Feeling excessively tired or sore? Feeling like there’s not enough gas in the tank?
First stop: are you fuelling yourself appropriately? Getting those carbs in to fuel your workouts and getting enough protein in afterwards.
Secondly, are you getting enough sleep? The recommendation for adults is 7-9hours of QUALITY sleep, many of us don’t get this.
If you’ve already looked at your nutrition and rest and feel that those are fine, it’s time to look at your exercise volume.
Does your program include rest days? Yes you absolutely need at least one rest day! Maybe 2 depending on what your training is looking like.
And ps that rest day doesn’t mean a ‘10k recovery run’. You need one full day of actual rest for you body – if you need to move, go for a walk or try some gentle yoga or stretching.
Now, keep in mind this is a teeny tiny snapshot into the physiology of overtraining but basically, if the training stimulus is too frequent, it doesn’t allow the body to recover🤷🏼♀️
In 2008 there was a clinical trial looking at how the distribution of rest periods affects performance and energy metabolism in human muscle. I think this is a great example in that it is applicable to todays trendy ‘hiit’ workouts. The group with no recovery failed to improve performance, whereas the second group showed a marked performance improvement.
Self check in – are you recovering adequately? Can you see anywhere that you’re lacking? 👇🏼
📚PMID: 10848646
