 days per week can indeed be overtrained. Most gym devotees would laugh if someone suggested that they could be overtrained while on a 3 day per week maintenance program but it’s true. If the 3 days of training adds to some serious extracurricular stress, that’s all it might take.