Total: $0.00
Taxes and shipping calculated at checkout
Are You Overtraining? Signs Your Body Needs Rest
As fitness enthusiasts, we often push ourselves to improve strength and performance. However, there's a fine line between challenging ourselves and overtraining. Overtraining happens when we exercise too much without enough rest, which can lead to physical, emotional, and mental issues. If ignored, overtraining can cause long-term injury or slow progress. In this post, we’ll cover the signs of overtraining and when it's important to rest and let your body recover!
Signs of Overtraining
Fatigue & Lack of Energy
If you feel tired even after a full night’s sleep or a rest day, it could be a sign of overtraining. Instead of feeling energised, you feel sluggish, fatigued, and unmotivated. Too much exercise without enough rest drains your energy. Over time, your body struggles to restore glycogen and repair muscles, causing fatigue.
Our Tip: If you're consistently tired, lethargic, or feel physically drained for days after your workouts, it's time to scale back and give your body a chance to fully recover. Getting proper sleep (7 hours or more per night) and eating a balanced diet are both essential aspects of the recovery process.
Muscle Soreness
While some soreness after intense workouts is normal, persistent and prolonged soreness (lasting several days) is a red flag. Overworking muscles without allowing them enough time to repair and rebuild can delay recovery, leading to chronic soreness and potential injury.
Our Tip: If you’re still sore after a few days of rest or your soreness seems unusually intense, consider taking a rest week or focusing on active recovery (like yoga, light stretching, or swimming) to help ease soreness.
Injuries or Joint Pain
Using your joints too much without enough rest can cause pain, swelling, or injury. This often happens in high-impact sports or activities with repetitive movements.
Our Tip: If you feel persistent pain in joints or muscles during or after training, pushing through the pain can worsen the injury. Gentle stretching or mobility work can help alleviate tightness and improve flexibility, but avoid aggressive stretching if joints or muscles are inflamed.
Decreased Performance & Strength
When overtraining, you may find it harder to hit your usual workout goals including the amount of weight lifted, distance ran and reps completed. This would include a noticeable drop in strength, speed, or endurance.
Our Tip: Every 4-6 weeks, consider incorporating a deload week where you reduce the intensity of your workouts by 40-60%. This allows your body to fully recover and avoid overtraining.