Larry Pazdra CSCS
So you've been training for a while now. You've also been making steady
progress: Higher training weights, increased number of sets and
repetitions, more muscle mass and lower body fat percentage. Everything seems to be
going along so smoothly that you're sure Schwartzeneggerville is just around
the corner.
Then, you start noticing some things that weren't in the plan. That
great progress you were making in the bench press and most of your other lifts
comes to a halt. You begin to pick up nagging muscle pulls and joint
soreness that won't go away. You're finding it harder to sleep through the
night. You're generally more irritable than usual. And, finally, you find
yourself dreading your workouts to the point that you have to drag yourself to
the gym to gut out another exercise session.
If you recognize some or all of these symptoms now or in the past, you
may be or have been a victim of overtraining.
Overtraining syndrome is a physiological condition that can occur to
either strength or endurance enthusiasts. It's a condition whose name is
relatively self-explanatory as it describes itself as having developed because of
having trained too hard for too long. The concept itself is simple enough, but
the mechanism leading to the condition bears some explanation.
The body is regularly challenged by, and must react to, a variety of
stresses. Some stresses, like the flu, are unavoidable. Others, like
exercise, are controllable. For this article, the concern is with
exercise stress. When the body is forced to deal with exercise, its first
reaction is alarm. The neuromuscular system needs to learn how to do that bench
press more efficiently. The cardiovascular system must pump blood more
effectively. Other body systems respond accordingly to this assault. As we rest
between sessions of exercise, the body heals itself of the stress we put upon
it, and adapts itself by getting stronger and more fit. It's trying to be ready
for the next attack.
This system can work pretty smoothly as long as we keep fed and rested
between exercise bouts, and don't try to add fifty pounds to our bench press
every week. However, it can fall apart badly if we don't give it the time and
nutrients necessary to rebuild. It will eventually become systemically
exhausted and simply stop responding to our demands until it falls ill
enough to force us to quit.
So, if we find ourselves in this overtrained state, what can we do? The
first thing to do is take a complete break from workouts for a couple of
weeks, no matter how scary that sounds. If you still don't feel like you've
regained your energy levels after a few weeks - take another one off. The body
doesn't detrain so fast that you'll be back where you started when you return
to training. While you are on your break, you can engage in some active rest. This
means you can take some light walks, shoot some hoops, take an easy swim,
take a sightseeing bike ride, etc.
HEALTHandFITNESS.com 
