I feel tired.
I feel nauseous.
I feel defeated.
Where do I start with this?
Before Christmas I started to get nausea during exercise roughly 30 minutes in. I of course, didn't listen to my body and continued to get up and 4.30am to exercise, relying on a pre workout to get me through the day and my workouts.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago where I started to get sick. Flu like symptoms, muscle and joint pain, fatigue, nausea, hair falling out, racing heart, headaches. I thought I had come down with a weird flu of some sort. Apparently that wasn't the case. So why was I experiencing these symptoms?
Overtraining.
Me overtraining? I doubted it. I always thought overtraining was something that affected athletes and people who exercised for hours a day. Unfortunately that isn't the case, and because of that, I ignored the symptoms.
What are some of the symptoms of overtraining?
- Increased resting heart rate (greater than 5bpm over normal)
- Decreased muscular strength
- Increased submaximal heart rate
- Inability to complete workouts
- Chronic muscle soreness
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Increased incidence of injury
- Suppressed immune system
- Absence of menstruation
- Frequent minor infections/colds
- Insomnia
- Heart Palpitations
- Lower Testosterone Levels
- Higher Cortisol Levels
- Loss of appetite
Why do I think I suffered from overtraining?
I don't believe it was the length or amount of time I trained (45 mins 5 days per week) that caused it, but I do believe there were other major factors.
1. Not consuming enough micronutrients (aka nutrient dense food).
2. Taking a pre workout daily that has a range of additives (colourings, artificial sugar).
3. Not getting enough sleep.
4. Not listening to my body when symptoms started.
5. Suppressed immune system from all of the above.
I have been known to not listen to my body (hence how I ended up with golfers elbow that lasted two years). I never thought I would have suffered from overtraining because I technically wasn't 'over training'. I wasn't exercising twice a day or for hours at a time. I wasn't training for a marathon or overexerting myself. I went at my own pace for a moderate amount of time. That to me wasn't over training. Ahhhh how I wished I had done my research a bit earlier.
What now?
I'm still trying to figure this out. I know what I have to do, but I really really don't want to do it, and that is to stop lifting weights and doing any strenuous cardio until I feel better again. Currently the only exercise I can do without feeling sick to my stomach is low intensity cardio, and I mean LOW, keeping my heart rate under 125bpm.
I am going to rely on my resting heart rate to keep track of overtraining, as this is one of the things I noticed first. My resting heart rate usually sits at around 55bpm. It is currently sitting at 70bpm.
I am going to continue to keep my protein intake high to try and prevent muscle loss, focus on getting enough micronutrients, get more sleep and enough rest. In short, I am going to focus on HEALTH.
Stepping away from the weights is going to kill me, but I know it needs to be done. Strength training is my outlet, my me time, a place to relieve stress. Not having that for a while is going to be difficult. And no, cardio just isn't the same.
I know I am not alone in this. I have read tons of forums relating to this issue. Unfortunately I think a lot of people believe in order to overtrain, you have to actually train excessively, and that just isn't the case. I hope that by posting this people will be able to identify the not-so-common symptoms of overtraining and start making a change before they get too far into it like I did.
Don't do what I did. Listen to your body.
