How To Avoid Overtraining

Over-training implies that the participant is exercising too hard, for too long, and with insufficient recovery time in between training sessions to allow adequate body regeneration and repair. And what this eventually leads to is ongoing fatigue, poor results, injury and eventually dropping out of their fitness program.

One of the most common injuries that can occur in the over-trained weight trainer is chronic shoulder pain, especially if the participant is in their first 12 to 18 months of training.

Additionally, if the person is also on a split routine (a system where the workout is divided into exercise movements) you need to ensure the movements selected provide adequate recovery time between each training session.

In the early days of formal exercise prescription it was common to design split routines to work specific muscles (e.g back, shoulders, chest); however, some current program design focuses more on the actual movements, rather than the muscles. A split routine may include squat and push movements on day one; bending and pulling movements on day two; and on day three lunge and twist movements.

Here are some tips about how to avoid overtraining:

• Get to know your body well enough that you know when you are at the peak. If you are dragging your bag into the gym and falling asleep on the leg press then you are most likely better off at home resting

• The actual recovery time needed between exercise bouts is usually longer than you think and is affected by such factors as the intensity of your exercise session, your nutrition, quality of sleeps, and overall stress level

• Hold off on those split routines and multi-exercises per body part routines until you see your results plateau, and certainly wait for well over 12 months before even contemplating these more advanced programs.

• Resist the temptation to do your weight training on consecutive days. There is a lot of benefit to be had from following a simple full body weight training program done on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for example

Some symptoms of over training:

• Lethargy

• Lack of Training Motivation

• Loss of strength and exercise performance

• Loss of appetite 

• Loss of libido

• Chronic joint aches and pains

• Irritability and tiredness

Good Luck!