Do you give your all in training, but get less in return - or even relapse? Does it seem like you're always battling bronchitis, tendonitis, or some other 'itis'? Or maybe your usual over-enthusiasm for exercise has faded to "barely there." These are just a few possible signs of overtraining syndrome (OTS), and you don't have to be a competitive athlete to develop them. Here we will explore what OTS is, why it is so difficult to diagnose, the range of symptoms that can serve as warning signs, andsome ways to help the body recoverand return to previous performance levels. *This blog will cover many aspects of overtraining, but to get the full story:NASM CPT-programmacan provide much more context. The new edition of NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training (7th edition, Jones & Bartlett 2022) describes overtraining syndrome as “a condition in which an athlete or fitness client experiences fatigue, decreased performance, and burnout” (Sutton, 2022) . Overtraining can be associated with any type of sports or fitness program – from running to group training to resistance training – and can occur at any age. In 2007, pediatricians noted an increase in OTS among children and adolescents who participated in competitive sports (Brenner, 2007). As with many things, overtraining can be viewed as a continuum – from an occasional day of 'overdoing' to a chronic state of inadequate recovery that lasts for weeks, months or even years. To avoid going down that path, here are a few things to consider before you start exercising: If the answer to any of these questions – or more – is “no,” this is an excellent day to call back. Still not sure if it's a good day to go all-in? Also consider these questions: Here, a “yes” answer is a good indication that your body is not in top shape today. Also read: This way you prevent burnout during training Most people feel tired, sore and stiff after a training session, especially when they try something new or increase exercise intensity, volume or some other variable. Some of these symptoms start a few hours after a training session, but usually disappear within a few days. After some rest, recovery, and refueling, the athlete typically feels refreshed and ready to begin their next workout (Sutton, 2022; Davis et al., 2020). However, the symptoms of overtraining last longer and are more varied. They can include: (1) A plateau or decline in exercise performance or progress. (2) A perception of increased exertion during 'normal' or 'light' exercise. (3) Excessive sweating or overheating. (4) Unusual feelings of heaviness, stiffness or tenderness in the muscles. (5) A lack of feeling 'refreshed' after regular rest and recovery.What is overtraining?
19 POSSIBLE SIGNS OF OVERTRAINING
Exercise-related symptoms of overtraining:
(6) Recurrent injuries, such as muscle sprains, tendonitis, stress fractures and chronic joint pain.
(7) A decrease in enthusiasm for exercise (or skipping or stopping exercise).
Physical, mental and emotional changes due to overtraining:
(8) Persistent feeling of fatigue, exhaustion, or low energy throughout the day.
(9) A decrease in motivation and/or self-confidence.
(10) Lack of enjoyment in favorite hobbies and interests or other signs of depression.
(11) Unusual mood or emotions, such as excitement, anger, confusion, irritability and restlessness.
(12) New sleep problems, including insomnia and poor sleep quality.
(13) Problems with concentration and performance at work or school.
Systemic health problems due to overtraining:
(14) A sickly appearance, including changes in the skin, hair and nails (such as acne or hair loss).
(15) An increase in resting heart rate and/or resting blood pressure.
(16) Unplanned/unwanted weight loss or gain or eating disorders.
(17) Digestive problems, such as constipation, diarrhea, loss of appetite and increased thirst.
(18) Reproductive problems, such as a decrease in libido (sex drive) and a change in menstruation (including irregularity or cessation of menstruation).
(19) Repeated bouts of illness, such as colds and upper respiratory tract infections.
(Budgett et al., 2000; HHS, 2017; Kreher & Schwartz, 2012; Kendall-Reed & Reed, 2020)
Note: Because many of the signs of overtraining can mimic health problems (such as asthma, anemia, depression and diabetes), it's important to talk to a doctor about new or unusual symptoms as soon as they arise.
Athletes can also benefit from understanding a rare but life-threatening condition calledrabdomyolyse, which can result from a single workout intense enough to burst muscle fibers, triggering a dangerous biochemical chain reaction in the body. One of the hallmarks of rhabdo is brown urine, like ice cream or cola (Cannon, 2019). Learn moreher.
OVERTRAINING IDENTIFICATION TOOL
While the above checklist can be a useful guide (or wake-up call), it is somewhat subjective. Athletes may ignore or deny specific symptoms, or they may think their health problems are less persistent, frequent, or serious than they are.
This may be especially true for people who are prone to exercise addiction or whose career or identity is closely tied to their education. The point here is that more objective measures can also be useful.
Researchers, healthcare providers, and fitness professionals may suggest laboratory tests, such as blood tests, to measure nutrient levels (such aselectrolytesor iron), hormones (such as cortisol, thyroid andtestosterone), or other factors (such as blood counts and signs of inflammation).
However, there are some easier ways athletes can quantify how they are doing compared to previous weeks or months. Here are a few.
Fitness diary and/or app
Keeping a detailed record of the workout (including amount of resistance/weight, timing and number of sets/reps, etc.) makes it easier to compare current and past performance. If desired, athletes can also record information about sleep, nutrition, injuries, illness and other statistics.
High-tech (apps, smartwatches, trackers) and low-tech (a handwritten diary) both work. Participants must choose the method they are most likely to follow.
Performance reviews
Participation in periodic reviews can provide a useful starting point for comparison. This is something that certified personal trainers do when they first meet a client and repeat it regularly afterward. It is ideal for measuring cardiorespiratory fitness, strength and endurance.
Examples of simple assessments include timing a 1 mile run or counting the number of push-ups that can be performed before breaking form (NASM, n.d.). (Find additional performance reviewsher.)
You can also find a resource atfirst fitness consultationsInmovement assessmentsby following the respective links.
Ratings of perceived exertion
The perceived effort rating associates different levels of effort with numbers on a scale of 1 to 10 (or 1 to 20). Trainers can use this during any part of any workout. The number chosen should reflect how the person feels in general. Recording these results can help detect changes in perceived exertion that may be related to overtraining.
Pulse and blood pressure
Resting heart rateis generally lower for fitter people; however, this is likely to increase if an athlete overtrains.
Many fitness watches track heart rate automatically, making it easy to measure RHR, but it is also easy to measure heart rate manually at the wrist. (Count the beats for 10 seconds and multiply by 6 to get the number of beats per minute.) It is ideal to take measurements just before you get out of bed in the morning.
Overtraining can also cause an increaseblood pressure at rest, which you can follow at home. A healthcare provider can recommend a reliable brand of monitor and explain ideal measurements as they vary from person to person (Sutton, 2022).
Restitutiepuls-heart rate immediately after training - can also be affected by overtraining. This is used to observe how long it takes for an exercise-increased heart rate to return to normal resting levels.
Fit people generally experience a faster return to normal heart rate than people who are not conditioned. If this recovery rate starts to take longer than normal, it could be a sign of deconditioning (Sutton, 2022).
Risk assessment
As indicated earlier, overtraining does not only occur because you overdo it during training or give too little priority to recovery. Seemingly unrelated factors can also cause someone to overtrain.
This may include following a monotonous program, participating in only one activity or sport, having a recent illness or injury (even if resolved), recently participating in a competitive event or extreme training session (such as a black belt test), experiencing a significant life event such as moving, death, divorce, job loss or change, or even something positive such as the birth or adoption of a child.
Environmental conditions such as altitude, temperature, humidity and even a change in time zone can also affect the body's recovery after exercise. The more factors present, the more likely the athlete will need to adjust their training program to avoid overdoing it (Kendall-Reed & Reed, 2020).
HOW TO GET BACK FROM OVERTRAINING
The requirements needed to restore balance will vary from person to person.
When overtraining is long-term or recurring, or when body symptoms involve system-wide changes, the best course of action is to seek the help of a team of health and fitness professionals. Here are some key pillars of the recovery that are likely to be addressed:
Rest
It may be best to stop training completely for at least a week and, in severe cases, cancel upcoming competitions or events. Many athletes can see improvements by simply reducing their training by 50 to 80 percent.
This does not mean that light activity (such asgoor housework) is necessarily excluded unless a physical illness or injury requires even greater rest (Cleveland Clinic, 2020; Stryker, 2016).
Active recovery training is a great way to build in rest while facilitating recovery.See this blog about active recovery training.
Sleep
Most American adults fall short of the 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. night recommended by the National Sleep Foundation. These needs can increase when a person recovers from overtraining or simply from a challenging workout or series of workouts.
Good sleep hygiene starts with choosing a time to go to bed and a time to get up and then sticking to them consistently, even on weekends. Visit the NSF website (NSF, 2020; Lastella et al., 2018) to learn how to create habits that make it easier to fall and stay asleep.
Fuel
Often people who want to reduce their body weight will reduce caloric intake to the point where there is not enough nutrition available for recovery. For example, the body needs sufficient protein intakemuscle protein synthesis(muscle building at the molecular level) will take place (Sutton, 2022).
Also interesting is the recent increase in the daily recommendation for fluid intake. Today, 11.5 cups per day is recommended for women and 15.5 cups for men. After more than an hour of exercise, an additional 12 to 16 ounces per day is recommended. 15 minutes (Sutton, 2022).
Treat
If any illness or injury is present, these should be assessed and treated before resuming sport. Depending on the type of injury, the athlete may need to modify workouts, modify exercises, or cross-train in other areas until they heal. Again, a healthcare professional can best guide these areas of recovery.
“Treatments” may also include the use of tools and strategies shown to promote recovery, such as water immersion, compression garments, massage, active recovery, and self-myofascial release (e.g., using a foam roller).
Reconsider
The downtime allows athletes to take a closer look at their training program. Although OTS is not caused by exercise alone, it can be reduced with evidence-based programming. For example, NASM recommends having aintegrated training program, which includes “all forms” of training (balance, cardio, core, flexibility, plyometrics, resistance and speed, agility and speed training).
It is also important to use a systematic and progressive approach, such as:NASM Optimum Performance Training™-modellen, which starts with the mastery ofbasic movement patterns(important daily movements). Collectively, integrated, systematic, and progressive approaches can help prevent injuries and overtraining while maximizing results (Sutton, 2022).
IS THE OVERTRAINING SYNDROME REAL?
Although overtraining syndrome is a dominant force in the fitness world, why is OTS sometimes treated with the same skepticism as UFOs?
- FirstThere is no test that can definitively diagnose overtraining syndrome.
- Otherthere is no consensus on the observable and measurable changes that should be used to identify OTS. In a recent comparison of 22 resistance exercise studies, the OTS marker agreed upon by each research team was a “sustained decline in performance” (Grandou et al., 2020).
These two facts have led some experts to propose the term "paradoxical deconditioning syndrome" or "unexplained underperformance syndrome."Furthermore, many researchers have argued that including the word "overtraining" in the name implies that the cause always lies in the training program. However, it is now believed that OTS is the result of an accumulation of factors, many of which occur outside the training sessions.
This more complex view is reflected in the NASM textbook definition of overtraining as “excessive frequency, volume, or intensity of exercise resulting in a reduction in performance that is also caused by a lack of proper rest and recovery” (Sutton, 2022 ).
Also, check out this episode on the NASM-CPT podcast to understand even more about overtraining syndrome -
ADJUSTMENT VS. OVER-TRAINING
In order for an athlete to achieve their training goals – whether they are appearance, health, strength, performance, or a combination of these – a stimulus or stressor must be introduced into the body repeatedly over time. This will result in specific adjustments related to the stressor in question.
This reaction is known as general adaptation syndrome. Once the body can meet the new demands of that stressor, an additional stimulus must be applied to allow the athlete to make further progress.
Part of the art and science of fitness programming involves understanding how to select stressors that fit the athlete's goals and how to promote them safely. (NASM certified personal trainerThe course provides essential foundational knowledge in this field and is open to everyone, including fitness enthusiasts who are not pursuing a career in the industry.)
The three stages of general adjustment syndrome
Ofgeneral adjustment syndromeThe model includes three phases in which the body responds to a stressor:
•alarm response(the body's first response, such as fatigue, joint stiffness and/or delayed muscle pain).
•development of resistance(the body's adaptation to the stressor after repeated sessions).
•exhaustion(a state of distress resulting from exposure to 'prolonged' and/or 'unbearable' stressors).
Fatigue can result in persistent fatigue that can lead to pain, injury, and (over time) harmful changes in the body's organ systems and processes. Thus, the ideal training approach involves progressive overload, gradually and systematically increasing the intensity or volume of training to avoid exhaustion while achieving the desired adaptations.
The step-by-step approach of the NASM Optimum Performance Training™ model is designed to help students work toward their goals in a systematic and safe manner. It is based on a multi-step and phased approach that assesses athletes' current condition and from there works to build strength, balance, integrated movement, flexibility and other improvements.
Rick Richey, MS, NASM-CPT and Master Instructor provides an overview in The NASM-CPT Podcast: Introducing the OPT Model, available as an audio file and as a written transcript.
OVERTRAINING VS. EXCESSIVE
Many fitness enthusiasts will occasionally overtrain, such as when participating in a competitive event or returning to the sport after a long break. However, when overzealous training leads to fatigue and loss of performance that lasts for several weeks, this becomes...excessive.
If this is followed by adequate recovery, it can improve performance as the body will "supercompensate" after the rest period; this is known as functional overreaching. Non-functional overload occurs when the body does not enjoy the rest and recovery needed to repair and regenerate before the next workout.
Although overtraining and overtraining sound similar, NASM 2022 notes that "the subtle difference has to do with the amount of time for performance recovery, not the type or duration of training stress."
•Functional exceedanceresulting in underperformance for a few days, followed by a full recovery.
•Non-functional exceedanceresulting in underperformance lasting up to three weeks and followed by a full recovery.
•Overtraining syndromeis characterized by two months or more of underperformance. Recovery from OTS can take months or even years.
Sometimes, injuries caused by OTS can be so severe that the athlete may not be able to return to that sport (Cadegiani et al., 2020).
Fortunately, by learning to recognize the symptoms of overtraining early on, athletes can avoid sliding down this slippery slope rather than downplaying or pushing through it.
REFERENCES
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Budgett, R., Newsholme, E., Lehmann, M., Sharp, C., Jones, D., Jones, T., Peto, T., Collins, D., Nerurkar, R., & White, P. (2000). Redefining overtraining syndrome as unexplained underperformance syndrome. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 34, 67-68.http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.34.1.67.
Cadegiani, FA, da Silva, PHL, Abrao, TCP, & Kater, CE (2020.) Diagnosis of Overtraining Syndrome: Results of Endocrine and Metabolic Responses to Overtraining Syndrome Research: EROS DIAGNOSIS. Journal of Sports Medicine, 2020, Article ID 3937819, 1-17. doi.org/10.1155/2020/3937819.
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Lastella, M., Vincent, G. E., Duffield, R., Roach, G. D., Halson, S. L., Heales, L. J., & Sargent, C. (2018). Can sleep be used as an indicator of overtraining and overtraining in athletes? Frontiers in Physiology, 9, 436. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00436.
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