Overtraining or Just Lazy | 4 Ways To Tell

by John Meadows on December 1, 2018

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Have you ever wondered if you are overtraining or you are just getting lazy. What i mean is are you feeling like your workouts are just not what they could be or have been? Well you could be lazy or you could be overtraining. In this video I go over four ways you can tell. Make sure you watch till the end so you know if you should back off in the gym or just get a spark to kick start your workouts again.
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Causes of Overtraining
The most common causes of overtraining are quick increases in frequency, intensity, or duration of training sessions, or a combination without the necessary recovery. Runners who increase the frequency of their interval training sessions, runners who are simply running too many races, and runners who suddenly increased mileage too quickly are at risk for experiencing signs and symptoms of overtraining.

How to Identify and Diagnose Overtraining
It is difficult to identify and diagnose overtraining because many runners consider excessive ongoing fatigue to be a normal part of training. There is also no simple test such as a blood test or clinical diagnosis to identify overtraining. And it is very individualized, so one runner might exhibit different symptoms than another runner. The best we can do is recognize the general symptoms earlier, then rest and recover.

More: What to Do on Rest and Recovery Days

Symptoms of Overtraining
Overtraining is not simply a physical phenomenon; it also has mental effects on the runner as well. Systems affected by overtraining include the musculoskeletal, immune, endocrine, cardiovascular, nervous, and hormonal systems.

Physiological symptoms of overtraining include:

Muscle/joint tenderness
Tiredness
Tightness
Decreased performance
Increased rate of overuse injuries
Insomnia/disturbed sleep patterns
Body weight loss
Nausea
Decreased appetite
Allergic reactions
Elevated heart rate and blood pressure
Head colds/persistent upper respiratory tract infections
Training fatigue/lethargy
Changes in menstrual patterns
Decreased coordination
Decreased heart rate at a given level of running intensity (by about five beats/minute)
Decreased strength
Decreased maximal heart rate