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Overtraining
An easy way to tell if you're overtraining...
The whole point of training is to improve in some way. This means you must apply the principle of progressive overload — to continually demand more of your body in an attempt to make it leaner, fitter, stronger, or healthier. Too much training, however, especially when it's combined with a low-calorie diet, can lead to a condition known as overtraining.
A classic sign of overtraining is that you're training as hard as ever, but your performance in the gym is consistently getting worse, rather than better. This drop in performance is usually accompanied by changes in mood, together with a large number of biochemical and physiological symptoms. Joint and muscle pain, fatigue, and loss of appetite are just a few signs of overtraining.
Overtraining
Overtraining can best be defined as the state where rest is no longer adequate to allow for recovery. The "overtraining syndrome" is the name given to the collection of emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms that persists for weeks (maybe even months).
Overtraining often stems from the frustration many people feel at their slow rate of progress — especially if they've been training for some time. This leads them to spend longer and longer in the gym in the belief that if a little exercise is good, then more is better.
In contrast to overtraining, overreaching describes a temporary decline in performance. Some athletes incorporate overreaching in their training cycle, but make sure to include the correct amount of recovery. Without this balance, overreaching can lead to overtraining.
Researchers have tried to determine what happens to athletes when they begin to overtrain. Although numerous measurements have been tested in an effort to spot overtraining in its early stages, none has proven totally effective.
However, writing in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Dr. Lucille Lakier Smith suggests that one common factor could be at the heart of many of the symptoms of overtraining.
Cytokines
Most forms of training lead to some form of "injury", known as a microtrauma — or, more accurately — adaptive microtrauma. The reason it's called adaptive is that the microtrauma leads to some kind of adaptation in bone, muscle, or connective tissue. That's why muscles get bigger and bones get stronger.
This small level of microtrauma leads to the production of substances called cytokines (pronounced sigh-toe-kines). Cytokines are a little like hormones, and they can give you an early warning that you're about to enter an overtrained state. You see, your brain contains specific cytokine receptors. Think of cytokines like a key, and receptors like a lock.
When cytokines bind these receptors, they lead to changes in mood. In fact, there is evidence to link cytokines with depression. Test subjects administered cytokines tend to become distressed. And the higher the level of cytokines, the worse the symptoms get.
Mood
Although a reduction in performance is normally considered as a sign of overtraining, it can be preceded by changes in mood. If you're aware of this, you can prevent an overtrained state before it manifests itself as a decline in performance.
Dr. Michael Stone suggests that overtraining syndrome for someone following an "anaerobic" training program (such as strength training) manifests itself as anxiety or agitation. In contrast, an overtrained state caused by aerobic exercise can lead to feelings of depression.
Of course, overtraining isn't the only reason that you could be feeling anxious or depressed. However, if you are feeling a little down, and you can't identify the cause, then take a critical look at your exercise program. Although it's not always easy to do, taking one step back is sometimes what you need to do in order to take two steps forward.
Reference
Smith, L.L. (2000). Cytokine hypothesis of overtraining: a physiological adaptation to excessive stress? Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 32, 317-331
An easy way to tell if you're overtraining...
The whole point of training is to improve in some way. This means you must apply the principle of progressive overload — to continually demand more of your body in an attempt to make it leaner, fitter, stronger, or healthier. Too much training, however, especially when it's combined with a low-calorie diet, can lead to a condition known as overtraining.
A classic sign of overtraining is that you're training as hard as ever, but your performance in the gym is consistently getting worse, rather than better. This drop in performance is usually accompanied by changes in mood, together with a large number of biochemical and physiological symptoms. Joint and muscle pain, fatigue, and loss of appetite are just a few signs of overtraining.
Overtraining
Overtraining can best be defined as the state where rest is no longer adequate to allow for recovery. The "overtraining syndrome" is the name given to the collection of emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms that persists for weeks (maybe even months).
Overtraining often stems from the frustration many people feel at their slow rate of progress — especially if they've been training for some time. This leads them to spend longer and longer in the gym in the belief that if a little exercise is good, then more is better.
In contrast to overtraining, overreaching describes a temporary decline in performance. Some athletes incorporate overreaching in their training cycle, but make sure to include the correct amount of recovery. Without this balance, overreaching can lead to overtraining.
Researchers have tried to determine what happens to athletes when they begin to overtrain. Although numerous measurements have been tested in an effort to spot overtraining in its early stages, none has proven totally effective.
However, writing in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Dr. Lucille Lakier Smith suggests that one common factor could be at the heart of many of the symptoms of overtraining.
Cytokines
Most forms of training lead to some form of "injury", known as a microtrauma — or, more accurately — adaptive microtrauma. The reason it's called adaptive is that the microtrauma leads to some kind of adaptation in bone, muscle, or connective tissue. That's why muscles get bigger and bones get stronger.
This small level of microtrauma leads to the production of substances called cytokines (pronounced sigh-toe-kines). Cytokines are a little like hormones, and they can give you an early warning that you're about to enter an overtrained state. You see, your brain contains specific cytokine receptors. Think of cytokines like a key, and receptors like a lock.
When cytokines bind these receptors, they lead to changes in mood. In fact, there is evidence to link cytokines with depression. Test subjects administered cytokines tend to become distressed. And the higher the level of cytokines, the worse the symptoms get.
Mood
Although a reduction in performance is normally considered as a sign of overtraining, it can be preceded by changes in mood. If you're aware of this, you can prevent an overtrained state before it manifests itself as a decline in performance.
Dr. Michael Stone suggests that overtraining syndrome for someone following an "anaerobic" training program (such as strength training) manifests itself as anxiety or agitation. In contrast, an overtrained state caused by aerobic exercise can lead to feelings of depression.
Of course, overtraining isn't the only reason that you could be feeling anxious or depressed. However, if you are feeling a little down, and you can't identify the cause, then take a critical look at your exercise program. Although it's not always easy to do, taking one step back is sometimes what you need to do in order to take two steps forward.
Reference
Smith, L.L. (2000). Cytokine hypothesis of overtraining: a physiological adaptation to excessive stress? Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 32, 317-331
