Overtraining Syndrome

Good Morning! Happy Sunday. Today I wanted to talk about training, more specifically, overtraining. Growing up, I‘ve always thought push push push. Push straight through the pain and tiredness. And there is a time for that. However, too much of this can actually be detrimental to your health and performance. As I’ve said before in previous newsletters, recovery is key to growth. When we push the body past the ability to adapt by training too much and recovering too little; overtraining syndrome occurs. It goes far beyond normal fatigue and can negatively effect performance, mood, and overall health for weeks or even months.

Today I’ll cover the following:

• Signs of Overtraining

• Prevention of Overtraining

Signs of Overtraining

I had first hand experience with overtraining syndrome a couple weeks ago while training for my marathon in October. Some of the symptoms I had included a decrease in my performance on runs, constantly feeling tired, and soreness in my low back as well as my ankle flaring up with pain (a past injury from football). Here is a list of additional symptoms of overtraining.

• Constant fatigue: You feel tired all the time, even after a rest day or good night’s sleep. Your energy just doesn’t bounce back.

• Performance decline: You’re training hard, but your speed, strength, or endurance is getting worse instead of better.

• Elevated resting heart rate: Your morning heart rate is higher than usual, showing your body is under stress.

• Sleep problems: You have trouble falling asleep or wake up often, even though you're physically exhausted.

• Mood changes: You’re irritable, anxious, or down for no clear reason. You might snap at people or feel emotionally flat.

• Frequent illness: You catch colds or infections more easily because your immune system is weakened.

• Loss of motivation: Workouts feel like a chore, and you no longer look forward to training, even if you usually love it.

• Lingering soreness: Muscles stay sore longer than they should — sometimes even after easy workouts.

If you have had any of these symptoms and feel that you might have overtraining syndrome, reach out to me! We can go over your training plan and adjust appropriately to prevent any injuries!

Prevention of Overtraining

Here is a list of steps you can take to prevent overtraining

• Schedule rest days: At least 1–2 full rest days per week. Like I’ve said before, your body grows stronger when you recover, not when you grind nonstop.

• Use deload weeks: Every 3–6 weeks (or when you feel you need it), drop your training volume and intensity to let your system recover.

• Track your recovery: Monitor things like resting heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), mood, and sleep. I like the whoop for my recovery tracking.

• Fuel properly: Eat enough calories, protein, and carbs to match your training. Under-eating is one of the fastest ways to burn out.

• Sleep 7–9 hours: This is when your body actually repairs. Poor sleep = higher risk of overtraining.

• Watch for warning signs: If you feel more tired than usual, perform worse, or stop enjoying training — back off early before it gets worse.

• Listen to your body: By far the most important out of these prevention tips. Some days you need to push, others you need to chill. Don’t ignore fatigue just to stay on schedule.

If you have any questions about overtraining syndrome, don’t hesitate to reach out!

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