Overtraining Symptoms: Are You Exercising Too Much?
When their results in the gym grind to a halt, a lot of people jump to the conclusion that they're overtraining.
In truth, it's highly unlikely that overtraining is the real problem.
What is overtraining?
Overtraining can best be defined as the state where rest is no longer adequate to allow for recovery.
The "overtraining syndrome" occurs when you're training intensely, but, instead of improving, your performance actually gets worse, even after an extended period of rest. It can take weeks (sometimes even months) to recover from a state of "true" overtraining [2].
Overreaching (so-called "short term overtraining"), or training beyond your body's ability to recover is a different story and describes a temporary deterioration in performance, usually lasting from a few days to a week.
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.
Although overtraining can have a damaging impact on your performance in the gym, your hormone levels also pay a heavy price.
In one study, a group of five endurance-trained men were studied before, immediately after, and three months after overtraining, which was defined as twice the previous average weekly training volume with unchanged intensity [4].
Basal testosterone levels decreased by almost 40% (from an average 8.68 ng/mL to 5.37 ng/mL). Cortisol levels also rose by nearly 50%, going to 215.3 ng/mL from 145.7 ng/mL.
Although both cortisol and testosterone had returned to normal three months after the men resumed their previous training program, the same can't be said of their sperm count, which remained 52% lower than baseline.
Why you're probably NOT overtaining
Although the term "overtraining" is used a lot, it’s a concept that very few people understand. Simply doing more exercise than you need to stimulate an improvement, or even just feeling "a bit tired" doesn’t mean that you’re overtrained.
As French Canadian strength and conditioning coach Christian Thibadeau points out, overtraining is far from being as common as most people would have you believe...
The problem stems from the term itself, which is composed of "over" and "training." Because of that term, individuals are quick to equate it to "training too much."
Some people will have a few sub par workouts and will automatically assume they're overtraining. Not the case. It could simply be acute or accumulated fatigue due to poor recovery management or a deficient dietary approach.
A real overtraining state/syndrome takes months of excessive stress to build up. And when someone reaches that state, it'll take several weeks (even several months) of rest and recovery measures to get back to a "normal" physiological state.
If a few days of rest or active rest can get your performance back up to par, you weren't overtraining. You probably suffered from some fatigue accumulation, that's all. |
In his excellent series of articles on the subject of overtraining, Lyle McDonald defines overtraining as a "long-term imbalance between the training load and recovery processes that, for a given athlete, leads to a decrement in performance that takes more than 2-3 weeks to return to normal."
"If you recover within 2-3 weeks," says Lyle "you were only overreached. By definition, overtraining only occurs if it takes longer than that roughly 2-3 week period to get back to or past your previous performance level."
However, even though most people will probably never experience "true" overtraining, or even overreaching, I don't think it's all that uncommon for your progress in the gym to come to a halt because you don't have the right balance between work and recovery.
Remember that it's not just what you do in the gym that imposes a stress on your body. A low-calorie diet combined with a "high stress" lifestyle AND an intensive training program can quickly add up. The effects are cumulative.
Usually, a reduction in performance is one of the first signs
that your body isn't getting all the rest it needs. But a slowdown in progress isn't always down to a lack of recovery. It could just be a crappy training program and/or a poor diet that's to blame.
However, one tell-tale sign that a decline in performance is caused by an imbalance between work and recovery (as opposed to poor nutrition and exercise habits) is when it's accompanied by a change in mood, which appears to be caused by an increase in the production of hormone-like substances called cytokines.
Overtraining symptoms
Most forms of training lead to some form of "injury," known as 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 microtrauma leads to the production of inflammatory molecules called cytokines [1]. 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.
Even a relatively short period of intensive training can raise levels of a cytokine called interleukin-6 (IL-6). In one four-week study, eight endurance-trained young men completed interval-training run sessions on three successive days in weeks two and three on top of their normal training [3].
Not only did this extra training suppress their immune systems, but it led to a chronic rise in IL-6. This was linked with an increase in fatigue and a "general feeling of malaise" in the runners.
If you're doing a lot of resistance training and you're not giving yourself sufficient recovery time, especially if you're using very low reps (2-5) and heavy weights (90-95% of your 1-RM), it can manifest itself in the form of anxiety or agitation. Excessive amounts of cardiovascular exercise, on the other hand, can lead to feelings of depression.
Of course, overtraining symptoms aren't the only reason that you could be feeling
anxious, agitated or depressed. But if you haven't been feeling yourself
and you can't identify the cause, then take a critical look at your
exercise program. It might be time to give yourself a break.
When to take a break
I think it's a good idea to give your body a complete 7-14 day rest for every 6-12 weeks of hard training.
Whether you decide to take a break after 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks or whenever is a personal choice. Everyone is different. If you're feeling motivated and your performance is getting better, there's no reason to stop.
However, if you're starting to notice some of the classic overtraining symptoms, such as changes in mood, insomnia, more frequent illness, a poor appetite or just a general lack of motivation, then now might be a good time to have a week off.
When I take a complete physical and mental break from training (to go on holiday, for example) I always come back feeling refreshed and motivated. Minor muscle or joint "niggles" have cleared up. I seem to have more energy.
What's more, the extra rest and recuperation will often leave you fitter and stronger than you were before taking the break. This isn't because of a dramatic increase in physical capacity. Rather, the fatigue that built up over the previous 6-12 weeks was just "masking" your fitness. And the extra rest just lets you display the conditioning that's always been there.
Taking a break can be hard to do, especially if you're the "hard driving" highly motivated type who feels guilty about missing a workout. I know it's not always easy to do, but taking one step back is sometimes
what you need in order to take two steps forward.
About the Author
 Christian Finn holds a master's degree in exercise science, is a certified personal trainer and has been featured on BBC TV and radio, as well as in Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Fit Pro, Zest and other popular fitness magazines.
If you want better, faster results from the time you spend in the gym, click here now for instant access to his step-by-step muscle-building and fat-burning workout routines.
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References
1. Smith, L.L. (2000). Cytokine hypothesis of overtraining: a physiological
adaptation to excessive stress? Medicine
and Science in Sports and Exercise, 32, 317-331
2. Smith LL. (2004). Tissue trauma: the underlying cause of overtraining syndrome? Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 18, 185-193
3. Robson-Ansley PJ, Blannin A, Gleeson M. (2007). Elevated plasma interleukin-6 levels in trained male triathletes following an acute period of intense interval training. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 99, 353-360
4. Roberts AC, McClure RD, Weiner RI, Brooks GA. (1993). Overtraining
affects male reproductive status. Fertility and Sterility, 60, 686-692
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