Training Burnout
Pushing your body to its limits can be advantageous to an extent, however this effort often comes with a price. When there is a noticeable decline in performance during workouts that last for months, this could be a sign that you are overtrained.
Some people believe that overtraining is a complete myth merely because exhaustion from exercise can vary from person to person. There’s individuals that can spend hours in the gym 6 days a week and some that can wait to leave within the first hour.
To overtrain, one would have to exert themselves more than rest and recovery will allow them to rejuvenate their bodies. Without a balance of rest and recovery with intense training, this can lead to symptoms of overtraining.
What Are The Signs of Overtraining
To get great results in the gym you need to have consistent effort and a desire to give it your all no matter what challenges you’re facing. This determined effort will surely be effective during active exercise, but this can also be your detriment once you leave the gym.
The lifestyle of some individuals outside the gym is very sedentary, with lots of hours spent sitting at a desk, driving to and from work, and watching television during the evening. Others have lives outside the gym that require them to be on their feet all day long, like first responders, restaurant staff, retail managers, construction crews, etc.
Individuals that have hectic lifestyles outside of the gym usually require more rest and recovery than others in order to feel 100% for their next session. Not doing so will likely result in less than stellar performance and eventual burnout.
Nutrition is also important, as a shitty diet will also have an effect on your energy levels and recovery from intense workouts.
There should be a balance between the amount of time spent in the gym and the amount of food that you consume daily. For a caloric deficit, eating less calories than the amount expended would be beneficial to lose body fat. However, this would be more effective if there was one or two days a week of a caloric surplus to help the body recover and rebuild from these exhaustive workouts (see The Method of Carb Backloading).
The first signs of overtraining is plateauing progress on lifts that you’re accustomed to for months with no progress (see Why is My Strength Plateauing). There are other factors regarding being overtrained besides being stuck at a particular weight for a period of time. If you’ve been working out for years as a fitness fanatic these signs can become easy to ignore:
Lingering aches in joints, feeling chills, poor sleep, low libido, low energy and motivation, and getting chills are all symptoms of overtrained individuals.
By not resting enough, not eating enough, and not getting proper sleep, your overall health will be compromised and destroy any progress/motivation acquired over the years.
To ensure that your body is adequately recovering, it’s important that you get the proper amount of hours of sleep for your body. The amount of hours vary amongst different individuals, however it’s still important to get deep REM sleep regardless (see Why Sleep is Necessary When Training).
As you make progress in your workout routine, you want to make sure that the volume is modest and something you can manage.
As mentioned earlier, it is proven that more sets with lifters over time increases gains, but you should add more sets to your training slowly over time. Every 3-4 months try to add an additional set to each exercise and track your progress.
Lastly, if you’re experiencing most of the overtraining symptoms get your hormone levels checked by your doctor when possible. If you have lower thyroid and sex hormones output, this could be one of the causative factors for poor libido and the difficulty for your physique to lose fat/build muscle.
The Wrap Up
The definition of overtraining can vary widely amongst different lifters, but the signs are real when rest and recovery is neglected. Exercise burnout often occurs when your lifestyle is not balanced outside the gym and there is too much focus on just lifting weights. Make sure that you’re getting the proper amount of sleep and nutrition needed to stay consistent on your fitness journey.
What else do you want to know?
Why is My Strength Plateauing?
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