Any fitness enthusiast can fall prey to it. You’re training your heart out, working towards a cardiovascular or strength goal and all of a sudden the passion to accomplish it wanes. You can’t sleep right. Your muscles feel tired and sore all the time. And you’re making no progress in terms of your performance…

As much as we want to get to the finish line on a set schedule, sometimes the laws of rest and nutrition keep us at bay. We can overload and increase the stress on the body as much as we want, but if we don’t take care of it inbetween and provide it with recovery weeks, at some point it’s going to go into protest.

Common signs of overtraining include:
-Increased susceptibility to injury
-Loss of enthusiasm for activities you usually enjoy
-Pain in joints or constant muscle soreness
-Drop in performance on normal exercise
-Inability to sleep
-Moodiness or feelings of depression
-Reduced appetite

How to prevent hitting your end limit:

1. Get 8 hours sleep and try to be in bed by 10 p.m. as much as possible. Keep a consistent sleep cycle of resting and waking hours.
2. Take a minimum of 1 day off a week from exercise.
3. Try to cross train 2 out of any 6 training days (or 1 out of every 5) to limit overuse injuries and muscle fatigue.
4. Include a recovery week once a month in your program where you cut your activity to 50% of the norm and focus on rebooting through healthy eating and relaxation. Exercising less may actually allow you to exercise more intensely at key times in your program.
5. Eat an adequate diet given the training of each day. Match higher activity days with slightly higher caloric intake if you are working on a performance goal.
6. Stretch your body out for at least 25% of the time you spend exercising it to prevent soreness and stiffness.
7. Get a massage once a month at a minimum if you are exercising 5 days of the week and more often if you can swing it. Have a sports massage or deep tissue massage the evening before a rest day and two days prior to your hardest training day of the week to see enhanced performance.
8. Try to alternate high intensity with moderate intensity days. Avoid back to back all-out efforts unless they are followed by a full day of recovery.
9. Plan your workouts around your energy. Are you more energetic in the morning? Do you tend to have more energy at the beginning of the week? On Sunday or Saturday? Exercise when exhausted is never advisable. Set your higher intensity days on your peak energy days/times.
10. Watch your water intake. Aim for 8 glasses a day on a zero activity day and 2 glasses more per hour of exercise on any other day.
11. Drop your alcohol intake. Alcohol slows performance, recovery and metabolism. Keep it as far away from your intense training days as possible.
12. Keep on schedule on recovery days. If you schedule rest, enjoy it and leave cross training for training days.

Most importantly…If you feel your performance dropping or sense overtraining symptoms… take a day off!! Listen to your instrincts. Exercise science research supports that you will come back way stronger and higher performing on the other end of your recovery. Have faith in that and enjoy the down time.