Overtraining Syndrome.

[ExpensiveUrine]

I was browsing through my training book and came across overtraining syndrome. Thought I'd post some basic bullet point information on it.

There's a distinction between overtraining and overreaching by the way, so don't confuse the two. I'll try to find out where this data came from but anyhow....

Physiological Performance.

-- Decreased performance.

-- Reduced tolerance of loading.

-- Loss of concentration.

-- Reduced capacity of differentiation and correcting technical faults.

-- Heart discomfort on slight exertion.

-- Increased frequency of respiration.

-- Increased oxygen consumption.

-- Decreased evening postworkout weight.

-- Insomnia with and without night sweats.

-- Loss of appetite.

-- Headaches.

-- Gastrointestinal disturbances.

-- Periosteal complaints.

-- Rhabdomylosis.

-- Inability to meet previously attained performance standards or criteria.

-- Decreased muscular strength.

-- Decreased efficiency or decreased amplitude of movement.

-- Increased difference between lying and standing heart rate.

-- Changes in blood pressure.

-- Perfuse respiration.

-- Increased ventilation and heart rate at submaximal workloads.

-- Elevated basal metabolic rate.

-- Feels thirsty.

-- Bulimia.

-- Nausea.

-- Muscle soreness or tenderness.

-- Muscle damage.

-- Recovery prolonged.

-- Decreased maximum work capacity.

-- Reappearance of mistakes already corrected.

-- Abnormal T wave pattern in ECG.

-- Changes in heart rate at rest, exercise and recovery.

-- Decreased body fat.

-- Shift of the lactate curve towards the x-axis.

-- Chronic fatigue.

-- Anorexia nervosa.

-- Amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea.

-- Increased aches and pains.

-- Tendonostic complaints.

-- Elevated C-reactive protein.

Psychological/Information processing.

-- Feelings of depression.

-- Emotional instability.

-- Fear of competition.

-- Increased internal and external distractability.

-- General apathy.

-- Difficulty in concentrating at work and training.

-- Changes in personality.

-- Decreased capacity to deal with large amounts of information.

-- Decreased self-esteem or worsening feelings of self.

-- Sensitive to environmental and emotional stress.

-- Decreased ability to narrow concentration.

-- Gives up when the going gets tough.

Immunological.

-- Increased susceptibility to and severity of illnesses, colds, and allergies.

-- Minor scratches heal slowly.

-- Decreased functional activity of neutrophils.

-- Increased blood eosinophil count.

-- Reactivation of herpes viral infection.

-- Flu-like illnesses.

-- Swelling of the lymph glands.

-- Decreased proportion of null (non-Tm non-B) lymphocytes.

-- Significant variations in CD4:CD8 lymphocytes.

-- Unconfirmed glandular fever.

-- One-day colds.

-- Reduced response to mitogens.

-- Bacterial infection.

Biochemical.

-- Negative nitrogen balance.

-- Depressed muscle glycogen concentration.

-- Decreased hemoglobin.

-- Lowered TIBC.

-- Elevated cortisol levels.

-- Increased serum hormone binding globulin.

-- Hypothalamic dysfunction.

-- Decreased bone mineral content.

-- Decreased serum iron.

-- Mineral depletion (Zn, Co, Al, Mn, Se, Cu, ect.)

-- Elevated ketosteroids in urine.

-- Decreased ratio of free testosterone to cortisol of more than 30%.

-- Flat glucose tolerance curves.

-- Delayed menarche.

-- Decreased serum ferritin.

-- Increased urea concentrations.

-- Low free testosterone.

-- Increased uric acid production.

[sponge]

It's hard to overtrain, what most people experience is overtraining of the CNS (central nervous system). the muscles recover much faster than the cns

[deegee]

I believe many people starting out in bodybuilding tend to overtrain, luckily not with all those symptoms but they dont grow, which is just as bad.

[brock_solid]

I used to overtrainlast year when i started out.

I figure it's a psycological thing where you're trying to hit the main areas to get muscle definition very quickly without realising that it takes alot of time. For example working mainly biceps, front delts and chest attempting to make gains quickly.

I used to be at the gym for 1 - 2 hours a day working chest daily along with a few other exercises and pretty much repeating the same exercises everyday 6 - 7 days a week without eating as much as i should have been. I had little results,but added about 10kgs over 6 months and had alright muscle definition but not near as much as i could have.

Now i go to the gym 5 - 6 days a week but i'm only there for half an hour and i only work one muscle a week but boy do i hit them hard, i thrash them till i'm almost exhausted on the ground and then leave and i eat a meal every 2 hours and it's been 2 months and i'm almost 10kgs heavier than when i started and have bigger muscles than last year.

So i guess less = more :grin: