Few habits are healthier than doing sports. Physical activity has multiple benefits, but when we demand more from our body than it can give, excessive exercise can be counterproductive. Discover the dangers of overtraining, and avoid it!
Sometimes the desire to improve or the desire to achieve the goals that we have set for ourselves as soon as possible, can make us train without rest and without giving our body the necessary recovery time. The risks of overtraining exist and affect physical and even mental health in many different ways.
What are the dangers of overtraining?
From an injury, more or less serious, to end up suffering from sleep disturbances. Training more days, more hours and with more intensity is not always advisable for an athlete. In reality, experts say that overtraining reduces your own performance and makes your work and effort in the gym, running or cycling, useless and even harmful. If you think you may be exercising too much, take a look at the risks behind overtraining:
1. Muscle and joint injuries
Repetitive movements, together with the impact of sports such as running, swimming or tennis, can end up having a negative impact on tendons and ligaments. Also the muscles, subjected to the tension of constant contractions and stretching, can suffer injuries of various kinds. Seizure, contractures, cramps or something worse like a tear or a fiber break. When the body can’t take it anymore, the bad consequences of overtraining are unpredictable and can make you, in the end, not be able to train in a good season.
2. Loss of muscle mass
Working strength daily, always the same muscle groups and at the highest level, can cause just the opposite effect to what you are looking for. If you want to gain volume and power in biceps, triceps, dolts. overtraining is a risk that you should avoid. Your muscles grow when they rest, not when they work. If you do not let them recover, you will enter the catabolic phase, that is, without realizing it, you will be destroying that muscle mass that is so difficult to develop.
3. Fatigue and exhaustion
Elite athletes who follow rigorous weekly training planning when exercising are well aware of this. One of the dangers of overtraining is ending up absolutely exhausted, with severe exhaustion that will require a more or less important recovery time from intense training. Fatigue and dizziness can be a warning that you are overtraining.
4. Hormonal dysfunctions
They are rare in adults but not in adolescents (especially women) who are starting out in a certain sport and training perhaps too hard to reach their goals early. Exercising at an excessively high rate can end up affecting healthy growth and development.
5. Psychological problems
Training almost like an obsession, not only involves intense physical exhaustion, but also emotional. The stress and tension of trying to improve, whatever the cost, can lead to problems such as eating disorders, insomnia after training , lack of concentration or motivation , nervousness, irritability. Without a doubt, negative effects of overtraining that no athlete wants.
Tips to avoid overtraining
If you think you may be training too much and suspect that your body is giving you signals to slow down, try some simple steps to avoid serious consequences of undesirable overtraining:
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Review your training plan, reducing the time you dedicate to physical activity. Make it a rule not to train two days in a row. Having the advice of a coach will come in handy.
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Change your routines. If you want to stay active, try practicing other alternative sports to the one you usually do and do it at a “beginner” intensity.
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Sleep eight hours. Sleep is the best way to give your body the rest it needs.
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Pay particular attention to your diet and confirm that you are taking in all the nutrients that an athlete requires.
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In the event of any abnormal symptoms: persistent muscle or joint pain, chronic fatigue, lack of appetite, heart rhythm disturbances. Of course, stop sport temporarily and go to the doctor in case the consequences of overtraining are more serious than you thought
