Paused gains and constant fatigue are signs of possible overtraining.
If not addressed within time, it can lead to problems like injuries leading to a huge setback in your bulking journey.
Knowing how to recover from overtraining can prevent this major hazard. However, it is only possible if one knows to identify early signs of overtraining. It requires necessary insights, knowledge, strategies, and techniques.
This blog guides to distinguish normal fatigue and exhaustion occurring due to overtraining.
At the same time, it highlights tips and tricks pros use and how you can use them to recover from overtraining to restore energy for hitting the gym in full swing. So, let’s begin without further delay.
How to Tell You’re Overtraining?
To counter the overtraining problem, it is essential to identify the early signs of overtraining. Afterward, one can implement overtraining tips to fight off the problem.
Spotting the physical, mental, and emotional symptoms of overtraining works for effective recovery. Here are some indicators crucial in recognizing the problem.
1. Physical Symptoms
- Declining performance: there can huge reduction in workout performance in terms of strength, speed, and endurance even after training.
- High resting heart rate: an unusual spike in heart rate even during resting throughout the day.
- Frequent injuries: constant instances of injuries, like muscle strains, sprains, and fractures.
- Persistent fatigue: constantly feeling energy drained even after completing the sleep cycle and taking ample rest.
- Weak immune system: either taking longer to get over common illnesses or falling ill frequently.
Except for physiological changes, there can be a range of emotional fluctuations in mood and sleeping patterns. Some of these changes are described below along with other symptoms you can expect.
2. Mental and Emotional Symptoms
- Difficulty focusing: reduction in concentration, memory lapses, or brain fog during workouts or throughout the day.
- Insomnia or troubled sleep patterns: finding it tough to fall asleep, disturbed sleeping pattern, difficulty in sleeping due to racing thoughts, or feeling exhausted even after sleeping
- Inadequate motivation: having no interest and motivation to involve in workouts or daily activities which were once fun.
- Mood imbalance: constant instances of mood swings, irritability, or unknown source of anxiety or sadness.
When it comes to early identification, these signs and symptoms have been observed by experts. However, they can vary from individual to individual and can be occurring due to external factors like underlying healthy issues or stress.
At the same time, assessing performance can help know the actual cause of the points mentioned above.
Constant depletion in performance along with the above-mentioned signs are indications of addressing current training status as well as recovery stress.
If overtraining does take a toll on you, don’t need to stress out. Tips to recover from overtraining syndrome from pros and how to employ it for best results can help.
How to Recover from Overtraining?
Paying attention to a few things decimates the impact of overtraining. Apart from that, going a step ahead and employing changes in the way to approach training programs can also work.
Here’s how to recover after overtraining:
- Don’t ignore the pain and injury
- Sleep more
- Try different workout styles
- Drink more water
- Focus on nutrition
- Massage with a foam roller
- Try acupuncture
- Try mobility training
- Avoid the use of stimulants
- Supplementation for recovery
Following is a detailed overview of all these tips to support proper muscle repair and recovery from hardcore workouts.
1. Don’t Ignore
Even after constantly noticing the overtraining symptoms, whether male or female bodybuilders, ignoring the signs is common. Addressing it at the earliest minimizes the impact of extreme workouts.
On spotting chronic aches or pain or any other symptoms of overtraining as mentioned above, seeking help immediately is a must. A healthy lifestyle habit works in the long run.
Injury, lack of motivation, and depleting focus won’t encourage engagement in the long run. Thus, it becomes vital to talk about the problems to your fitness trainer, physical therapist, experienced coach, or even a doctor.
Taking overtraining syndrome test can also help in identifying the problem at the earliest.
2. Rest
Rest is necessary to recover from normal workouts as well, but overtraining has a comparatively larger impact on the body. The longer you overtrain, the longer rest is required.
This makes recognizing it the earliest help. For shorter duration overtraining, like for 3-4 weeks, almost 5 days rest along with other treatment strategies would be effective. Post the rest duration, it is necessary to gradually increase workout volume until full recovery.
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3. Cross Train
Pros often go for a substitute workout to skip exercise withdrawal syndrome. If you’re into running and cardio, go for yoga, any outdoor sport, or other workout programs to break the flow.
It is essential to maintain low intensity and minimum training volume for basic fitness and the least impact on the already overtrained physique.
If overtraining occurred due to focusing on a single training program, resting from it completely and minimizing involvement in other sports workouts.
To recover from overtraining due to running, take a break from that sport and minimize other the volume and intensity of other workouts to keep the body stimulated while providing it time to rejuvenate.
4. More Water
Water is necessary for all body functions while inadequate water can impair these processes. In terms of OTS (Overtraining Syndrome) recovery, hydrating becomes crucial as it prevents dehydration which can affect workouts.
Dehydrated tissues are prone to injury and it becomes challenging to receive nutrients for repair and healing. Meanwhile, their flexibility depletes and they begin to heap up water waste, which hampers the recovery process.
So, drinking sufficient water becomes crucial for recovery from overtraining. At the same time, it is important to avoid drinks and beverages with artificial sweeteners and lab-made substances. Fresh juices and flavored water are great alternatives to regular water.
5. Diet and Eating Patterns
A healthy balanced diet isn’t just important for bodybuilding, but recovery as well. The body requires nutrients to perform better as well as recover fast.
Thus, avoiding processed food, junkies, packed food, and sugary beverages becomes crucial. Instead, adhering to a high-protein and low-carb diet can work great.
The diet should include an adequate amount of healthy fat as well as other nutrients to facilitate body function necessary for proper recovery.
6. Massage
Overtraining muscles causes body aches and pain addressing them during recovery is crucial. The most effective overtraining recovery treatment pros use for this problem is massage. Go for it regularly to get over body aches and pain located in certain areas.
Also, foam roller can be another great option to use post-workout for fast recovery. It even lessens the instance of muscle soreness and restriction.
Either visit a professional center for the treatment or learn how to use massage or a foam roller to recover from overtraining online or at local hubs.
7. Acupuncture
The ancient Chinese technique is one of the best overtraining treatments. It addresses numerous areas affected due to excessive workouts like the muscular, nervous, and hormonal systems.
However, most overtraining recovery treatments focus on one of the aspects. Apart from working on the bodily aspects affected due to excessive exercise, it even works for relaxation and mental peace, which is a plus point.
8. Work on Weak Areas
Identify and work on weak areas to avoid further damage and support quick recovery. For injury-prone areas, do mobility and balance training to prevent the problem in the first place.
For people with knee and shoulder injury problems, cross-training should be planned to train the area while providing sufficient time for the body to recover.
However, don’t meddle with it without prior research. Talk to your fitness trainer, any other pro bodybuilder you know, or other gym mates, and undertake research online to plan cross-training accordingly to improve your gymming experience.
9. Reduce the Use of Stimulants
It is tough to address the impact on the nervous and hormonal systems. Overtraining makes the adrenal overworked and spikes cortisol levels.
In such conditions, stimulant consumption like caffeine worsens the functioning of these symptoms. Whether pre and post-workout supplements or regular beverages, they contain lots of caffeine.
For fast recovery, it is necessary to limit the use of stimulating substances for reregulating and rejuvenating the nervous and hormonal systems. It is best to minimize stimulant intake even post-recovery from overtraining to avoid future occurrences.
10. Supplement
Sometimes the natural tips and overtraining syndrome treatment for recovery might not be sufficient. It can be caused by the excessive impact of extreme training, making the recovery process more challenging.
In such a situation, supplementation emerges as a suitable option to incorporate with existing overtraining recovery programs.
For instance, you can find supplements for injury, inflammation, body aches, fatigue, and troubled sleep.
As most of the recovery and muscle repair take place during rest, many brands have introduced the best sleep supplements for muscle recovery to induce deep sleep and, with it, faster recovery.
Don’t self-medicate for overtraining in any case. Consult with your medical health supervisor and fitness trainer to provide the right supplement.
Recovery from overtraining is a long way to go, and understanding the know-how is crucial to implement the treatment effectively for fast results.
These methods have been employed by many athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and bodybuilder pros to get over the impact of their extreme workout phase.
While the overtraining recovery tips are effective, the recovery duration can vary from person to person. Further insight can answer how long it actually takes to recover from overtraining.
How Long Does It Take to Recover from Overtraining?
The time to recover from overtraining can differ depending on a lot of factors. The most apparent reason behind it is the severity of overtraining.
Apart from that, physiological differences and overtraining recovery programs of individuals also matter.
There is no specified timeframe observed to recover from OTS. However, it usually takes a few weeks to months for a complete recovery from the impact of excessive workouts.
In mild cases of overtraining, where the identification occurs early and OTS treatment is followed appropriately, it takes only a few weeks to recover.
This occurs with the techniques and methods mentioned above. Apart from that, one incorporates active recovery to get over it. It helps them repair damaged tissues, restore energy levels, and reacquire physical and mental well-being comparatively fast.
In contrast, in severe cases of overtraining, where the symptoms have been ignored for a longer duration and the long-term effects of overtraining have impacted the body significantly, the recovery process even after implementation can take months.
It requires an extended duration of rest, adequate sleep, and stress management along with attention to nutrition.
Taking all the macronutrients and vitamins for muscle repair and growth is the least you can do to support quick recovery.
In severe overtraining cases, professional guidance from sports physicians or physiotherapists becomes important to monitor progress.
Whether severe or mild cases, approaching the recovery process gradually is necessary. Also, post-recovery, avoid rushing into intensive training to prevent possible fatal setbacks.
In the end, the recovery duration is entirely individualistic varying with multiple facets involved.
The key is employing overtraining treatment positively while adopting a proactive training program to avoid similar future mishaps.
The discussion on pro tips to recover from overtraining comes to its conclusion. In the end, get bonus precautionary tips to avoid the problem when following a regular workout schedule.
The Final Thoughts
Overtraining is a huge setback in the journey of any fitness enthusiast. In order to get maximum results in a shorter duration, people go beyond their physical limits.
The above-mentioned overtraining recovery tips and treatments have been found effective by pros in fighting off the problem. Nonetheless, the timeline for getting rid of the impact of overtraining differs in multiple aspects.
Whatever the case, it is best to not face the overtraining problem in the first place as it can take a lot of time to recover. Of course, it will affect your bodybuilding progress by working as an obstruction. In such a case, precautionary measures can help a lot.
Here’s how to avoid the risk of injuries and overtraining for faster workout recovery:
- Realistic goals and training plans.
- Balance training and life accordingly.
- Right nutrition and hydration are important.
- Monitor training load and increase it gradually.
- Go for cross-training to diversify your workouts.
- Keep regular rest days for proper rest and recovery.
- Listen to the body and adjust workouts accordingly.
- Ensure adequate sleep by maintaining a consistent sleep pattern.
Not only do prevention tips lessen the risk of overtraining, but also optimize performance and overall health.
In case, you’ve already injured yourself, try the overtraining recovery tips mentioned in this blog to jump back into your usual routine. So, go for it and get the most out of your workout routine.