Avoid the perils of overtraining

Our fitness expert, The Colonel, gives his advice on how to avoid injury and burnout...
Injury is just one of the risks of squeezing in too many sessions at the gymInjury is just one of the risks of squeezing in too many sessions at the gym
Injury is just one of the risks of squeezing in too many sessions at the gym

After the recent heat wave that swept the nation many men and women up and down the country will be panicking about whether they can get their toned bods ready in time for summer.

Many will flock to the gyms to try and squeeze in a few extra sessions a week before their beach holiday but beware, overtraining can leave you in a worse position that you were in before.

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Overtraining is when your body is given more work than it can handle, and a sharp increase in the amount of exercise you are doing can lead to a whole host of problems.

Injury

One of the most common overtraining problems that can occur is injury.

Increasing the amount of exercise you are doing without giving your muscles and body time to rest and recover can lead to strains and pulls which will leave you spending less time in the gym and more time recovering.

Lack of motivation

Increased physical exercise can lead to decreased motivation. Everyone’s heard of the phrase ‘everything in moderation’ and exercise is no different.

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If you’re focused so much on exercise and seeing change it can lead to stopping altogether, which leads to the adverse effect of what you initially intended.

Muscle Soreness

Muscle soreness is common post-exercise. Everyone struggles to climb the stairs after leg day but if you’re overtraining muscle soreness can last for an extended period. If you’re muscles aren’t recovering after more than a couple of days, it can be a sign you’re doing too much.

Lack of Progress

Finally, overtraining can actual mean you progress even less. Every time we exercise we tear our muscles slightly and if we don’t have enough time to recover it can mean our muscles don’t grow as a result of burn out.