Key facts
- Caused by too much training and too little recovery.
- Symptoms: stalled performance, fatigue, poor sleep, low mood.
- More often 'under-recovery' than too much training alone.
- Prevented with deloads, sleep, and sensible volume.
Overtraining happens when the balance between training stress and recovery tips the wrong way for too long. Instead of getting stronger, you get weaker — performance stalls or drops, fatigue lingers, sleep and mood suffer, motivation fades, and resting heart rate may rise. True clinical overtraining is rare, but the milder 'overreaching' that precedes it is common.
It's usually less about doing too much and more about recovering too little — poor sleep, inadequate nutrition, and high life stress all shrink your capacity to handle training. Prevention is straightforward: program deloads, prioritize sleep and food, manage stress, and increase volume gradually rather than all at once.
Frequently asked questions
What are the signs of overtraining?
Declining performance, persistent fatigue, disrupted sleep, low mood and motivation, more frequent illness, and an elevated resting heart rate are common warning signs.
How do I recover from overtraining?
Reduce training volume and intensity (or take a planned break), prioritize sleep and nutrition, and manage stress. Prevention through deloads and sensible programming is far easier.
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