Beauty

What it is?

Overtraining is a state of chronic fatigue resulting from excess physical activity. By themselves, exercising in the gym is beneficial for the body, but, as in the case of medicine, the main thing here is not to overdo it, otherwise it can become a deadly poison.

Overtraining Symptoms

Diagnosing overtraining at the initial stage is not an easy task. Often the symptoms of overtraining are mistakenly attributed to family problems, stress at work, and other life troubles. But if, after some time, the discomfort during and after training does not stop, then we can confidently speak of a state of overtraining.

Here is a list of the main symptoms of overtraining:

• fast fatiguability
• poor appetite
• nervousness and irritability
• headache
• sleep disturbance
• increased heart rate at rest
• lethargy and impaired coordination
• decreased immunity
• deterioration in training results
• increased recovery time after exercise

If you notice several of these symptoms in yourself, then this most likely means that you have overtraining and you need to take urgent measures. A quick reaction in this situation is a necessary condition in order not to aggravate your condition even more.

The reasons

The main causes of the state of overtraining are:

• chronic lack of sleep
• malnutrition and malnutrition
• lack of water
• having health problems
• high levels of stress in everyday life
• monotonous workouts
• too frequent training, because of which the body simply does not have time to recover — as a result, fatigue of the central nervous system accumulates, which gradually leads to a decrease in the efficiency of its work
• long workouts. It is known that strength training stimulates the growth of muscle tissue, but the longer the workout, the more cortisol is produced in the body. It is a hormone that breaks down muscle fibers (protein) into its constituent amino acids to send them to the liver, where they are converted into glucose for energy. Thus, prolonged training leads to the opposite result of what is expected — to the destruction of muscles, as well as a weakening of the immune system, the cells of which are also made of proteins. These findings are supported by numerous studies that have shown that high-intensity training should be limited to one hour or less in order to stimulate the synthesis, rather than the destruction of protein stores in the body.

Treatment for overtraining

The best and in fact the only treatment for an overtraining condition is to allow your body to rest and regain lost strength. The regimen for this treatment is very simple: get enough sleep (at least 8-9 hours), eat well (no diets, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables), and forget about going to the gym for a while. And even if you are a real fan of training and such a forced downtime scares you, nevertheless, replace trips to the gym with walks in the fresh air, yoga and stretching. In this mode, you will very soon feel how strength and energy return to you. But still, it’s better not to rush, and wait another week to return to classes, and when you return to the gym, start with light, pulling workouts.

Prevention

But the best way to avoid all the problems associated with the state of overtraining is to try not to create the conditions for its occurrence. To do this, you must adhere to the following preventive rules:

• always get enough sleep
• balance your diet (both in quality and quantity)
• drink water (at least 1 liter per day) and at the same time limit yourself to the use of diuretic products (salt, beer, coffee, strong black tea)
• try to get more rest
• vary your training program
• exercise at different intensities
• record the results of training, looking at them, you will always know when to take a break
• always listen to your body, sometimes it’s worth skipping one workout so that you don’t lose a whole month later

Author: Alexander Kuznetsov

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