- Decreased performance.
The telltale sign of overtraining is a lack of improved performance, despite an increase in training intensity or volume. Decreased agility, strength and endurance, such as slower reaction timesand reduced running speeds are all common signs of overtraining.
2. Stalled progress
The relationship between workload and recovery is dysfunctional and your acute workout performance is diminished, so the conditions for positive training adaptations no longer exist. You’re in quicksand. You’re working hard, but the longer you continue to struggle the deeper you sink.
3. Increased perceived effort during workouts.
Not only can overtraining decrease performance, it can also make seemingly effortless workouts feel unusually difficult. A clear sign of this is an abnormally elevated heart rate during exercise or throughout the day. If you are experiencing OTS, you may find that it takes longer for your heart rate to return to normal after a workout.
4. Excessive fatigue.
A few days of fatigue or “heavy legs” is expected at times. But fatigue will accumulate in a body that never has a chance to fully recover from previous workouts. Further, chronic, negative energy expenditure leads to something called “low energy availability,” which means that the body is consistently pulling from its own energy stores (carbs, protein, fat). This can be the result of too much training or too little fueling.
5. Erratic waking heart rate
Tracking morning heart rate, bodyweight, and mood is a common way to look for signs of overtraining. Occasional changes that go away within one or two days are pretty normal, but significant changes in any of them, and particularly two or more, over at least a 5-day period are cause for further investigation. For waking heart rate, look for a +/- 7-10 beats per minute change from baseline.
6. Agitation and moodiness.
Overtraining significantly affects your stress hormones, including cortisol and epinephrine. This hormonal imbalance can cause mood swings, unusual irritability and an inability to concentrate.
7. Reduced sex drive
It seems pretty logical that you’d be less interested in sex when you’re exhausted, and research has shown that increased training intensity and duration can have a negative affect on libido – for men and women. Some of this may be due to hormonal changes, including the increase in stress hormone cortisol.
8. Insomnia or restless sleep.
Sleep ideally provides the body time to rest and repair itself. But overproduction of stress hormones, as mentioned above, may not allow you to wind down or completely relax, making sleep much less effective (which compounds chronic fatigue and moodiness).
9. Illness/Injury
Your immune system and your body are taking too much of a beating and not getting enough time or support to recover. An athlete who is overtrained may experience frequent illnesses and illnesses that take longer than normal to go away. You may also be more susceptible to both overuse and acute injuries and are more likely to start getting a series of nagging injuries.
10. Loss of appetite.
A hormone imbalance can also affect hunger and satiety mechanisms. More training should stimulate more appetite, but the physiological exhaustion of OTS can actually lead to appetite suppression.
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Sources:www.acefitness.org,www.trainright.com
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