Many athletes will engage in extra workouts and extra training time with hopes to make themselves stronger, faster, and more competitive. Other individuals will over-train with hopes to reach their personal fitness goals faster, thinking “more” is better. Over-training happens when the extra efforts you put into your workouts create more harm and disadvantages than good. Here are 5 ways to know that you are over-training:
- You feel burned out. When you start feeling like you dread your workout, you’ve probably been over-training. Many athletes will use fitness motivational quotes to help with motivation. Another way to prevent burn out is to honor the rest day. Be sure to take a day off to mentally recharge and physically heal from rigorous training. You’ll return faster, stronger, and with even more determination.
- You are always getting injured. Injuries are one of the most noticeable signs of over-training. To prevent injuries from over-training, switch up one or two of your work out days with functional fitness training to help strengthen the body to decrease your risk of sports injury. A core strength exercise ball can increase functional fitness with a variety of exercises to strengthen the core. Rowing machines can be a great trade off for runners who need a day of cardio that also gives joints and muscles some time to heal.
- You’re oversleeping. When those 5am early morning runs start becoming scarce due to oversleeping, it’s a sign that you could be over-training. The body can produce extra melatonin to force itself into recovery mode when it’s over trained. Have a personal trainer look at your health and wellness coaching program to see where changes can be made or modified if you are sleeping through your workouts.
- Your social and family life are no longer balanced with your fitness goals. Individuals that over-train will often put their workouts above family and social commitments. Sometimes, jobs and careers can be negatively impacted by over-training. For maximum wellness gains, there should be balance in life between fitness, family, social life, and career. Consider modifying your fitness goals if they are no longer reasonable or realistic. Consider what you want to get out of your goals and how much time you have to offer to those goals.
- You feel sluggish during the day. Over-training can cause emotional challenges, causing you to feel sluggish or lacking of energy throughout the day. You can meet with a registered dietitian nutritionist to ensure that you are getting enough calorie intake to support your level of training as well as food tips to help boost energy. If nutrition is good, then your workout program will need to be examined to see why your energy levels are low. Over-training can affect vitamin absorption and some medications too and this can be determined by a physician at your next well visit.
