Opening Up About Overtraining: Exploring the Impacts of Excessive Exercise
The following excerpt comes from Zoma Sleep. Zome Sleep conducted research into fitness and sleep habits and published a study of over 1000 people on how their fitness routines had been affected by overtraining. View the full report here.
Athletic training often requires months, and sometimes years, of preparation. The human body is incredible at adapting to new circumstances and physical demands—but it also gives clear warning signs when it’s being pushed too hard. However, whether due to a competitive nature or goal in sight, some people ignore these warnings and engage in strenuous exercise, otherwise known as overtraining. We defined “overtraining” as training to the extent that you are unable to recover, or to the point that you experience more harm than good from the work you’re putting in.
So, how does it impact today’s fitness culture? We surveyed over 1,000 people to find out. After separating those who overtrained and those who did not, we discovered what overtraining really means for the body and how it can impact a person’s livelihood. Whether you’re training for a specific event, have considered working with a personal trainer, or are unsure how hard you should push yourself, keep reading to learn more about avoiding overtraining.
Top Overtrainers
We started our mission by surveying athletes in everything from weight lifting to team sports as well as things like cycling and hiking. We asked each of these participants whether or not they had ever overtrained before (which many had) as well as the side effects that they experienced afterwards.
Weightlifters were the most likely to overtrain—37 percent admitted to overtraining. With the use of such heavy equipment, weightlifting poses an immediate safety risk: Lifting too much too fast can cause injury. For example, something as common as the bench press can rupture a pectoral tendon. Pushing yourself too hard, or overtraining, can also cause excessive tissue damage and more serious injuries, which is counterproductive to the goal that 71 percent of weightlifting overtrainers had: Achieve results.
Other athletes weren’t immune to overtraining, either. A third of runners and nearly a quarter of cyclists overtrained for their events. Even swimming, widely regarded as a low-impact exercise, still found 15% of participants experiencing overtraining.
In fact, athletes of all sports suffered the consequences despite their earnest desires: 71 percent faced “serious” consequences, and another 92 percent said the aftermath of overtraining was painful. The irony was painful, too: Wanting to achieve results was the No. 1 reason for overtraining, but results were ultimately worse than what a better training approach would have accomplished.
View the rest of the report at Zoma Sleep!
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We’ve all felt the elation, the disappointment, the highs and the lows that are inherent in playing the game, and also in watching it. But that’s not what prompted this article. The focus of this article is to address an issue that doesn’t get talked about enough, and can often be overlooked as plain laziness.
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