Trainer Tip of the Week – Over Training

Did you know that during exercise you are actually breaking down your body, and making it weaker?  The repair and rebuilding process actually happens after you are finished.  Therefore, it is of upmost importance that you give your body proper recovery time so it can fully repair.  How much time is enough?  Actually, each person is different in that area.  For example, someone who does a lighter to moderate full body workout won’t need as much recovery time as someone who just accomplished a high intensity full body workout.  Personally, I like to look at signs of overtraining.  Some common signals include being tired throughout the day, sore joints, fatiguing quicker throughout your workouts, getting weaker throughout your strength training, and getting sick more frequently.  If you workout frequently, and are experiencing some of these symptoms, you might be overtraining.  One way to consider to prevent overtraining is to not go over an hour in your workout.  Quality is always better than quantity.  Also, if you are someone who likes high intensity workouts, that’s great, but be sure you are not doing high intensity workouts everyday.  This type of training is more strenuous on the body, so I suggest taking at least 2 days in-between each high intensity session.  Lastly, be sure you are spreading out your workouts properly if you are weight training.  For example, if you workout your legs hard on Monday, you probably won’t be ready for another hard leg day until at least Thursday.  Similar to a high intensity session, give each body part proper recovery time before you work on them again.

Are you seeing the results you want to see in your workout program?  If not, I would love to help you!  You can reach me at 806-789-2529 or at brianvaligura@gmail.com