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The purpose of training is to improve your stamina, the cardiovascular system and improve the strength of your muscles, tendons and bone. Training involves a balance between loading the body enough to improve your overall performance and fitness while also allowing enough time for the body to recover.
What is Overtraining?
Overtraining is when you push your body beyond its limits for prolonged periods of time (months to years). Typically it occurs when the athlete does not respect the amount of time they are allowing the body to rest (yes I am talking to you type A runners). Over time,the chronic stress on the body builds up and creates changes through the body systems. These systems include: nervous, endocrine, musculoskeletal and immune system.
The changes you see in the nervous system are due to changes with the neurotransmitters that contribute to fatigue and changes in mood.
In the musculoskeletal system, the body is not able to recover and “heal” properly which can lead to muscle fatigue, soreness and inflammation.
In the immune system you can see a decrease in white blood cells which can increase the chances of getting sick.
In the endocrine system the body's hormone levels change creating imbalances that can affect your ability to recover and your GI system.
These changes affect both physical and psychological aspects. Due to these changes in these systems, you can notice changes in your daily functioning at work, parenting, relationships and physical performance.
Chronic overtraining can eventually lead to clinical diagnosis of “Overtraining Syndrome (OTS)”. OTS occurs because of the increased volume and intensity of training that pushes your body to the limit regularly. It also can be brought on due to the lack of proper recovery and rest. This is from training to fatigue and overloading the body that ultimately leads to the syndrome itself.
Overtraining can occur in different forms and can be categorized into different stages.
Stage 1: “Functional Overtraining”. This is the early-stage where there are very small,subtle signs that can indicate that the athlete is starting to overtain.
Stage 2: “Sympathetic Overtraining”. This stage is more obvious and can start to see specific changes and imbalances to the body’s systems.
Stage 3: “Parasympathetic Overtraining.” This is the most serious stage. This is seen when you have been overtraining for too long and your body has become exhausted at the nervous and hormonal levels.
Symptoms of Overtraining
Physical Changes | Mood Changes |
Fatigue | Anxiety |
Insomnia | Irritability |
High or Low Heart Rate | Agitation |
Restlessness | Depression |
Inc in blood pressure | Loss or Motivation |
Weight loss | |
Heavy, sore, stiff muscles |
Keep these symptoms in mind when you start to train for a race or competition. You don’t have to be training for something specific to fall victim to overtraining. If you are someone who just likes to keep a “certain level of fitness" without much change in your training, you too can see the effects of overtraining.
Treatment and Prevention
There can be a lot of different aspects that go into treatment and prevention for overtraining. Below is a list of a few key points to keep in mind:
The primary form of treatment is REST. One of the biggest mistakes that athletes make is not listening to their body. Take the extra day off and let your body recover. Taking a rest day actually allows for the body to heal and become stronger. For runners or any kind of endurance athletes, make sure you are taking at least one day a week “off”. Listen to your body and take extra recovery time as needed. You will not lose your fitness by taking a day or two off. Your body will actually thank you and you might actually see some improvement in your performance.
Another good way to help prevent overtraining is to create a format that follows periodization. Periodization is breaking your training into “periods” such as: time of intense/high volume training and then a time of low intensity/low volume. You can even add in a rest and recovery block. These periods of periodization can be in weeks/months depending on what you are trying to achieve. This is great for making sure you are not always working at a “high demand” all the time.
Add variety in your training. Cross and strength training are always important for preventing burn out and targeting different muscles/areas of your body. Strength training is essential for injury prevention, try to always have at least 1-3 days a week for strength work.
Ensuring proper nutrition and hydration is essential in muscle recovery. If you are deficient in these areas it can affect your recovery. If you do not feel confident in this area then reach out to a sports dietician.
Another variable that is greatly overlooked is sleep. Sleep is essential for your body to repair and recover. Many of us balance a lot with our lives. Sometimes it seems like we do not have enough time in the day to get everything accomplished that we want to, especially if you are training for something specific. Finding a good balance with work, family, school or hobbies is tricky and we tend to push sleep to the side. Getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep is crucial for the body's recovery.
Keeping a training log can be a good way to keep track of everything. This can be a tangible way to log what you did that day, how you felt and other notes on training sessions. You can look back and see if there are significant changes and can help keep tabs on your progress or if a break is needed.
Run Happy & Healthy!
Dr. Noelle O’Hara, PT, DPT
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