Chronic overtraining is a condition that no phys
ique athlete ever wants to experience. Once chronically over-trained, it can take months or even longer to fully recover and in the process of becoming chronically over-trained long-term resting hormone levels will become negatively impacted leading to losses in muscle mass as well as encouraging fat gain.
Performance levels in the gym will have taken a dive and despite all your efforts you have not made any gains for months. In fact, lifts have most probably decreased and what’s more you feel awful! Whilst reaching this stage is rare, acute over-training is much more common, especially during a contest prep or in a less experienced trainer going all out to make gains without sufficient rest and recovery time.
Continue long enough – i.e. prep for numerous shows back to back maintaining this overtrained state and you are likely to reach the stage of being chronically over-trained, but unlike the chronically over-trained state, being acutely over-trained can be rectified very quickly once you learn to spot the symptoms. The quicker you can do this, particularly if prepping for a show, the better!
Spot these symptoms early and a couple of days away from training can be all that is required to get you back on track!
Failing to get a pump
We all love those days where we go into the gym, hit a muscle hard and see our veins popping out of the skin as the trained muscle swells to twice the size! There will be days where you experience this more than others, likely due to nutrition, water levels, sodium, pre-workout supplements, etc. and, of course, how hard you have hit the muscle. But, if these days start to become few and far between and even after what feels like the most gruelling of workouts you still feel a little flat, it is likely to be a sign of acute over-training.
Feeling and looking flat
Anyone who takes their training seriously, especially for a physique athlete who is likely to be at least relatively lean, will notice how even outside the gym their body looks different from day to day and even hour to hour. Sometimes you look in the mirror and muscles will look full and hard, sometimes a little soft and flat. Under normal circumstances, this can just depend on water levels and glycogen stores, but if you start to look soft and flat on a regular basis and rarely see that hard look to the muscles that you used to, it may well be time to take a break from the gym.
Lack of Progression
Another reason why it is important to keep training logs! If you notice that your progress on the heavy compound lifts, deadlifts, bench press, squats, etc. has stalled and that you are no longer able to periodically increase the weight this is a clear sign that the body is becoming over-trained. Take a break and providing all other factors remain consistent you should see a marked improvement when you return. Failure to do so and those lifts may actually start to decrease as you shift towards the state of becoming chronically over-trained which will eventually lead to losses in muscle mass.
Lack of Motivation
If you are reading this article, chances are that you love to train! Everyone has the odd day where they may feel less motivated, perhaps due to a restless night or a tough day at work. Often we can rearrange our training to make this our rest day, or sometimes rely on a pre-workout, hit a few high-rep warm-up sets and notice our motivation comes back! But, when going to the gym starts to feel like a chore and you feel yourself dragging your feet from one area of the gym to the next, it’s time to take a break!
Difficulty Sleeping
Feeling a little tired and sluggish during the day, but having difficulty sleeping at night? Whilst this may be due to other factors in your life, it can also be a sign of acute overtraining and experienced with any of the other symptoms mentioned is a sign that it may be time to take a few days off from the gym.
If
you are experiencing the above symptoms, it is very important to take a few days off to recover. Failure to do so will not do your health or your physique any good in the long-term. Even if you feel the pressure is on as you have a deadline to get in shape, do not be afraid to take a few days rest!
If you’re looking flat and your muscles are not as full as you’d expect, you will also look like you are carrying more body fat, not to mention that hormonal disruptions will be making body fat harder to shift.
Take those few days off, recover and not only will the fullness return, but as it does your skin will be stretched over a larger surface area so even though your activity levels dropped for a few days you will look leaner too! What’s more, you will feel better and training sessions will once more start producing the results that your efforts deserve!
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