In certain circles, the concept of overtraining has been in constant debate. The two schools of thought are pretty simple - they either say yes, you can over train and there’s a genuine condition as a result. The others argue that it doesn’t exist and that any ‘overtraining syndrome’ can be solved with some extra rest.
In this article we’re going to look at overtraining syndrome (OTS), exploring the research around the condition and seeing what the latest thinking on the subject is…
One of the problems with a condition such as overtraining syndrome is that it’s notoriously difficult to diagnose. The human body is a complex system, so how can we be sure that training is responsible for any perceived over-stress?
The reality is, we can’t. At a physiological level, all stress looks the same. The physical symptoms are the same whether the stress is emotional, financial. physical etc. According to work done by Chu et al on stress, published in 2022, the symptoms of stress essentially look like this…
High heart rate
Higher blood pressure
Increased breathing rate
Raised stress hormones
Impaired sleep
Compromised immunity
Lower energy levels
When people reportedly suffer from overtraining syndrome, these symptoms are exactly what they’re describing. In fact, look how closely this description matches one from work done on OTS by Kreher and Schwartz in 2012…
OTS appears to be a maladapted response to excessive exercise without adequate rest, resulting in perturbations of multiple body systems (neurologic, endocrinologic, immunologic) coupled with mood changes. Many hypotheses of OTS pathogenesis are reviewed, and a clinical approach to athletes with possible OTS (including history, testing, and prevention) is presented.
The only conclusion we can draw here is that there’s a difficulty in diagnosing training as the problem, when the waters are muddied by the similarities of the symptoms between general stress and training stress.
So does that mean there’s no such thing as OTS? Is it just stress?
No, that’s not necessarily the case. It’s just difficult to diagnose in a complex system. But there are cases when we can make a case for overtraining syndrome being the problem…
Imagine a person who has all of the major wellness boxes ticked. They’re sleeping well, their nutrition is absolutely on point - they’re eating well and their supplementation is effective. They’re sleeping well, not drinking, smoking etc. They have low stress levels. Nothing has changed in their environment - home life great, no financial or work issues. There’s on exception though…
An uptick in training intensity, load and duration.
If that person begins to suffer the effects of overtraining syndrome after 10-12 weeks, then we have to start looking at their training schedule. If there’s nothing else that has changed, or nothing else that is an obvious factor in how they feel, we’ve got to start considering the possibility of overtraining.
We could take a break from training for 7-14 days and see what happens. If the symptoms begin to disappear, the smoking gun is with the training.
Avoiding overtraining - practical tips
We’ve already discussed that the body is a complex system, and all stress looks the same from a physiological point of view. What this means is that your body can’t really tell the difference between stresses. So, if you’re under high stress at work, you’re under stress at home etc, really consider whether or not you should be going super hard in the gym.
Next up, research suggests that a big part of overtraining syndrome is actually an inability to recover sufficiently quickly. So, if you are training particularly hard, you’ll need to up your recovery game at the same rate. That means better nutrition, better sleep, no alcohol etc. Give yourself a chance.
A healthy diet may not be enough. You might have to increase your intake of immune-boosting vitamins and minerals as you train hard. Think multi-vitamins and minerals, vitamin D and fish oil.
Have your exercise programmed for you. By working with a professional personal trainer, they’ll be able to programme an appropriate amount of training for you. The guys at AdMac Fitness are experts in body transformation and have worked with hundreds of clients over the years, using exercise as a tool to improve lives.
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