ENDURE: March 2012

Ask the Expert:

A question asked in a recent continuing education seminar ("Pro-Activity University") put on by Pro-Activity's MOVEmentum 360 & Clinical Team.

Fine Print: We hope this information gives you additional resource with which to make the best decisions as you move along your health journey. This information is for the purpose of general health only, and is not meant to diagnose or treat illness or injury.

Q: What are some common outcomes or things to look for in people who are "over-training"?

Athletes and coaches know that hard work and consistent dedication is the formula for success. As long as the body is able to train at the appropriate level for the appropriate time, the goal should be within reach. Hard training makes the body stronger, right? However your body, like any machine, can't run the red-line for too long without break down. Over-training is the result of ignoring the routine maintenance of your body, and believe it or not, your body will tell you when it needs to slow down for a bit.

Studies have found that changes in the resting heart rate may help early detection in over trained athletes. An athlete may have a difficult time maintaining the heart rate “set point” they usually train at. In multi-sport athletes, over training can happen in one event and not others. A tri-athlete, for example, can be over training the bike and not the run and swim.

The fix? Rest. Rest is the time when the body actually does get stronger. This is a physiologic response to the breakdown the body has experienced during the hard workout. If sufficient rest is not included, regeneration can not occur and performance cannot continue to improve. If the work-rest imbalance continues, performance will decline.

However, PREVENTION is indeed the best medicine here. Maintaining a training log is a great way to monitor progress and prevent over training. In addition to logging intensity (and distance for those focused on cardiovascular activities), a morning resting heart rate as well as levels of muscle soreness and general health and fatigue should be noted. If there is a progressive change in any of these data sets, over training should be considered. A simple strategy for detecting change is recording the morning resting heart rate. An elevated resting heart rate is a sign of over training. Other signs including moodiness, lack of appetite, fatigue and frequent illnesses are often missed because they get blamed on other things. However, like most things, the objective training metrics and data can keep us honest and mindful of our training balance and the possibility that we may actually need to cut back in order to get ahead.

If you have a question you’d like to run by our team of experts, please send it by clicking "ask our experts" or email us at:preventionservices@pro-activity.com