Are You Overtraining?

Overtraining, otherwise known as OT, is a serious syndrome which affects those who engage excessively in strenuous physical activity without taking adequate breaks. Anybody who consistently performs any kind of activity which involves strenuous exercise should beware of developing this syndrome.

The difficulty with this syndrome lies in the fact that it will quite likely not suddenly hit you one morning; rather it will creep up on you very slowly. The symptoms occur because you may wear out your body to the extent that it cannot recover itself adequately. As such, it is important to remember that allowing the body to rest is just as important in developing fitness. Only through proper rest and giving the body breaks in between workouts can you truly get healthy.

Most people who suffer from overtraining are athletes who engage in high intensity training every day, or bodybuilders who never take a break. However it is something that everyone who engages in physical activity on a regular basis should be aware of. Since there is really no way of treating the syndrome the only thing you can do is be aware of the risk and avoid developing the symptoms in the first place.

Prevention is thus the best strategy. In the first instance, therefore it is always important to vary your exercise routine. Do not do the same thing over and over again without mixing it up a little. You should never be working out the same muscles on consecutive days, especially for longer stretches of time.

You should also beware of taking on repetitive motion tasks without proper preparation or breaks. For instance, some people develop tennis elbow because of consistently playing tennis. Alternatively, runners often get shin splints. Different kinds of exercises can have different effects on different areas of the body. So when you repeatedly use one muscle group, particularly at the expense of the others, you can start to wreak havoc on you body.

There are many symptoms of overtraining, the most common of which include lethargy, decreased performance, loss of motivation, depression, increased injuries, and an increased resting heart rate. Beyond this you might also experience increased amount of colds and flu, insomnia, headaches, lack of appetite, and difficulty concentrating.

Overtraining is very hard on the body's immune system, so those with the syndrome will often get sick easily, and also get injured easily because their muscles are so strained and weak. Instead of continuous training helping to strengthen your body and your health, overtraining can lead to serious ailments, poor health and illness.

While the best thing to do for overtraining is to simply avoid it in the first place, there are certain things you can do to mitigate the effects so you can get healthy again as soon as possible. Should you have already overexerted yourself follow some of the steps below for taking a load off and giving your body a break.

The first and most obvious thing is to simply take some time off. Even though you may feel like you're being lazy, taking some time to rest can be the best thing you can do for your health and your fitness. Remind yourself that you're only making yourself weaker by continuing to train ever day.

Secondly, after a week or two off from working out, begin slowly again and don't overdo it. Be sure to stretch well before and after each workout and keep the workouts short and sweet. Once you've injured yourself or diminished your strength through overtraining, it is essential to start out slow. Remember that overdoing it will leave you back at square one, having to take more time off to recover.

Next, start to mix up your workouts by taking up a new sport or by engaging in some potent cross training. If you were previously only into doing weights, be sure to add some cardio. If alternatively, you were a cardio junkie, start to work on your core and begin adding some weights to your routine.

Exercising the core group of muscles, your abs and back especially can be the key to preventing future injuries. Yoga and Pilates are two great ways to get your core in shape and to slow down the mind while exercising the body. Both Yoga and Pilates can be intense physical workouts even while helping you to reach a relaxed meditative state - a state no doubt that many over-trainers could use.

Finally, be sure to take breaks between workouts and to rotate your routine so that you don't exercise the same muscles every day. This can cause strain and injury and lead you back down the road to suffering. If you are doing legs and butt one day, be sure to work out the arms and back at the next opportunity, or to put a cardio routine in between the two.

Unless you are a professional athlete, bodybuilder or are training intensely for a particular challenge (in which case the intense training should only be temporary), you don't need to be working out more than 5 times a week. Taking a walk the other two days is more than enough to keep your metabolism going and to stretch out your body.

Once you have the syndrome it can take quite awhile for the symptoms to ease, anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. So, if you don't want to go through this again, follow the above advice and keep yourself well and healthy.

Dale Miller is a health, sports, fitness and nutrition enthusiast. He operates centurysupplements.com centurysupplements.com/ and writes a blog at centurysupplements.com/blog centurysupplements.com/blog/