Over-achievers and those addicted to exercise can sometimes over-exercise. Long bouts of exercise over an extended period of time without sufficient rest and recovery can land you in the unpleasant state of overtraining syndrome. Some of the symptoms of O.T.S. (over training syndrome) include: anxiety and/or depression, poor sleeping patterns, chronic fatigue, slow muscle recovery, increased upper respiratory infections, increased cravings for carbohydrates, and lack of sexual desire. Some of these symptoms are the result of hormones that become out of balance. It is important to know your body and regular behaviours. A simple way to find out if you are overtraining is to measure your waking heart rate. If it is 10 beats over your average rate, you may be falling into O.T.S. If you are an athlete sidelined due to O.T.S. it can be a frustrating or depressing situation because you have to pull yourself away from what you love. To avoid O.T.S., take rest days and active recovery cycles, sleep well, consume adequate macro and micro nutritents, work on flexibility and meditation.
Acute injury can occur from overtraining. If you are untrained or deconditioned and you begin an intense program and progress too quickly, you can breakdown your muscle and its toxic contents circulate through the bloodstream. This is called rhabdomyolysis. This can lead to kidney failure or worse. Signs are extreme delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) to the point where you can move a joint through its full range of motion without extreme pain. You may also notice your urine turn a cola colour. If you experience these symptoms, get to a hospital immediately. You will be either treated with IVF or in worst cases be put on kidney dialysis.
