To follow up with my last blog I want to talk about another issues. With the rise of the “Train Insane or Remain the Same” trend has come a dangerous consequence:
*Dun dun dun*….Overtraining
This is a serious issue that even I myself have dealt with myself. We all have times where we are sluggish, and even have a bad mood towards exercise that we normally enjoy. These can be some common symptoms of overtraining.
When stress in high in your everyday life and you still train insane you could be damaging your body faster than it can repair itself. Rest should always be included in your training program and you may need to re-evaluate your intensity on very high stress days.
There are ways that we can make sure we are in the best possible ready state to attack our training session. The simplest version of this is simply by looking at your Resting Heart Rate
I want you to do a little experiment if you’re feeling like you might be showing signs of overtraining or elevated stress.
Record your Resting Heart Rate:
- First thing in the morning upon waking lie in bed awake and still still for 3-4 minutes
- If you think this will make you fall back asleep you may sit up in bed
- Breathe normally and try to stay relaxed
- Find your radial heart rate
- Use a stopwatch and count your pulse for 30 seconds
- Multiply that by 2
- Record the number as your Resting Heart Rate
Record your Resting Heart Rate each day for 1 week
Understanding your results
If your heart rate is elevated and varies by more than 5 BPM (beats per minute) day to day, than you may be dealing with elevated stress or overtraining.
Your body may need additional rest, stress coping techniques, and lower intensity workouts.
Solutions
- Take additional rest days
- Use more active recovery techniques in place of your heavy training sessions for a few days
- Include meditation into your day to cope with stress
- Make sure your hydration and nutrition is dialed in to help you recover from your workouts
- Get more sleep! (My favorite)
- Talk to your doctor about what you may be experiencing