6 Signs of Over Training
1. Insatiable Thirst
If you often notice that you cannot seem to get enough water and it is coinciding with a period of increased gym time, there’s an excellent chance you’re overtraining. This is a result of your body being in a catabolic state. Catabolic state means that your body is starting to consume its own muscle for protein. When your body is in a catabolic state naturally you become dehydrated. If this happens you should drink plenty of water and get a lot of sleep.
2. Extended Muscle Soreness
It is normal for your muscles to be sore for a day or two after a workout, but if you notice that you are still sore past the 72-hour mark make sure you plan for a rest day. When your muscles are sore for an extended period of time it is a sign that your muscles are not recovering, which negatively impacts on your muscle-building. Your gym sessions should range from 45-75 minutes.
3. Insomnia
Do you notice that you can’t sleep even though you get wiped out from the gym? It could be a result of nervous system or hormonal system overload. To help correct this you should focus on getting your “10 p.m. to 2 a.m.” sleep because this is the part of your sleeping pattern in which physical restoration of the muscles happen. Your body grows, while resting not training.
4. Frequent Sickness
If you are over training then your body is in a catabolic state, which lowers your immune system and increases your chances of getting sick. Feeling sick is not part of a healthy lifestyle, and it is usually your body’s way of telling you that your immune system is low. If you are feeling sick a lot more than usual from overtraining make sure to get more rest, reduce your training, and adjust your diet and nutritional supplement intake. Specifically you should increase vitamins A, E, C, and glutamine.
5. Increased Injury
Do you find yourself getting injured more often or re-aggravating old injuries? This may be due to over training. When you overtrain your body does have a chance to recover between workouts, which means that at some point you begin training in a “weakened state.” If you do this too much you will increase your chances of injuries. To prevent injuries you should have “forced rest periods” and change up your training intensities by incorporating low intensity weights or cardio.
6. Decreased Motivation
It is normal to want to skip a workout, but if you generally live, breathe, and sleep gym life and then all of a sudden you become uninterested it could be from overtraining. Instead of going to the gym and just going through the motions improperly take a full week off, then reduce training volume when you return. It is also important to get good quality sleep (7-9 hours per night), proper nutrition, good supplementation, and planned rest days.
7. Lower Self-Esteem
It is natural to feel a sense of accomplishment after an intense workout, but when you get so obsessed with training it can become easy to start thinking that “more is better.” That has two effects, overtraining, and lower self esteem. This is related to your nervous system, overtraining impacts your level of happiness when it comes to training, it also may have effects such as depression, insomnia, and irritability. This could be a result of less sleep and lack of correct nutrition that usually comes along with overtraining.
8. Halted Progress
You may be overtraining if you notice that your body has stopped changing despite your efforts. If you are overtraining your body won’t grow because your muscles are torn and all you’re doing is re-tearing them again. Your muscles will only grow if they are given the time to rest and recover before more exercise.