Trainer's Worst Nightmare

By: Mujuthaba

Over-training is one of the mistakes made by consistent exercisers. It can be prominent in inexperienced novice athletes too. Over-training is when training turns out to be a nightmare. Instead of benefiting, the exerciser ends up with injuries. There are psychological and physiological implications of over-training.

Over-training is when the exerciser doesn’t take adequate rest, while either increasing intensity of training or duration of the training session. Over reaching to achieve a goal can be one of the reason for increasing the overall workload. Some athletes reach over the six month mark to recover from over-training while some athletes never recover.

Symptoms of over-training include acute fatigue, decrease in performance (due to decrease in strength and endurance), mood state changes, increased resting heart rate, more prone to injuries and continuous mild aches and pain all over the body. To prevent over-training, reduce or stop training immediately and do a follow-up on your training program. Cross-training or doing other modes of exercises could be helpful during the recovery.

There is a simple test to determine or track recovery to avoid over-training. All you need is a stop-watch and knowledge of taking pulse rate. First step is to lie down on your back for fifteen minutes. Take your pulse rate (for a minute) lying down after fifteen minutes. After that slowly stand up, wait for fifteen seconds and take another reading of your pulse rate for a minute. Record the difference between the two pulse rates. If the difference is less than fifteen, you have recovered from you last training. If the pulse rate is over fifteen, you need time to recover before your next training session.

It is necessary that adequate rest is given to your body, still, keep training carefully.