What is overtraining? How can you tell if you’re guilty of doing it? In this week’s Insights, I talk about my own experience with overtraining and what you can do to avoid it.

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Topics Discussed in this Episode:

Overtraining and how you can spot signs of it

How to mitigate against overtraining

My experience with overtraining

Key Takeaways:

Overtraining is a physiological state where you are very simply under an undue amount of load --  you put your body under too much load for it to be able to cope and respond appropriately.

The body doesn’t actually know the difference between physiological load in terms of stress.

Some indications that you’re overtraining or overloading your body:

You’re starting to get mild symptoms of insomnia or insomnia itself.

You’re experiencing loss of libido.

Your appetite is being suppressed or becoming dysregulated.

You’re feeling tired all the time and you’re experiencing muscle pain.

You’re no longer excited to exercise.

When you’re overtrained, your body is in a state of an elevated nervous system.

Action Steps:

What to do if you’re overtraining.

Continue to exercise but take it back to 60%, or completely change what you’re doing.

Try taking your foot off the pedal for a week, and allow your body to recover.

Try something different. Get out of the normal pattern of what you’re doing and bring in a bit of variety.

Look at what you’re doing for recovery.

Leanne said:

“[The body] can’t differentiate stress that comes from lifting too many heavy weights for too long, from running every day instead of resting, or from the physical stress of, for example, working too hard, hitting too many deadlines, not getting enough sleep.”

“Sometimes variety can invigorate our enthusiasm for things, but also, you need to just rest in that particular pattern of training that you’re doing.”

Thanks for listening!

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More from Leanne Spencer:

Bodyshot Performance

Bodyshot Performance Limited Facebook page

Remove the Guesswork BOOK by Leanne Spencer
Rise and Shine BOOK by Leanne Spencer

Leanne’s Email