Overtraining

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2/5/13 3:52 P

+1 for shin splints. Unfortunately, I have "started" to run far too many times. When I do, if I ramp up my miles too quickly I get shin splints!

As to the good old days when they were working all the time, they were working all the time. I imagine they worked up to better fitness by the time they were 5 than many current-day people see in a lifetime.

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2/2/13 6:12 P

I truely believe age is a big factor in recovery no matter what activity. I can remember back in my 20's i was able to run 7 days straight and have no issues. I cannot run anymore but even other workouts.....being over 40 i can feel it if i work out on consecutive days. I ride a bike for cardio and do strength training.....i've learned to never work out on consecutive days. I do stretching for 30 minutes on non-workout days and that helps immensely.

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2/1/13 9:37 A

Overtraining comes in several forms.

Yes, under-recovery is part of it. This is when you don't get enough rest between exercise sessions for your body to fully heal itself and rebuild energy reserves. Often, people in this category feel exhausted after exercise instead of energized from the release of endorphins.

Then there is over-exertion from overtraining. When this happens, often people will develop repetitive stress injuries usually in the joints or connective tissues. Sore tendons in the shoulders, hips and knees are frequently reported culprits from overtraining. For runner's who bump up their distance too quickly, shin-splits are often reported along with sciatica in the back and legs.

Remember their is a big difference between sore and injured. If you are injured, seek medical attention to prevent further damage to the affected area and practice RICE.

Also, a proper warm up and stretching routine will prevent many of these type injuries. Many men think stretching is a waste of time or they simply don't do it because they think they don't have time to fit it into their workout schedule. If it were professional athletes wouldn't do it.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

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1/31/13 5:51 P

I only ever felt really properly "overtrained" once in my life, and I wasn't exactly pushing an extreme schedule, nor was I doing any competition. I did have an awful lot of dance classes and physical theatre performances, and then I was jogging and cycling and etc to boot. I had a sustained and, well, slightly heavy schedule for several months. It really didn't feel like I'd just overdone it the previous time, it was more of a creeping weakness that appeared. I wasn't able to work at the same level as before; I felt tired and irritable, and a couple of days of rest didn't make me snap back to my old performance levels. It took weeks to feel properly recovered.

I'm going with Bill in that it had a bit more to do with my lack of recovery than working too hard - if it makes sense that they're not exactly the same thing.

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1/28/13 9:26 A

I'm hardly a trained expert here, but I do think that when someone's been inactive for a long time, getting going again will bring some injuries. At the same time, I think a lot of folks don't build up to higher levels of fitness (like they could). Whenever, I start a running program I do the run-walk-run method (run 100 steps, walk 50, and increase running/walking ratio over time). Thanks for sharing your question. I think other people are wondering the same thing.

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1/17/13 1:18 P

You can work up to incredible levels of training, but if you have ever watched the biggest loser, you begin to understand that you cannot go from zero activity to working out 4 hours per day without taking its toll on you. I watched this show for the first time the other day and was astounded by the amount of injuries that the contestants had. All these injuries happened under the watchful eye of professional trainers.

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1/16/13 4:35 P

My opinion ....

There is a little more to it than that. I once heard a quote (and I think it's been bastardized a bit) ... there is no such thing as overtraining only underrecovery. Underrecovery can come in many forms. Lack of sleep, poor diet, a low calorie diet, etc.

I'm not sure I believe in that in particular since any strenuous activity taxes the CNS and eventually runs it into the ground.

With the proper conditions, you can mitigate this, but you can't actually overcome it entirely. So it depends on a number of variables. You can walk or jog too much if you're not used to that activity and you're not sufficiently fueled to perform it or recover from it.

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1/16/13 4:12 P

Going on the premis that men and women have been conditioned in the last 10.000 years to be actively participating in day to day life - foraging, farming, working in mills, marching all day, etc that the theory of "overtraining" would pertain more to extreme fitness training such as bodybuilding, track & field, football, etc? Can you actually ovetrain in something like aerobics? Can you walk or jog too much?