Overtraining is NOT a myth!

There's so much conflicting information on the topic of overtraining that even reputable sources seem to dispute one another. However, my advice to you is that you do your research. That way you could decide for yourself once you've learned more information about how the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system work. However, in this post I will do my best to provide a brief overview as to why I believe that overtraining is NOT a myth. My explanation of overtraining will strictly focus on the body's physiological response to exercise and also what I've learned from my personal experience with overtraining!

Up until about a year ago, I was the queen of two-a-day workouts. I used to love starting my mornings at Orangetheory Fitness and would then look forward to my lifting session at the gym later on in the evenings. Working out six to seven days a week like that became problematic because I wasn't giving my body the chance to recover properly in between my workouts. Research suggests that muscles need at least 48 hours on average to properly recover and I would have days where I would workout the same muscle groups just 12 hours later. I started to experience a lot of nerve pain, loss of strength, and numbness in my back because my muscles and my nervous system became overworked. Not only that, but all of my hard work was going to waste! I reached a point where I stopped seeing results because muscles grow when they are in the recovery stage and I wasn't allowing my body to recover properly.

I immediately scheduled a visit with my chiropractor because the pain became so unbearable that I could hardly sit or sleep without being in excruciating pain. After some testing, I learned that my nervous system was consistently firing, which caused an overstimulation of my muscles. My nervous system was no longer functioning properly causing my muscles to constantly contract as if I were working them out when in reality I was just sitting still. This was caused by the fact that I didn't give myself enough recovery time in between my workouts. Luckily, after seeing the chiropractor three times a week for about two weeks I finally started to feel better. I regained all my strength and my pain was completely gone! However, with all of the physical activity that I do, I decided to continue to go to the chiropractor two times a month just for maintenance and preventative purposes.

If you're reading this and are feeling a little skeptical, then I totally get it because I was all about the #nodaysoff! However, now that I take rest days, I see more results now than when I was doing my two-a-day workouts. Don't get me wrong though because I still struggle with taking rest days because I love working out and staying active. I could honestly feel my anxiety start to build after just two days back-to-back of not working out so I completely get it. If you're like me and you find yourself in this situation, then I recommend doing something that's less intense on your rest days like restorative yoga or an easy hike.

If there's one piece of advice that I could give, it's that you listen to your body. It's important that you're mindful of how you're feeling both physically and psychologically in order to intentionally give your body what it needs! Check out my COR Method blog post for more details.

Stay healthy!

Via

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