Symptoms of Overtraining

Exercise is a key element to vitality and longevity, however, there’s can always be too much of a good thing. Exercise programs should be tailored to the specific needs and limitations of an individual with the person listening to signs and cues from the body of potential overtraining.

The Signs

• Persistent muscle soreness
• Persistent fatigue (different from just being tired from a hard training session—occurs when fatigue continues even after adequate rest)
• Central fatigue can take the form of losing the desire or motivation to continue exercise or losing the desire or motivation to continue exercise or a decline in some aspect of the motor skills associated with continued exercise
• Elevated resting heart rate – a persistently high heart-rate after adequate rest, such as in the morning after sleep, can indicate overtraining
• Reduced heart rate variability
• Increased susceptibility to infections
• Increased incidence of injuries
• Irritability
• Depression
• Burnout

Symptoms of overtraining include muscle soreness, boredom, poor motivation, sleep problems, increased morning pulse rate, diminished sex drive, a drop in energy, decreased resistance to illness, poor appetite, and weight loss.

It is important to note the difference between overtraining and overreaching; overreaching is when an athlete is undergoing hard training but with adequate recovery; overtraining, however, is when an athlete is undergoing hard training without proper recovery. With over-reaching, the consequential drop in performance can be resolved in a few days or weeks.

Treatment

The most effective way to treat the effects of overtraining is to allow the body enough time to recover:

• Taking a break from training to allow time for recovery.
• Reducing volume and/or intensity of training.
• Suitable periodization of training.
• Splitting the training program so that different sets of muscles are worked on different days.
• Increase sleep time.
• Deep-tissue or sports massage of the affected muscles.
• Self-massage or rub down of the affected muscles.
• Short sprints with long resting time once the athlete is able to continue with light training.

Prevention

Passive recovery, instead of active recovery, is a form of rest that is recommended to be performed by athletes in between rigorous, intermittent exercise. With active recovery, time to exhaustion is much shorter because the muscles are deoxygenated at a much quicker rate than with passive recovery. Thus, if avoiding overtraining means preventing exhaustion, passive recovery or “static rest” is safest. “Five weeks of rest appreciably improve both performance and mood state, and there is growing evidence that a very low level of exercise will speed recovery. If active recovery is performed during intense exercise, an athlete may find themselves in a state of being overtrained. The gradual variation of intensity and volume of training is also an effective way to prevent overtraining.

Diet

Adapting nutritional intake can help to prevent and treat overtraining. Athletes in different fields will emphasize different proportional nutrition factors on the diet mainly including proteins, carbohydrates and fats. The diet includes a calorie intake that at least matches expenditure, ideally forming a suitable macronutrient ratio. During the recovery process, extra calories from diets may help the body speed the recovery. Keeping the body nourished with a balanced diet and hydrated with an adequate supply of water are both important for a successful recovery. Finally, addressing vitamin deficiencies with improved diet and/or nutritional supplements has been proposed as a way to speed up recovery.

Rhabdomyolysis

Exertional rhabdomyolysis is an extreme and potentially deadly form of overtraining that leads to a breakdown of skeletal muscle which makes its way into the blood. Many molecules such as potassium, creatine kinase, phosphate, and myoglobin are released into circulation. Myoglobin is the protein that causes the lethal reaction in the body. Early detection of the syndrome is essential in full recovery. A serious late complication of rhabdomyolysis which occurs in 15% of the population is acute kidney injury, and in some cases it can lead to death.