Overtraining syndrome is "characterized by the perisitent plateau or worsening in perfomance that is not improved by short term rest periods or reduced training" for a particular period of time, a quote from the American Council on Exercise. Some symptoms can be loss of appetite, disturbances in mood and sleep, continuous muscles soreness, a repeditive overuse injuries (tendinitis, etc....), or increased resting heart rate.
To avoid overtraining you can follow a few tips:
(1) Practice periodization - a method of cycling your workouts according by changing the amount of total volume of your workouts.
(2) Listen to your body - possibly the most important and simplest rule in weight training. If something doesn't feel right, don't do it. Find an alternate exercise that works the same muscle groups. Or if you feel overly tired on a particular day, don't push so hard - you can only make gains when you are mentally and physically prepared to do so.
(3) Don't continuously lift to faiure (complete exhaustion) - a common mistake of many new body builders and fitness enthusiasts. Continuously doing workouts to failure will not allow your musculature and central nervous system to adapt and become stronger.
(4) Limit resistance training workouts to no more than 40 to 60 minutes. Exercise intensely and don't waste time- then get out of the gym.
(5) Use proper form - crucial in resistance training. Using proper form eliminates cheating which cause your muscles to work harder. If your working harder your workout volume stays lower (as well as workout time) thus overtraining risk is reduced. Not to mention the reduced chance of acute injury.
(6) Proper nutrition - It is much easier to overtrain if your body is not receiving ample energy through the proper balance of carbohydrate, protein, fat, and total calories needed to replinish itself.
[ October 30, 2002: Message edited by: Master Trainer ]
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