Effects of Intense Training
‘Health is wealth’ - one of the most old proverbs but how many of us really believe in the message behind this great saying. Not even a handful. At a day and age when everybody wants to look like a clan of their favorite star, knowing your body type and following a correct fitness regime suiting your body becomes mandatory.
Being fit is not about over bulging muscles, great physique or spending endless hours in the gym. It’s about exercising well to keep body and mind in shape. In our pursuit of attaining a great body, we end up causing great damage to it by overtraining the body muscles.
You must be wondering what great harm can intense training cause. Intense training occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual’s exercise exceeds the recovery capacity. It happens more readily if the individual is exposed to other physical and psychological stressors, such as jet lag, ongoing illness, overwork, menstruation, poor nutrition and so on.
Overtraining is a common problem faced by runners and athletes. Athletes often exercise longer and harder so they can improve. But without adequate rest and recovery, these training regimens can backfire, and actually decrease performance. There has to be a balance between overload and recovery. If the imbalance between excess training and inadequate rest continue to persist then the individual’s performance will obviously decline.
Below are some of the common symptoms of overtraining
- Persistent muscle soreness
- Persistent Fatigue
- Elevated resting heart rate
- Increased susceptibility to infections
- Increased incidence of injuries
- Irritability
- Depression
- Loss of motivation
- Insomnia
- Decreased appetite
- Decreased sexual performance
- Weight loss
It is also not very easy to predict if you have been overtraining yourself. The ideal thing at this stage would be to stop exercising and give your body adequate rest. Measures like drinking plenty of fluids, cross training or going for a massage will help in recharging the overused muscles. Other ways like documenting heart rates over time and tracking the aerobic heart rate will also help. Also maintaining a training log to note how you feel every morning will measure the downward trends and decreased enthusiasm. Hence, it is important to listen to your body signals and rest when you feel tired.
While there are many proposed ways to objectively test for overtraining, the most accurate and sensitive measurements are the psychological signs and symptoms in an athlete’s mental state. Decreased positive feelings for sports and increased negative feelings, such as depression, anger, fatigue, and irritability often appear after a few days of intensive overtraining.
Subjective assessment of the mental state of an athlete is clearly the most reliable indicator of overtraining. Unfortunately, most athletes ignore these signs or wait too long before doing something. An important component of exercise is to objectively measure your training and modify it before damage is done.
Being fit is essential but not at the cost of your body. The statement might sound ironical but the crux of the mater is that your body can only take training to a limit after which it will start to deteriorate. So exercise carefully and give adequate rest to your body and muscles.