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Taking On Too Much Weight: Overtraining Symptoms and Signs |
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Written by Matt Lindsay
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Getting a great workout all of the time will help you to look and feel better about yourself. However, unlike you may think, staying in the gym five hours a day doesn't help. Despite what you see in others, it is not good for your body to over train. This can be more detrimental than helpful to your health. If you want to make sure that you are doing what is best for your body, than you it begins with looking at possible overtraining symptoms and signs.
The first thing to know about overtraining symptoms and signs is that they are not set in stone. Sometimes, one will have only a few of these signs present, while other times, everything will hit you during a workout. At the same time, some of the things that may occur during a workout may not be from overtraining. You will want to make sure that you listen to what your body needs and know when to quit.
The first thing that you can take note of for overtraining is your ability to continue working out. Most likely, you will begin to get tired. The response will be that you won't be able to perform your activities as well. Your strength level during the workout will begin to decrease instead of increase. You may find yourself having a hard time lifting the same amount of weight or can't do the same number of sets with the weights. You may also find that you are making mistakes you never have before, such as improper form.
If the performance symptoms and signs with overtraining don't convince you that you should stop, then you can look at some of the physical changes that happen. While you are working out, you may notice that your heart rate alters instead of stays consistent. Even if you are trying to increase your heart rate for a given amount of time, it should not fluctuate too much. Your blood pressure also may increase or decrease. This will be followed by altered respiratory patterns. These all mean that you should slow down.
Outside of the gym, physical symptoms will also occur. For example, your body fat and body weight will decrease drastically. You will want to make sure that this is balanced. You may also begin to feel fatigued with daily tasks, more than normal. This will often time lead to sleep and eating disorders. If you are sleeping and eating too much or not enough, you might want to check in with your gym patterns. On top of all of this, you may also feel consistently sore with pains in your joints and muscles. While this is typically seen as a good sign, if it lasts too long, it can be hazardous.
The outside physical aspects that are related to overtraining continue on the inside. Because your body is becoming fatigued by the overtraining, it starts to shut down. You may find that it is easier for you to become ill. When you are sick, it will be even harder for you to get better. This is your body telling you to slow down. Your immune system is not able to keep up with what is happening.
Overtraining symptoms and signs also connect to other areas of your life. Even though a workout should be a way to feel better about yourself, overtraining will cause the opposite effect. Psychological symptoms of overtraining will begin to be apparent over time. Depression, anxiety and a decrease in self-esteem are three well known symptoms related to working out too much. You may also begin to be more sensitive to stress and daily routines. This is a sign that your body is giving you to slow down with the workouts.
While working out is known to be a great way to feel better about who you are, there is a fine balance between staying healthy and overtraining. Not only does overtraining stress out your body, it also begins to affect every other area of your life. If you want to avoid any complications physically, mentally or during a workout, than make sure you are looking out for the overtraining symptoms and signs. |
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