Red Deer Life - June 20, 06

Yes you can exercise too much. I was struggling thinking of what to write about this week so I began to review some of my client notes thinking of what discussions I've had with some of my clients lately. Recently I've had a couple of my clients where I've prescribed an extended rest or detraining period. Two solid weeks away from the gym, nothing but light activity and only if desired, a prescription that will insure additional progress upon return.

This idea often just doesn't make sense to most people. Our good work ethic tends to make us believe that if progress is not satisfactory then we must simply push on and work harder. Whether it be physical activity, work, or some other type of stress our body uses its vital resources to perform through each situation. If our body grows too low on resources it begins to break down: sickness, injuries, lethargy, all common symptoms of overtraining.

If we learn to identify when our body is running low on resources we can use extended rest periods to push our progress much further faster. The hard part is knowing when extra rest should be taken. Unfortunately signs of fatigue or overtraining can be easily ignored. Symptoms such as a sudden loss of desire for physical activity, tired or twitching eyes, restlessness and an inability to fall asleep easily, increased thirst or mild dehydration, prolonged muscle soreness and loss of strength are all common signs of overtraining or over exercising. If you didn't sleep well last night because you haven't flipped your mattress for a year; and you had a hard day at work today so your workout suffered you might be confused about whether you are overtraining.

What I would recommend initially is to be keeping an exercise log so you have some documentation to identify your current performance levels. After an arbitrary period, say six weeks of steady workouts, try taking four to seven days of complete rest or what we refer to as detraining. Carefully document how you feel during the first few workouts of the next phase and again over the next six week period. At the end of the second period you can compare your progress and determine whether the rest helped or not. You may decide to increase or decrease your extended rest, or maybe even increase or decrease the training period before the next rest period. Over a time you will begin to be more body aware as to exactly how your body is feeling and performing allowing you to just know when extra rest is needed. This column is not a license to be lazy but a reminder that a little extra rest once in a while might push you over that next jump on the path to your goals.