On your fitness journey, there are many paths that can be taken to accomplish your goals: group exercise, resistance training (or weights), endurance training and more. Variety is a critical component in your fitness success. Without varied types of overload (or exercises) you risk plateaus.
But what do you do when you are training wisely (choosing exercises that make you better), training consistently, eating healthy meals and still not getting the results you want? Consider rest.
In order to get the results you want, and avoid injury and other potentially serious consequences, your body needs adequate time to recover. This means you need to rest. You need adequate sleep and some days off from exercise.
Overtraining syndrome can occur when the body faces more overload than it has time to recover from.
Not sure if you may be overtraining? Consider the Symptoms of Overtraining
• Lack of energy
• Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
• Pain in muscles and joints
• Sudden drop in performance
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Decreased immunity
• Decrease in training capacity / intensity
• Moodiness and irritability
• Depression
• Loss of enthusiasm for the sport/activity
• Decreased appetite
If you have been experiencing any of these symptoms consider consulting your family’s physician, taking a few days or even a week off of exercise and working more recovery time into your training schedule.
Also, consider discussing your workout regime with a trainer. Just because you are doing a lot of exercise does not necessarily mean you are doing what will get you the best results.
“More is not better. Better is better. And better is more.” (Frankie Faires)
