Exhausted today - Overtrained?

Neil79

Neil79

Neil79

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After a midlife crisis :p I've spent the last two months training really hard, cross trainer/push ups etc with only Wednesday and the weekends off. However today after having two days off it was a real struggle!

Using the cross trainer I felt tired and my legs were hurting, but was still able to do 45 mins, then doing push ups it was as if I had already done my 40+ reps, it felt sore and tiring at just 15! I thought having two days off but not anymore was good for training, but after this I had to ask, has my body been overstrained and needs a longer break?

Usually Wednesday and two days off for a weekend is no problem
 
Overtraining is an actual physiological condition, a one off bad workout is not over-training but simply an off day, could be: bad sleep, weak immune system from fighting a cold/flu, recovering from alcohol, or some unexplainable reason.

These are signs of overtraining.
  • Bad sleep, restless nights despite generally being tired and lethargic in the day
  • Rapid mood swings, depression, short temper, anger, irratble
  • Loss of appetite, weight loss
  • Increase in resting hear rate
  • Heart rate to sustain the same workout increases significantly
  • increase in recovery times
  • feelings of nausea, cramps, additional unexpected muscle soreness and fatigue in excess of the workout stress typically provides
  • hair loss, acne or other physical signs of stress (rashes?)
  • infections, sickness (persistent cold/cough etc). Immune system is weakened


if you are suffering from many of these then you should see a doctor and reduce your training significantly. Obviously some of these might occur for normal reason, e.g. you have a cold so feel lethargic and down, not hungry and lack 'energy' for a good work out. Overtrainign syndrome would be more persistent though, e.g a week later you still haven't recovered a moderate amount despite rest.
 
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Sounds like you have a cold, tbh. :)

If you have been going at this for eight weeks and only just noticed something, it is unlikely to be overtraining.

Besides, the kind of workout you are doing is not particularly stressful on your body. I am not saying it is not hard work, but you are not really taxing your nervous system on a cross trainer or by doing push-ups four times a week.

Chances are your diet is not supporting your workout regime. This has nothing to do with being in deficit (although too severe a deficit will be damaging your recovery and weight loss, too) but more WHAT you are eating. Get your protein, fats and cruciferous veg and then add in carbs over the top. This is my bet as to what is wrong, assuming your sleep and other activity patterns are good.
 
Good it on diet. Don't forget to eat plenty of carbs if you are working out, your muscles burn glycogen for energy predominantly above a the aerobic threshold, so it is important to eat lots of pasta, rice and bread to keep your glycogen reserves well stocked or you can effectively "hit the wall' just ding moderate exercise.

Eat some bread and honey + bannna before your next workout and see if that helps.
 
MoNkeE said:
No one else in this sub forum will ever recommend eating bread to reapply glycogen. Quite surprised anyone would to be honest.
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Bread is a great way to resupply glycogen and or raise blood sugar before exercise, anyone who says otherwise is deluded. Way too many ignorant people fear carbohydrates to their own detriment. Ever seen an athlete train for a marathon without eating plenty of carbs and consuming plenty of of gel-packs and sports drink while excising? Ignore the internet hysteria, someone doing a lot of exercise needs to eat a lot of carbs.


http://runnersconnect.net/running-nutrition-articles/diet-of-kenyan-runners/
Not surprisingly, a majority of the calories in the Kenyan diet came from carbohydrates. In the ten runners studied, 76.5 percent of daily calories were consumed as carbohydrates.

Given their body statistics, this meant each runner was consuming about 10.4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight.

Moreover, given how they spread out their eating times and training sessions, each athlete was consuming about 600 grams of carbohydrate per day, with almost 120 grams of carbohydrate at every meal.
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http://www.halhigdon.com/writing/59936/Why Runners Need Carbohydrates
For a 150-lb runner who trains hard an hour a day and remains somewhat active the rest of the day (that is, does more than just sit in front of a computer for 8 hours), this comes to 375 to 450 grams of carbohydrate per day, the equivalent of 1,500 to 1,800 calories of carbs.
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http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/162.shtml
Cool Running strongly recommends that runners follow a high-energy, high-carbohydrate diet.
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http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/much-protein-carbs-runners-need-4237.html
Your carbohydrate consumption drastically affects your runs and energy levels. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics advises that you consume carbohydrates based your body weight and the type of training in which you engage. Based on these recommendations, you should consume 2.3 to 3.2 grams of carbs per pound for light to moderate training that last less than one hour, 3.2 to 4.5 grams per pound for heavy training at high intensity and 4.5 to 5.5 grams per pound of body weight each day when running longer than four to five hours. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds and engage in heavy training at high intensity, you’d need 480 to 675 grams of carbs each day.
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The exact ratio of carbs will depend on how much exercise you are doing but lacking energy or feeling too tired to finish training is a classic case of insufficient dietary carbohydrates.

Bread does have a lot of simple carbs but that is perfect for a per-exercise snack, exactly what you wont. You don't want complex carbs before exercise or you will get digestions issues and nausea, complex carbs are for after exercise and meals some time before training.


Now if you are sat at a desk all day and sofa all evening by all means a low carb diet will help control weight and you can throw bread and pasta out the window. For people exercising regularly, then carbs should be their primary source of calories, and the harder they train the more carbs they will need to consume.
 
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I'm honoured you took all that time to write that post, but that was hardly the argument I was having. Bread - especially supermarket bought bread - is just the worst source of carbs you could get. It'll bloat you, won't give you a good stream of energy, and it's always got other stuff loaded in to the ingredients which are nutritionally counter productive to exercise.

Also you are applying FAR too much science to a guy that uses a cross trainer and does 40 push ups a day.
 
How's it harsh? I haven't said that's a bad thing, just implied he's not a pro athlete!

Everyone starts somewhere and I'll never push someone away from exercising, just from eating bread as a post workout meal :p

The more he gets in to it, the more he'll want to branch off to weights etc.
 
D.P. said:
The exact ratio of carbs will depend on how much exercise you are doing but lacking energy or feeling too tired to finish training is a classic case of insufficient dietary carbohydrates.
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No, that feeling is more likely associated with insufficient caloric intake that simply carb intake. Granted the level of fat oxidation and intensity of the exercise will play a factor.

Now if you are sat at a desk all day and sofa all evening by all means a low carb diet will help control weight and you can throw bread and pasta out the window.
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Calories will control weight :p removing carbs is just an easy way to unnecesarily criminalise them, create dysfunctional eating behaviour and cut calories from a diet.

No single food group is predisposed to cause weight/fat gain than any other.
 
MoNkeE said:
I'm honoured you took all that time to write that post, but that was hardly the argument I was having. Bread - especially supermarket bought bread - is just the worst source of carbs you could get. It'll bloat you, won't give you a good stream of energy, and it's always got other stuff loaded in to the ingredients which are nutritionally counter productive to exercise.

Also you are applying FAR too much science to a guy that uses a cross trainer and does 40 push ups a day.
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Who said anything about supermarket bread, a good slice of home made bread or form a quality bakery is a perfect source of carbs before a workout. like any food, cheap overly processed rubbish is too be avoided, be that meat, vegetables, juice, dairy, etc.

A slice or 2 absolutely wont leave you bloated at all, if it does you liekly have some kind of medical condition like celiacs disease and should see a doctor. It will give plenty of energy for a moderate amount of exercise, they key is it is quick to digest so wont give gastrointestinal distress during the workout. The absolute worst kind of carb to take before workout would be a complex carb like porridge oats, you will be throwing them up before you have digested any. Quick, simple digestible carbs before a workout, complex carbs during meals and after workouts, leaving around 2 hours before the next training session to ensure digestion.

For very long exercise over 2.5 hours then of course you will need more sugars, and that is when gel packs and sports drinks come in. more simple sugars in an easily digestible form. I assume the OP is not doing 3 hour long runs so the need for additional energy sources is completely moot.
 
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BennyC said:
No, that feeling is more likely associated with insufficient caloric intake that simply carb intake. Granted the level of fat oxidation and intensity of the exercise will play a factor.
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Ever seen a runner hit the wall and collapse to the ground? That is when the body has run out of glycogen and is trying to burn fat for energy. Fat requires far more oxygen to consume than glycogen, require heavier breathing and a slower pace, and produces energy at a slower rate. Carbs are the most efficient way of replenishing glycogen storage, and simple carbs taken before and during exercise like gel packs are the most efficient way of preserving blood sugar levels and glycgoen supplies, avoiding hitting the wall. Well before hitting the wall has blood sugar levels drop performance is reduced and training becomes harder. A general calorific insufficiency is basically causing the same problem of under-stocked glycogen storage and low blood sugar, however consumption of fat and protein before and during exercise wont resolve the problem and will just lead to nausea and vomiting.

That is why athletes carb load for the 2-3 days preceding a big race like a marathon.



to be clear, I am not suggesting that the diet should be filled with simple carbs, quite the opposite. Most carbs should be complex but before and ring exercise there should be an intake if simple carbs and sugars in order to train optimally. Bread+ honey, banana and a coffee taken 30 minutes before heading out the door should help facilitate a 2 hour training session if the rest of the diet is in order
Calories will control weight :p removing carbs is just an easy way to unnecesarily criminalise them, create dysfunctional eating behaviour and cut calories from a diet.

No single food group is predisposed to cause weight/fat gain than any other.
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That I agree with, whoever for sedentary overweight people there is evidence that cutting carbohydrates is more effective than cutting fats by the same calorie amount. I completely agree that the ridiculous fad diets demonize carbs and ultimately lead to a poor diet. But that is really a different conversation.
 
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