An easy way to tell if you're overtraining...
The whole point of training is to improve in some way. This means you
must apply the principle of progressive overload — to continually
demand more of your body in an attempt to make it leaner, fitter, stronger,
or healthier. Too much training, however, especially when it's combined
with a low-calorie diet, can lead to a condition known as overtraining.
A classic sign of overtraining is that you're training as hard as ever,
but your performance in the gym is consistently getting worse, rather
than better.
This drop in performance is usually accompanied by changes in mood,
together with a large number of biochemical and physiological symptoms.
Joint and muscle pain, fatigue, and loss of appetite are just a
few signs of overtraining.
Overtraining
Overtraining can best be defined as the state where rest is no longer
adequate to allow for recovery. The "overtraining syndrome" is the name
given to the collection of emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms
that persists for weeks (maybe even months).
Overtraining often stems from the frustration many people feel at their
slow rate of progress — especially if they've been training for some
time. This leads them to spend longer and longer in the gym in the belief
that if a little exercise is good, then more is better.
In contrast to overtraining, overreaching describes a temporary
decline in performance. Some athletes incorporate overreaching in their
training cycle, but make sure to include the correct amount of recovery.
Without this balance, overreaching can lead to overtraining.
Researchers have tried to determine what happens to athletes when they
begin to overtrain. Although numerous measurements have been tested in
an effort to spot overtraining in its early stages, none has proven totally
effective.
However, writing in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and
Exercise, Dr. Lucille Lakier Smith suggests that one common factor
could be at the heart of many of the symptoms of overtraining.
Cytokines
Most forms of training lead to some form of "injury", known
as a microtrauma — or, more accurately — adaptive microtrauma.
The reason it's called adaptive is that the microtrauma leads to some
kind of adaptation in bone, muscle, or connective tissue. That's why muscles
get bigger and bones get stronger.
This small level of microtrauma leads to the production of substances
called cytokines (pronounced sigh-toe-kines). Cytokines are a little
like hormones, and they can give you an early warning that you're
about to enter an overtrained state.
Your brain contains specific cytokine receptors. Think of cytokines
like a key, and receptors like a lock.
When cytokines bind these receptors, they lead to changes in mood. In
fact, there is evidence to link cytokines with depression. Test subjects
administered cytokines tend to become distressed. And the higher the level
of cytokines, the worse the symptoms get.
Mood
Although a reduction in performance is normally considered as a sign
of overtraining, it can be preceded by changes in mood. If you're
aware of this, you can prevent an overtrained state before it manifests
itself as a decline in performance.
Dr. Michael Stone suggests that overtraining syndrome for someone following
an "anaerobic" training program (such as strength training)
manifests itself as anxiety or agitation. In contrast, an overtrained
state caused by aerobic exercise can lead to feelings of depression.
Of course, overtraining isn't the only reason that you could be feeling
anxious or depressed. However, if you are feeling a little down,
and you can't identify the cause, then take a critical look at your
exercise program.
Although it's not always easy to do, taking one step back is sometimes
what you need to do in order to take two steps forward.
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Reference
Smith, L.L. (2000). Cytokine hypothesis of overtraining: a physiological
adaptation to excessive stress? Medicine
and Science in Sports and Exercise, 32, 317-331
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