Giving your body a vacation can bring you great health improvements and speed up your journey to your fitness goals. When you neglect rest you risk overtraining and that brings progress to a dead stop. Here are the benefits of resting as well as the risks associated with overtraining and how to prevent them
Here are the benefits of giving it a rest:
• The body can regenerate to perform at its best.
• It allows the muscles to gain strength; too much training will weaken the muscles.
• It allows quicker recovery between training days.
• It decreases injuries because muscles and joints are recovered and at their best.
• It keeps your muscles looking good; overtraining causes a flat look because the body stores less glycogen.
• It helps you to avoid reaching a plateau. This is important because when you reach a plateau, gaining improvements becomes VERY difficult!!
• It keeps cortisol levels balanced. When cortisol levels are out of whack, there are a lot of issues, some of which include weight gain, depression, fatigue and low libido.
Signs of Overtraining
There are days when we experience some of the signs listed below. But if they continue abnormally for several days, then you may be overtraining.
• Mood swings
• Extreme fatigue
• Insomnia
• Losing interest in your training
• Losing strength
• Recovery takes longer
• Headaches
• Decreased immunity
Helpful Hints to Prevent Overtraining
• Get plenty of sleep (8 hours per night).
• Allow at least 48 hours for a trained muscle group to rest.
• Maintain a healthy diet with plenty of protein, veggies, complex carbs, and a small amount of good fats. Make sure you eat adequately before and after workouts!
My Pre-workout:
1/4 cup of oats, 3 egg whites, 3 prunes
My Post-workout:
1 scoop of fast-absorbing protein, 1 cup of berries, 1 cup of spinach, flax oil
• Take glutamine to help speed up recovery
• Get massages
• Warm up and stretch before your workouts
• Change up your exercises
• Change up the frequency. Maybe do a 3-day instead of a 5-day split.
