Train Smart, Not Hard

Overtraining is something many professional and non-professional athletes may have experienced at one point. After engaging in high-intensity workouts, our bodies may require extra time to properly recover from the workout. Yet, for the dedicated gym-goers, passionate runners, and triathletes, taking time away from the activities we love to do is hard.

What is “overtraining?” We continue engaging in the same training habits to reduce stress generated by today’s fast-past lifestyle or fulfill the endorphin-high we continuously crave. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the pain or ache we pushed through yesterday turns into an injury that prevents us from working out for weeks or months. Or, all of a sudden, we are unable to complete “normal” workouts and our performance begins to diminish even though we are training harder than ever.

These are just two indications that you could be overtraining. So, instead of getting frustrated with your training program, maybe now is the time to rethink how you train and monitor your recovery.

Here are a few tips to help you avoid overtraining and potentially avoid those pesky injuries.

1. No pain, no gain! Well, not always…

More is NOT always better when it comes to training and maximizing your performance. High-intensity workouts cause physical stress to our muscles, joints, and ligaments. The thousands of muscle contractions generated during a workout can lead to small muscle fiber tears, and result in delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) that typically lasts 24–72 hours. This is the fancy way of explaining why you feel so sore a couple days after an intense workout.

However, the muscle does not fully heal until 7 to 14 days after the workout. This is why athletes who engage in long-term intense activities, with short recovery cycles (1–2 days), can eventually experience the symptoms of overtraining.

2. Know the Signs of Overtraining

If you are training more than three times a week, you should be aware of overtraining symptoms. These symptoms are dependent upon the individual, but can result in both physical and mental effects to the athlete.

Physical Symptoms:

- You stop seeing positive results

- Lack of energy throughout the day

- Lower immune system

- Persistent pain

Mental Symptoms:

- Increase in restlessness or insomnia

- Loss of concentration

- Decrease in motivation

- Increase in mood fluctuations

Other variables can factor into experiencing these symptoms but, if your eating habits, sleep patterns, and stress levels have not recently changed, you may want to consider examining your training plan and recovery method.

3. Digitally Monitor Your Workouts

The available technology to monitor our workouts has significantly increased over the past 10 years. I had to actually explain to a colleague how we used to manually monitor our heart rate during track practices in college. Nowadays, you can go online or head over to your local running/cycling shop to discover walls covered in an array of tracking device options that monitor calories, heart rate, hydration, sleep, steps, and other core body functions.

How you use this data to actually track, monitor, and analyze your training performance is a first step to those who have not started quantifying themselves. Many non-professional athletes will use heart rate monitors to determine if their resting heart rate has significantly increased or decreased recently. Realizing a significant change in your resting heart rate may be a sign of overtraining.

However, more experienced athletes may seek out advanced metrics such as VO2 max, lactic acid threshold, and muscle oxygenation (SmO2). Lactic acid threshold is generally regarded as the “Gold Standard” for professional athletes because heart rate is moving target. As technology advances begin to accurately track these metrics (i.e., VO2 max and SmO2) in a less invasive and more cost friendly manner, athletes will start to gain real-time, individual insights about their workout and recovery plan.

4. Workout + Recovery = Performance Improvement

Most athletes will monitor and log workouts but that is only half the battle. It makes no sense for athletes to push themselves to the limit during high-intensity workouts only to improperly manage the recovery process. There are several factors that formulate a good recovery program, including proper nutrition, sleep, and stress reduction tactics. However, athletes should know how to manage and utilize both active recovery and passive recovery.

Active recovery is the process of doing “light” workouts or activities at the end or in between intense training sessions. The theory is that active recovery begins a process to break down lactic acid and reduce the time your muscles feel sore (a.k.a. delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS). Active recovery sessions can include rock climbing[Office1] , therapeutic massage, or a fun hike with friends. Any activity that engages your muscles in a full-range of motion can help reduce your recovery time.

In contrast, passive recovery is more commonly known as “days off”. Even professional athletes will occasionally take a passive recovery day, so schedule passive recovery days into your training plan. However, you should consider taking 5–7 passive recovery days to let your body properly recover if you begin to feel overtraining symptoms.

Overall, when training towards your performance goals, whether it is regular gym training, completing your first half-marathon, or besting your fifth Ironman, make sure to take advantage of technology that can personalize your workout. Figure out which device is right for you and work towards your personal best!

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