ARTICLE - OVER TRAINING! written by Outside Fitness Consultant Oct 2009

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Most people are more concerned with whether they are getting enough exercise rather too much but believe it or not there are people out there doing too much exercise, which can actually be detrimental to health.

How do you know if you overtraining?
If you are doing too much your body will effectively start to close down. If your workouts are becoming harder than normal and you starting to feel sluggish even though you have been making progression previously you could be suffering from overtraining. Take action now before you end up doing some serious damage!

Common symptoms of over training:
• Insomnia
• Achiness or pain in the muscles and/or joints • Fatigue
• Headaches
• Elevated morning pulse
• Sudden inability to complete workouts
• Feeling unmotivated and lacking energy
• Increased susceptibility to colds, sore throats and other illnesses
• Loss in appetite
• Decrease in performance

The Cure for overtraining... REST!

Your body needs time to rest and recover. If you are suffering from the symptoms listed above and suspect overtraining, STOP exercing for a couple of days, it won’t kill you! Taking a few days off will actually be beneficial to your progression.

How much is too much?
This depends on fitness levels, experience and intensity levels. If your goals are to increase muscle size and performance it is absolutely essential to give muscles time to recover and grow between workouts. Recovery time can be between 24 hours & 5 days depending on how much damage has been done to your muscles. This doesn’t mean that you can’t do another weight routine the day after just that you shouldn’t be working the same muscle groups repetitively.

Cardio training doesn’t have the same progression principles as most people involved in cardio activity are looking to burn calories through movement; unless a user is experiences symptoms of overtraining they are fine to workout day after day. This isn’t a licence to never have a day off ever again as rest still plays an important role. The intensity of your workouts are very important to deciding when you to take your rest day. Doing the same workout day after to day isn’t a great idea as it can lead to repetitive strain injuries and boredom

Try to mix it up every time you go to the gym and avoid where possible using the same movements and equipment two days in a row.

Repetitive Strain injury
If you are just getting started with exercise try not to do too much to soon. As overuse injuries are very common with new exercisers especially when embarking on running for the first time. Remember to stretch after each session and most of all keep the progressions small, changing your life is a marathon not a sprint.