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The Facts About Over Training
To be a
great athlete (and even just to be a good one), you need to train, and
when you train, you are putting your body under stress. This is the only
way that we as human beings know of that allows us to develop muscles,
speed, strength and everything else an athlete needs. Only by constantly
working the muscles over a short period of time and putting them under
physical stress do they end up developing and therefore athletes put
themselves under severe amounts of physical stress every time they
workout or play in a game.
The line
between proper training and over training is a thin one indeed and one
that is sometimes difficult to detect. When the appropriate exercises
are done in an appropriate way, then proper training is taking place.
However if even just one small part of them is done incorrectly over a
prolonged period of time, then over training has the potential of taking
place.
Ways to
Bring About Over Training
There are
many different ways to cause over training, but some of the more
frequent causes (as well as brief explanations) are provided below.
-
Improper Warm-Up and
Warm-Down Sessions: Before beginning a work out, it is
very important to increase muscle flexibility and get the heart
beating at a faster rate by doing a warm-up that involves a short
cardio and stretching program. Likewise, to prevent cramping
afterwards it is important to do more stretching in a warm-down.
Prolonged neglecting of these two facets could result in over
training symptoms starting to show.
-
Improper Changing of
Work Out Conditions: This can include increasing the
number of repetitions, the number of sets, the time that a work out
is completed over or the weight resistance that an athlete uses when
doing their training. Any one of these, if increased too quickly
(remember it is always better to err on the side of caution) can
result in an over training response.
-
Improper Decisions in
Work Out Continuance: From time to time, athletes are
going to have to take breaks in their training. It is a fact of
life. Everyone experiences flu and cold symptoms, broken bones,
sprained muscles and all kinds of injury related symptoms. If they
do not take sufficient time off to get the outside influence under
control before coming back to their training, an over training
situation might arise.
Warning
Signs that Over Training has occurred
If an
athlete has fallen over into the realm of over training, there are ways
to find out and warning signs to look for. In a general sense, over
training will manifest itself in an athlete's co-ordination,
conditioning or mood before it will anywhere else and a few of the
classic warning signs along those three categories are explained below.
-
Significantly Affected
Co-Ordination: This can include things like old mistakes
popping up (like a hole in a batter's swing in baseball or cricket),
jerky movements, poor concentration ability and terrible judgment
while performing the sport they play. Assuming these are all out of
the ordinary for the athlete and all other things have remained
equal, chances are if they do occur, they are related to over
training.
-
Significantly Affected
Conditioning: If an athlete finds that their endurance
levels are down, they don't feel ready for their normal workout or
just generally seem to be less inclined from a physical standpoint
to give their usual output; chances are they might be suffering the
ill-effects of over training
-
Significantly Affected
Mood: If an athlete starts to easily show irritation and
yells at the coach for normal criticism, this is a big warning sign
that they might be over training. If a normally sociable athlete
suddenly starts keeping to themselves and avoiding their normal
friends and fellow team-mates, this too can be a big warning sign.
The truth is that over
training can be just as detrimental to your mental health and physical
health as not training enough. Your body needs time to rest, in fact it
is during your "down" time that your body builds muscle. Work out in
moderation, don't overdue it and you will experience the kind of results
that will improve your athletic performance.
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