Am I Overtraining or am I Underprepared?

by Coach Angelica Virga

If you’re here, you’ve probably heard of the term overtraining. It’s become quite the buzzword in the fitness industry, however it’s not quite as common as you’d think. Overtraining is a serious condition that results from high intensity training and the inability to recover from recurrent stress. Now this isn’t something that happens after a few training sessions. Overtraining is the result of repeatedly overloading the body over the course of several months and in some cases even years.  

WHO IS AT RISK?  

Before we take a deep dive into who is at risk of overtraining, common symptoms, and how to avoid this, it’s important to look at the facts when it comes to our society and physical activity levels. Today about 95% of the population is not following the WHO recommended activity guidelines. Less than 5% of Americans are accumulating the minimum requirement of 150 minutes of moderate aerobic intensity exercise and 2 strength training sessions per week. For most of the population overtraining isn’t to blame for chronic pain, fatigue, injury and illness, it’s quite the opposite; under training is most likely the culprit.  

So, for the active part of the population, who is at risk for overtraining? Most commonly at risk are seasoned athletes training for a specific event whose training spans months or even years. Think Olympic lifters, Powerlifters or endurance athletes. With that being said, this doesn’t mean only high-level athletes are susceptible, but it can only affect someone who is truly training at high intensities over an extended period of time.  

STRESS, REST, REPEAT  

Any feasible training program should cycle between stress and recovery to result in adaptation. Unless we place stress on muscles, tensions, bones, ligaments and pair training loads with the proper recovery we will not be able develop the capacity for a higher level of performance. Stress, rest and repeat is the only way to facilitate adaptation.  

Many training programs will include what is known as overreaching. This is a short-term increase in intensity that reaches above previous training intensities. This increase is built into training programs a week or two prior to competition with the intention to increase performance on the day of the event. Though this will increase fatigue and possibly decrease performance, it’s only in the short term. The key difference between overreaching and overtraining is that overreaching is deliberately programmed to reach a goal. Overtraining is the result of a level of stress that is too high to recover from.  

Signs of overtraining can include both physiological and psychological prolonged symptoms such as inability to train at previously manageable intensity, increased muscle soreness, poor quality of sleep, increased resting heart rate or blood pressure, abrupt change in appetite, unusual weightless or gain, mood swings, depression, irregular periods or bowel movements, and higher susceptibility to injury or illness.  

OVERTRAINING OR UNDERPREPARED?  

The human body is an extremely amazing, but complex set of systems. Your training program should be developed to train and support the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and endocrine systems. If one or more of these are not stressed appropriately it can lead to adverse effects. For example, a runner who is training for the marathon needs to develop their cardiovascular system since their sport/event requires them to run 26.2 miles. What’s often overlooked is that the musculoskeletal system (joints, tendons, ligaments, muscles,) needs to be trained to support this type of milage too. So, if this runner doesn’t have the perquisite strength to handle the running volume, they might experience higher susceptibility to injury or pain.  

On the other hand, someone who consumes only HIIT fitness classes may experience some symptoms similar to that of over training because the intensity isn’t intentionally varied. Long term training at high training loads and intensities and the inability to recover from said stress is different from experiencing pain or injury as a result of not having the perquisite to handle the demands of the sport or activity you are training.  

LET RELOAD HELP YOU WITH PROGRAMMING  

So, are you overtraining or are you underprepared? The only way to truly determine this is to talk to a qualified physiotherapist or strength and conditioning coach. If you are experiencing pain, injury, or are interested in developing a well-rounded training program please reach out to us! We’ve helped Olympic, professional and collegiate athletes all the way to those looking to start their fitness journey. 

Your first fitness assessment is on us!  Sign up here at https://www.reloadpt.com/fitness-assessment to get started.