Am I Working Out Too Hard?

When Exercise Becomes Counterproductive

Mar 29, 2007

If optimal performance, health and fitness are the primary objectives of exercise, then it's important to alternate training loads from time to time.

Too much exercise is just as bad as too little. Ease up on training from time to time.

Training Too Hard Is Not Good For You

Many trainees push their bodies to the extreme each workout. And because many trainees live by the motto, "no pain, no gain" they couldn't fathom the idea that less work is best for improving fitness. Erroneously, numerous trainees believe more is better when working out.

More is not better when the goal is long-term health and fitness success. Trainees who regularly perform anaerobic or aerobic exercise at exceedingly high levels of intensity, volume and/or duration are sabotaging their efforts and destining themselves to failure.

Altering Workout Intensity

Without occasionally alternating work loads, reaching peak fitness is unlikely---especially for advanced trainees. Advanced exercisers are the most likely to take radical approaches to training because "winning at any cost" is often the main objective.

Beginners should adhere to fundamentals of quality training, which includes gradual increases in training intensity as the body adapts. New trainees who push too hard are likely to burn out. Their bodies simply are not accustomed to physiological changes such as muscle soreness that could result from too much exercise-intensity too soon.

How The Body Adapts To Exercise

According to Hans Seyle’s General Adaptation Syndrome Principle (GAS), the body goes through three predictable stages in reaction to exercise stress:

As subsequent training sessions occur, the body enters the compensation stage. During compensation, body systems adapt to handle training stress.

If training is prolonged at extensive levels, the body eventually enters the exhaustion stage or the land of diminishing returns where exercise-related stress gradually begins decelerating progress. Non-training factors like environmental, psychological and psychosocial stressors also contribute to deceleration of fitness. As a result, trainees that remain in the exhaustion stage too long eventually enter states of overreaching and overtraining.

Taking Fitness To The Extreme

Overreaching refers to an accumulation of training and/or non-training stress resulting in short-term decreases in performance, which could lead to overtraining. Restoring performance may take several days to several weeks and is usually corrected by a few days of rest and dietary improvements.

Overtraining is an accumulation of training and/or non-training stress causing long-term, sudden decreases in performance capacity. Restoration of performance may take several weeks to several months and cannot be amended simply by a few days of dietary changes and rest.

Distinctions Between Overreaching And Overtraining

Overreaching/overtraining is generally different for anaerobic and aerobic types of exercise. Anaerobic based overreaching/overtraining states usually trigger sympathetic symptoms while aerobic based overreaching/overtraining states set off parasympathetic symptoms.

Symptoms of sympathetic overtraining commonly affect younger trainees, whereas older trainees are likely to show effects of parasympathetic overtraining.

Too much exercise causes problems that might lead to frustration and illness. If reaching optimal levels of performance, health and fitness is the goal, more is not always better. A comprehensive approach to training includes alternating training intensities to allow the body to recover, adapt and eventually reach higher fitness levels.

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