Overtraining

Overtraining is a commonly used phrase within the fitness industry. However, I prefer to use the term under recovering.

You should be able to train as hard and as long as you please but you then must respect your body and allow the time that is needed to recover, failing to do so (intentional or not) is where the trouble is.

Best case scenario after not recovering fully, you are not able to push your body as hard as you may want and you may find that your motivation levels have dipped.

Worst case scenario, you get injured. You try to push through this fatigue and next thing you know your hamstring blows up whilst running or your lower back caves in a deadlift.

How to avoid over training (or under recovering)? – Be smart about your training. Here are some examples:

1. It is Thursday evening and Gary is at the gym, he has had the week from hell so far and he is meant to be training legs. He knows he is not in the physical or mental state to have a productive session. Gary decides to deload his session, he is going to do five sets of squats at 60% then go on the bike for 15 minutes. – This has allowed him to still train and still be okay to come back to the gym on Friday with more energy without missing a session.

2. It is Monday morning and Gary is back in the gym after sleeping like an absolute log, he is working away for 3 days so he is unable to train again until Thursday. Knowing this he decides to really push himself in the gym and hits two new PB’s (personal bests). This is followed by a breakfast of champions! Tuesday morning Gary is rather sore, but this is not a real issue as his body has the time it needs to recover before Thursday.

The point I want to get across here is that you know your body better than anyone else and if you can train and plan smart you will be in much better stead when it comes to progression in the gym, if not, your goal of dropping body fat or increasing your 10K time is not coming any quicker especially if you then get injured.

Train smart,

stay safe,

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Josh