Overtraining

Good Morning!

A couple weeks ago I had my 3 month fit test with my old trainer at the gym I used to work out at.  I was happy with my fit test but I told the trainer that I didn’t feel like I was progressing like I wanted to.  I’ve only been doing crossfit now for about 4 months and I know it takes time to build up strength, but I decided I would change-up my workout routine.

The trainer said she thought I was OVERTRAINING and I agreed with her!  I was doing crossfit 5-6 times per week without a whole lot of rest.  I love crossfit so I didn’t want to even miss one day and I felt like I would fall behind if I missed a class.  Now I know this is not how I should be working out.  I felt like I was building up my stamina for running etc, but the weight I could lift was not going up.  My should press has been about the same for 3 months so I was starting to get discouraged.  I know lifting weights and strength takes time so I will just continue to push on, including REST days into my regimen.

“Overtraining can best be described as the state when an athlete undergoes a very stressful training regimen that he or she simply cannot recover from any longer. This usually occurs when an athlete fails to listen to his or her body and take some much-needed rest. The athlete proceeds to train and make the condition even worse.”  BodyBuilding.com

My New Workout Plan will consist of the following:

• 3-4 days crossfit- depending on the week
• 1-2 days running- also depending on the week
• I would also like to try hot yoga!
• If I’m tired or feel lack of energy I am just going to take the day off!
• I am going to drink LOTS of water and get plenty of PROTEIN
• REST!- This means putting little to NO stress, pressure, anxiety, etc on your body, just rest!

Here are some other symptoms of overtraining- According to Muscleandstrength.com

• You can’t seem to get any bigger (lack of weight or muscle gain)
• You don’t have enough energy at the beginning of your workout
• Your target muscles are still sore from the previous workout when you work them again.
• You find it hard to get to sleep and have a good nights rest
• You have a general lack of energy throughout the day
• And in extreme cases you may feel depression and anxiety

I fell into about 4-5 of these!  Working out too much can also take up some of your quality “free time”.  It is a big commitment to go to the gym 5 days a week!  Sometimes I just want to go get a manicure or lay around and watch a movie and we should be able to do this too 🙂

Like this:

Also, for me, more intense exercise = bigger appetite 🙂  Of course, because our bodies need more energy to sustain the work that we just did.   If I go lighter a couple of days, or just do a short run maybe I won’t feel the need to eat so much, hmmm??  Because I do LOVE eating!

Last but not least, you don’t want to get burnt out!  Life is all about balance. I talk about balancing what I eat, well balancing what kind of exercise I do is also important.  Working out should make you HAPPY, not add more stress.

On Sunday when I got back from vacation I went to the gym with my husband.  I felt like my arms had been neglected for a while so I switched up my workout and did a few arms, and abs exercises, then ran about 2.5 miles back home 🙂  This is what I did:

I learned about the side planks lifts at BLEND retreat and boy do they burn!  Try to keep the arm you are not resting on in the air!

If you like working your abs here is another challenge for you!

After writing this post I was reading some other blogs and found that Lindsay from Lindsay’s list wrote about the same thing last week. I like how she put some things into perspective so I would like to share them:

This is from Lindsay’s Blog and I can totally agree with this and I’m sure plenty of you can also.  She hit the nail right on the head. She states:

1) We connect EATING with EXERCISING – two things that should be kept separate (aside from fueling purposes).  We count the calories we burn while working out and connect that to our intake of food later in the day.  How many times have you rationalized eating a donut just because you ran that day?  What if you COULDN’T run anymore (or, as I’m trying to show in this post, you had to take a few rest days)?  Would your eating habits change?

2) We COMPARE and CONTRAST.  “I was going to take a rest day until I saw so-and-so’s post on Instagram.”  “She’s working out harder than me!”  “She doesn’t feel good but she’s “sweating out” a cold.  I should do that!”  <-This is a post for an entirely different day, but infuriates me nonetheless.  There is no such thing as “sweating out” an illness – bobbycosh!  You should be resting your CNS – trust me, you’ll heal much quicker through REST!

Thank you for this Lindsay!

Have a good Tuesday!

Do you ever fall into this trap of overtraining? If so, what have you done to correct it?

Posted by Fitcupcaker in Uncategorized Tags: ab burner, arms and abs, overtraining, protein, rest, water