Reasons for Overtraining

Overtraining, as the name suggests, is the act of training your body too much. Many people have the misconception that in order to achieve a well-toned body one must spend hours performing extensive workouts. This is far removed from the truth and various media projections could be held responsible for propagating this belief. It is true that people who are involved in doing workouts want to get immediate results but this is not always possible. So it is important to bear in mind that patience is essential while working out because a strong and well-toned body cannot be obtained in a short span of time.

Common symptoms of overtraining

Overtraining occurs when there is an imbalance between training and recovery. Some symptoms that indicate that you are overtraining are as follows:

• Feeling tired and fatigued most of the times
• Losing body weight rapidly
• Decreasing performance level
• Increasing number of infections
• Rapidly increasing heart rate during exercise

What causes overtraining?

Extending each training session beyond 1.5 hours: A recent research has revealed that training for 3 to 4 hours every day is as good as training for a maximum of 1 to 1.5 hours. If you want your muscles to grow, you must allow it some time to rest and sleep. When you are doing extensive workouts your body consumes a lot of glucose. In order to maintain the blood sugar level at a stable state the body's stress hormone forces the occurrence of gluconeogenesis on the muscle tissue. When the muscle tissue is broken down it leads to release of amino acids in the blood stream which in turn helps the liver to synthesize glucose. The glucose allows your brain to function properly. Thus, keeping your workouts short will ensure that you do not end up eating away your own muscles.

Improper Eating Habits: If you are involved in intense workout sessions the energy reserves of your body are being used up constantly. If they are not replaced, you are likely to suffer as muscle contractions are not possible without sufficient glucose. Consuming enough carbohydrates is essential for someone who does extensive weight training.

Lack of Rest and Sleep: Those who perform extensive exercises must sleep for at least 8 to 10 hours every day. You need to give your muscles enough rest so that they get time to grow and repair. A proper training program entails that you train extensively for two days and then either rest or perform some light aerobic exercises for the next few days. It is important to give your body parts a rest of 48 hours between subsequent training sessions.

Ways to avoid overtraining

• Get a personal trainer and chalk out a proper training program for yourself
• Ensure that there is variety in your workouts
• Do not train any particular muscle group too much. Make sure you have a balanced workout.
• Include some cardio as well as sports activities in your training program.
• Never get too involved in your workouts. Remember to catch up on some rest.

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Tips to Avoid Overtraining

When you are working out to improve your fitness levels, you must be careful about avoiding overtraining as it may injure your body. Overtraining, without providing sufficient amount of rest to your body, can cause muscle injuries, strains, sprains and tendinitis. It may even prevent muscle growth and weaken your immune system resulting in flu, cold and other health problems. Following are some tips provided by boot camp fitness programs to avoid overtraining and gain in strength.

Minimize the Frequency of Workouts
Some fitness freaks undergo rigorous training five to six times a week and do not allow the body sufficient amount of rest. Many other fitness enthusiasts concentrate on the different body parts on different days of the week. Instead of subjecting your body to this rigor, you should limit yourself to not more than a couple of intense workouts giving a gap of one or two days between each workout. Instead of 5 sets of exercise, do 3 sets and switch to a couple of full body workouts every week. Also, it is recommended that you practice compound movements or multi-joint exercises such as shoulder presses, pull downs, push ups, bar dips, bench presses, dead lifts, lunges, leg presses and squats as they offer more workout to the different body parts, while promoting better muscle growth.

Adequate Sleep
In order to obtain adequate recovery between your training sessions, you need a minimum of 8 hours of sound sleep every day to enable muscle growth and optimal release of growth hormones. You also need to eat sufficient amount of food to provide energy to your body.

Alternate between your Exercise Routines
Doing the same set of exercises every day can inspire boredom and disinterest. To prevent this, you should introduce some sort of variety in to your exercise routine. For e.g. you can alter the order of your exercises or you may take up a few new exercises. If you have been doing squats and bench presses, switch to push ups and bar dips or leg presses and lunges. You may also alternate between upper body exercises and lower body exercises during different workouts. Many fitness enthusiasts maintain the same speed or tempo all throughout their exercise regimen. They should instead start off with a slower tempo and graduate to a faster speed.

Allow a Prolonged Break
When you work out too frequently and too vigorously week after week, you might experience cramps and muscle soreness. In these cases, giving your body two days of rest might not be sufficient. If you push your body too hard, it might not be ready for the next workout. Allow your body 8 to 10 days of rest and let it recover fully. Reserve every 4th week for these periodic rests. This will provide your body with the opportunity to recuperate from muscle tears, pulls, injuries and soreness.

Additional Tips for Avoiding Overtraining
A post workout nutrition, in the form of a protein and carbohydrate shake is a must after intense workouts. Eat a small meal an hour later. Take multivitamin pills to curb nutrition deficiencies and fill your diet with sufficient amount of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and omega 3 oils.

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