Ever been in a relationship where you just couldn't stop giving? You'd give your last breath to the one you were loving. And it damn near took the life out of you!! We've all been lost before. Life seems to bring you a place you were not trying to go. One question; Did you ask for directions? Or did you stop to think how you got where you are to figure out where you made the wrong turn? Did you ever stop to rest and regroup or did you just keep on going when you knew you were lost? The same pattern can play a role in your training or anything else that you love or enjoy. Are you giving until your last breath or are you giving until you've done enough?
When I first started working out it felt like I had to daily or in my mind I would have failed. So day in and day out I HAD to do it or I wouldn't feel right. Some say "Obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated." Yeah...right. Or, I've seen alot of obsessed people who don't know what the word; "Balance" means. I'm guilty. I admit this training thing has had me obsessed and sometimes it still does. It is my favorite drug. And like they say...too much of anything will do what? Probably kill you.
Every time I'm in the gym I give it all I've got and then some more. There have been days where I've stayed in bed on a weekday until 12 because my body hurt so bad from yesterday's workout where I had to call into work that I'd be late. No one should be doing that every day. Good luck being able to function like a normal person. Not to mention the wear and tear that has on your body.
Back at the National Personal Training Institute, (also known as NPTI), in lecture we were taught that the more people worked out at these extreme levels they would start to see what we called the "work horse effect". What's that you might ask...well its a style of working out that the obsessed use. Not eating enough and then overworking your body to the point of exhaustion. The point where you've given more energy than you had in the first place is an extreme habit. If one were to do this consistently for years they are more likely to die sooner than the person who occasionally works out.
"Overtraining occurs when work is in excess of fitness level or there is insufficient recovery time between work sessions. It is as common, if not more common than undertraining." Believe it or not, this definition is in reference to the overtraining of horses from Equine Veterinarian and Nutrition Consultant, Dr. J H Stewart.
The dedicated is a healthy word for people that are consistently listening to their bodies and take rest days.
There was no way, I was going to continue to punish myself...or starve to points where I had to physically drive myself home so I could have more food than what I brought with me. This was ridiculous and for what? A competition, to be a size 2 that I would never be able to maintain? What was it all for I began to ask myself as I sat in the audience at competitions or was backstage helping friends compete in bodybuilding shows. Then the next best question, "Is this extreme way of living worth it?" When I answered that question, and saw myself enjoying not being onstage and being a normal person, I realized that living a life of balance is more important. Being at a size I like and thats healthy all year around with no "yo-yo effects" is the first long-term lifestyle goal I want to achieve and that means no overtraining or extreme dieting. Now I work out consistently training different body parts, eating 4-5 meals a day and taking 1-2 rest days a week. I like feeling like I have energy ALL the time. My life is more important than living a lifestyle of extremes.
When your life is in balance, you are at peace. When you are in control of something not something having control of you, aren't you more content?
Overtraining Symptoms and Solutions:
If you ever wake up and feel like "Oh gosh, I really don't feel like running today or ellipticalling or biking, etc." You should switch your cardio up to something lighter like yoga, pilates or taking a long walk outside OR better yet, rest. You could cycle your rest days and do 3 days on, one day off, or 4 days on 1 day off. Or any pattern you think is suitable for your body to feel fully rested to move forward.
Signs of Overtraining (shapefit.com):
- Experiencing a loss of interest in what you once felt passionate about
- Elevated resting heart rate
- Increased susceptibility to infections
- Increased incidence of injuries
- Irritability
- Depression
- Loss of motivation
- Insomnia
- Decreased appetite
Shapefit.com suggests that in order to see improvement in ones strength and fitness they must rest. The rest period following hard training is a magical process which takes at least 36 hours to complete. If the amount of training continues to exceed the rest period, the individual's performance will plateau and decline.
Key Solutions (shapefit.com):
- Taking a break long enough to recover
- Reducing the volume and/or the intensity of the training
- Deep-tissue or sports massage of affected muscles
- self-massage of the affected muscles
- Temperature contrast therapy
- Ensuring calorie intake matches expenditure
- Splitting your training program so that different muscles are worked on different days
- Take your vitamins!
Know when enough is enough. Otherwise, your body has its ways of letting you know. We all have our limits. Know yours.
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