Does working more hours make you more money? Not necessarily. By doing so, you increase your risk of wasting time on useless things. While seemingly busy, you may be preventing yourself from focusing on priorities and the task at hand, and possibly be decreasing your productivity.
The same is true with training. You may be weight training 4 times a week, jogging 30 km a week, doing spin class 3 times a week and going to Pilates class on your “rest” day but still not seeing results. You are fatigued, your body is constantly aching, you don’t sleep well and your morning resting heart rate is through the roof. Your fatigue may be contributing to the sugar cravings just to push you through the day. When you train too hard for too long without sufficient rest, the body is no longer able to adapt and restore its balance, known as homeostsis.
Most people don’t understand that it is while you are resting that these sought-after adaptations occur. During training you are creating microtrauma, or “breaking” your muscles apart to create an endocrine response to promote tissue remodelling, fat burning and hypertrophy when you are at rest.
Signs that you are overtraining or under-recovering and what you can do:
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- Your mood is changing. If you’re feeling angry, depressed, with a high resting heart rate in the morning, take a break or decrease the volume (see number 5).
- You’re getting weaker. If the weights you are using every subsequent workout are decreasing/ plateaued (i.e., no overload), you are most likely not recovering sufficiently.
- Get sufficient rest. Optimal sleep should be uninterrupted and you should wake up refreshed. If this is not the case, you might want to read this article.
- Use nutrition. Vitamin C, E, glutamine, BCAA, wholesome foods will help you with recovery. Consult a Biosignature Practitioner about the proper peri-training and the best nutritional practice towards your health goals.
- Deload. For every 3 weeks you train at a high volume, spend one week at a low volume by decreasing the number of sets performed.
Overtraining does not make you more fit
Be honest. Can you explain why you’re doing what you’re doing? Or are you just blindly following what someone else does and while feeling like you’re getting nowhere fast? Just as working more hours doesn’t necessarily make you more money, training more does not necessarily make you any fitter. Our goal is to find the happy medium in which our clients can train the fewest days as possible that will provide them with the maximal result. Consult a KX Exercise Coach and get a proper program, prioritize, and enjoy your days off with friends and family.
Train smarter, not harder.