What Is Overtraining? (The Signs and Dangers of It)
Physical exercise is extremely beneficial. It increases your stamina, strength, flexibility, improves your immune system response, makes you lose extra weight, and tones your entire body. But like anything else, too much of it can have negative effects.
Overtraining happens to a lot of people, and you as a member of the pro cheer community are vulnerable to it. Why? Because of the assumption that you should always push your limits during each workout. Don’t allow overtraining to affect you. Here’s what you need to do to avoid it. But first...
What Is Overtraining?
Overtraining is a common problem in athletes and people living an active lifestyle. It happens when a person trains or exercises more than what their body can recover from. Lifting heavy weights even when your muscles are already screaming in pain is overtraining. Running even when you’re tired and your legs feel like they’re on fire is also overtraining.
The problem with overtraining is we don’t often notice that we’re already beyond the recovery threshold. Some would get addicted to the pain, others would treat it as a challenge, while there are those who are under the guidance of a bad fitness coach. These are the reasons why you must know the signs of overtraining so that you’ll avoid making such a mistake.
7 Dangerous Signs of Overtraining
1. Decreased performance
You exercise to improve your physical performance. But with overtraining, the opposite happens. You’ll notice you’re running shorter miles than before, moving at slower speeds, and having a slower reaction.
2. Prolonged muscle soreness
After exercising, your muscles will feel painfully sore because it’s undergoing a repair process. Typically, the soreness lasts for a day or two after your last workout. But if it lasts beyond that, it’s a sign that you have overdone yourself.
3. Extreme fatigue
Aside from the soreness, you’ll also feel very tired. So tired that you’ll want to spend the next few days at home. Sometimes the soreness won’t happen as well. Your body at this point has very low energy storage. To make matters worse, you’ll lose appetite — another sign of overtraining.
4. Persistent respiratory illnesses
Colds and coughs are mild infections. But when you’re overtrained, they would last for weeks even with medication and rest. It’s because overtraining suppresses your immune system’s function.
5. Insomnia
By being overtrained, your hormones are out of balance. You feel sleepy during the day and restless at night. Not to mention you would wake up in the middle of the night because a light movement caused searing pain.
6. Depression
With your hormones out of whack, you’ll lose self-esteem and have low motivation to the point of being at risk of depression. Exercises are meant to make you feel confident and happy due to endorphin and dopamine release. It shouldn’t worsen your mental state.
7. Hypertension
Another effect of overtraining is an elevated resting heart rate. Your body will need to pump a lot of blood because it treats your other overtraining symptoms as an illness. The dangerous thing about this is that prolonged elevated heart rate can lead to a stroke or even death due to a clogged kidney or heart failure.
The best thing you need to do to avoid overtraining is to keep an exercise log. Monitor the distance you run, sets, and reps you do while using fitness equipment. If you feel you’ve reached a plateau and want a better challenge, add a little distance and counting. Don’t add difficulty that’s twice your current routine.
More importantly, listen to your body. When you feel exhausted or in pain, call it a day and let your body rest. Don’t forget to eat foods that help with muscle recovery.
Need a Great Workout Routine for Your Pro Cheer Audition Prep?
Pro cheerleaders stay fit, flexible, and strong so they can give out their best performance in the arena. However, achieving that wow-worthy, toned physique doesn’t happen overnight. You need to arm yourself with the right daily workouts.
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