Question - Why is it so bad to overtrain and how do you know if you are overtraining?

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Q. Why is it so bad to overtrain and how do you know if you are overtraining?

Overtraining essentially means that you are giving your body more work than it can physically recover from and it will break itself down (lose muscle) rather than build itself up. Overtraining can easily kill any progress you are making in your training and even set you back.

Everyone is different as to how much training they can do before overtraining. Some people, who are known as "hardgainers" cannot tolerate much before slipping into overtraining. Hardgainers must be especially aware of the signs of overtraining. Some people, call them "muscle geniuses", can tolerate huge volumes of training and still get great results.

You will know if you are overtraining if you have one of more of the following symptoms:

rapid resting heart rate (about ten beats per minute over your usual resting heart rate). Check this first thing in the morning after you wake up to get an accurate comparison.
elevated blood pressure
decreased desire to train
decreased strength
impaired immune system function (repeated or lasting illness)
general tiredness
decreased sex drive
loss of appetite
susceptibility to injuries

Factors that influence whether you may be experiencing overtraining include:

how much sleep you're getting
quality and quantity of nutrition (including supplements)
quantity and intensity of training
training level
stress levels

To recover from overtraining, the best thing you can do is cut back on your training. You can also cease training for awhile, taking a layoff, just be sure you don't give up exercising completely, as can easily happen when you lose motivation through overtraining. Do about half of what you were doing before and reduce the intensity of the training that you are doing.

Some people are so overtrained that they must reduce or stop their training for several or more weeks.

If you have one of more of the above symptoms, do yourself a favor and reduce your load or take a short layoff. Your body will thank you for it.

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