Overtraining - these can be the consequences

In times when one superlative outstrips the other and the wheel of life begins to turn faster and faster, we naturally want to achieve our training goals faster and faster. However, in training, as in many other areas of life, the principle applies that a lot does not always help a lot. And this is true in terms of training regardless of whether you want to build muscle or lose some of your body fat. On the contrary, too frequent and intensive training can even be harmful and hinder you in your progress. In the following article you can read about the exact consequences of overtraining.

Overtraining increases susceptibility to injury

Behind the term Overtraining is simply a permanent overload of the organism, which is expressed by a wide variety of symptoms. Overtraining is very obvious on the physical level, because the mechanical overload of muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints has consequences. In fact, if you don't give these structures enough time to recover between your training sessions, you risk damaging the tissues. It's easy to explain why using muscle tissue as an example. Let's say you want to build muscle. It's only natural that you want to exercise as often as possible to stimulate as much growth as possible. However, since your muscles only regenerate and grow comfortably during the rest periods between training sessions, you will not achieve success with the "much helps much" principle. 

Worse, because the muscles do not have the opportunity to regenerate the micro-injuries caused by the training, the risk increases that you will sustain a more serious injury to the pre-damaged tissue during the next load. While muscular injuries can occur in the early stages of overtraining, damage to the passive musculoskeletal system often occurs later. However, overuse-related injuries to ligaments, tendons and joints are much more protracted. The increasing risk of injury alone should be reason enough to consistently avoid overtraining.

Your hormone balance gets out of whack

However, the physical consequences that can be felt directly are only one side, because the stress of overtraining has much more far-reaching effects on the organism. Because anyone who overstrains their body in the long term also increases their personal risk of cardiovascular disease and ultimately even a heart attack. Such serious problems and typical symptoms of overtraining, such as extreme fatigue, listlessness, weakness, loss of appetite and severe mood swings, are caused by a hormone balance that is out of whack.
The stress hormone cortisol plays a central role in this. This hormone is not harmful in principle, as it is always released when we exercise. However, if we train too often or at too high an intensity, our body produces extremely large amounts of cortisol, which can only be broken down slowly. Cortisol causes an increase in the organism's willingness to perform, which is a very important point for evolutionary reasons, because it was the only way our ancestors could survive. 
Cortisol only becomes a problem when it occurs in too high concentrations, because while it promotes performance on the one hand, it inhibits all processes related to regeneration on the other. It is obvious that such a condition is extremely counterproductive in the long term. In addition to possible injuries due to insufficient regeneration and the increasing risk of cardiovascular diseases, overtraining also threatens to significantly weaken the immune system. As scientific studies have shown, cortisol levels that are too high in the long term lead to an increased risk of chronic inflammatory diseases, especially in women, which can even lead to the development of autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

How to avoid overtraining

The solution to the problem of overtraining is actually obvious but not easy to implement, because especially the problem of high cortisol levels is not exclusively based on training and training frequency. After all, our everyday life is stressful enough, especially as we try to balance training, family, friends and job. But to break out of this hamster wheel, you should consciously allow yourself rest periods and say "no" to supposed social obligations more often. When it comes to training, you should also cut back a bit and allow your body to regenerate sufficiently after training. 
As a guideline here, a period of 48 hours rest between two consecutive training sessions is considered for the same body part as a good guideline. You can counteract overtraining by eating a well-balanced diet consisting mainly of whole and fresh foods, as well as by getting enough sleep. Since lack of sleep also has a strong influence on cortisol levels, you should always allow yourself seven to nine hours of sleep, depending on your body's need for sleep. In this way, you not only lower your cortisol level, but also improve your physical regeneration, which in turn is beneficial for your training goals.