I found this interesting article by Robert Saladino while browsing where he talks about over training and the reasons behind it. Over training is a problem that many athletes face and can ruin your season…

Five Reasons Why You’re OverTraining by Robert Saladino

The word over-training springs fear into every resistance training enthusiast. Experts in the field of exercise define over-training as the imbalance between training/competition, versus recovery. Basically, it is too much training or competition combined with too little time for repair.

Common symptoms of over-training:

• Decrease in performance
• Increased number of infections
• Loss of bodyweight
• Chronic fatigue
• Elevated heart rate and blood lactate levels during exercise
• Psychological staleness

5 main reasons why over-training occurs:

Training too long per session: Muscles get bigger while you rest and sleep, not in the gym. Current studies regarding resistance training suggest sessions lasting as long 3-4 hours per day, 5 or 6 days each week, provide no greater benefit compared to training 1-1.5 hours per day. While the more is better principal is true for money it doesn’t apply here. When we’re under physical (intense workouts lasting more than one hour) or emotional stress our bodies consume glucose at an extremely high rate. To keep our blood sugar levels in a homeostasis state the catabolic stress hormone cortisol is released which forces gluconeogenesis ( making glucose from non carbohydrate sources) to be performed on adipose and muscle tissue. When muscle tissue is broken down it releases amino acids into the blood stream. Once in the blood stream the amino acids are shuttled into the liver to synthesize glucose. This ensures that our brain gets a sufficient amount of glucose to keep functioning properly. So unless you want to run the risk of catabolzing(eating) your own muscles, shorter workouts are usually a better choice.

Training too heavy: Studies demonstrate that individuals who vary their workouts between light and heavy cycles of training display greater strength and muscle size compared to individuals who lift at a constant weight all the time. The take home message is, while heavy weights produce greater muscle gains compared to lighter weights, you can’t lift heavy all the time. The body does best when it’s given enough time to repair and heal. Also keep in mind any new training stimulus will result in muscles compensating and getting bigger. So while light training may seem counter productive, your muscles will react by increasing their size once the heavy training starts up again. Also research shows that light days are a good way to feed the sore muscles with fresh blood. This surge of blood may reduce scar formation and heal micro trauma (one main reason why over-training transpires). It may also flush out waste products.

Restricting carbohydrates from the diet: Hard training on consecutive days causes a depletion of glycogen in the working muscles. The substrate of choice for intense exercise is glucose. Without it, full muscle contractions are not possible and the most heavily recruited type 2 fibers will not generate enough ATP needed for exercise. Carbohydrates should be digested regularly for anybody involved in heavy weight training. A diet of 60% carbohydrates is usually recommended to replenish glycogen stores between sessions but this may not be a reliable method. For example a 200 pound intensely trained man takes in 2,000 calories per day and eats 60% of carbohydrates. The 60% is the proper ratio but the 2,000 calories is unlikely to provide enough total calories and glycogen to resume training. A practical recommendation would be to consume an absolute quantity of carbohydrates of 5 to 10g/kg/day.

Not enough sleep: The evidence is extensive and suggests the need for at least 8 to 10 hrs of sleep per night. Again, muscles need rest to grow and quality Rem sleep to repair. Try removing all night lights and sounds from the sleeping area to ensure a good night sleep. Although not practiced here in the U.S but there is reason to believe the mid afternoon (siestas) nap may be a physiological need and not proof of poor diet. Your circadian rhythm signals the body to actually get some rest around noon time. A quick 20-30 minute snooze should rejuvenate the body. Anything longer will cause you to feel even more tired.

Not enough rest days: A good rule of thumb regarding rest days are 1-2 days of heavy training should be followed by rest days, aerobic training or light days of training. Each trained body part needs a minimum of 48hrs of rest between sessions with back and leg muscles taking longer to recover 72 hrs. For example if you train your back muscles on Monday you shouldn’t train back again until Friday. Training body parts that have not been fully repaired could possibly lead atrophy of muscle tissue. Try these simple but effective steps towards reaching your fitness goals.