We all know how important it is to follow a good training regimen in order to progress in our game, but what if you're overdoing it? Have there been times you're just plain exhausted, your body aches all over and is screaming for rest? You exercise harder and more frequently so you can improve but instead you just don't have the energy or the mental focus to recover from all the intensive training during the week. Conditioning requires a balance between overload and recovery. Too much overload and too little rest and recovery will have the less desired adverse affect. Over time, you will not only suffer physically and risk injury but you will be affected psychologically as well. These are common symptoms of overtraining syndrome.
As defined in Wikipedia, overtraining is a physical, behavioral and emotional condition that occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual's exercise exceeds their recovery capacity.
WARNING SIGNS, SYMPTOMS AND DAMAGING EFFECTS:
- Over exhaustion, feeling drained, lack of energy, constant fatigue
- Sudden drop in performance
- Pain in muscles and joints, persistent muscle soreness
- Decrease in training intensity/capacity, inability to complete workout
- Decreased muscular strength and/or aerobic capacity
- Delayed recovery
- Increased incidence of injuries
- Elevated resting heart rate
- Decreased immunity (getting sick often, sore throat, colds)
- Increased susceptibility to infections
- Loss of enthusiasm, motivation or competitive drive
- Decrease in appetite
- Depression, moodiness and irritability
- Headaches
- Absence of menstruation
- Constipation or diarrhea
- Excessive weight loss or loss of body fat
- Compulsive need to exercise
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS:
Other psychological factors that may contribute to overtraining may be stress related to your career, poor nutrition, raising a family, jet lag, or a relationship. If you experience any of the above circumstances, you need to pay attention to your body and give yourself time to recover!
Improvements in strength and fitness only occur during the resting period of 12 to 24 hours following intensive training. If you do not allow your body sufficient rest, complete regeneration cannot occur. If this imbalance continues, your performance will eventually plateau and decline over time. Mild over training may require several days of rest or reduced activity to fully restore your fitness level. If you do not address this issue promptly, this condition may persist for many weeks or even months!
Sometimes it seems like there's never enough time in a day. Working and living in a big city such as New York will definitely have an impact on your physical well being, especially when you are trying to fit in at least a few days a week for Capoeira at best. Sometimes you get sucked into your environment because time is critical and there's not enough time to accomplish everything. You'd rather concentrate solely on training and forget about other elements which are equally as important - stretching, cross training, rest and recovery. In the long run, you will do more damage than good. Going on like this will only be detrimental to your health.
If you think you are in this danger zone, the first thing you need to do is take anywhere from a day or a few days to rest. Refresh your mind and your body so you can regain your strength and energy. This is something a good martial artist or an athlete will incorporate into his or her training routine. Your body is not a machine and it won't always be at a hundred percent. Depending on how much sleep you get every day, some days you'll feel like you're on top of the world and other days you'll be dragging.
OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER:
- Is your nutrition adequate to compensate all your activities? Are you eating properly or enough before and after training to replenish what your body has lost? If your body is not replenished, it becomes calorie-deficient and the rate of break down of muscle tissue increases resulting in a longer recovery process. Make sure you have well-balanced meals throughout the day including complex carbs, lean protein and veggies for sustained energy levels. Do not make the mistake of waiting more than 2 hours to eat after class or not eating at all
- Are you nutrient deficient? (lack of vitamin b, d, calcium, iron, etc.? You may need to take a multivitamin (check with your doctor first) if you are not getting enough from food sources. An active person is depleted faster of nutrients more than the average individual. It is important to make sure you get enough calcium to keep your bones strong and healthy along with any other minerals you are lacking.
- Hydration is of utmost importance. Not drinking enough water throughout the day will add to fatigue. 8-10 glasses a day is the normal requirement. Depending on your activity, you may need a lot more. You also lose a lot of electrolytes while you sweat. To keep yourself balanced, you may need coconut water or Gatorade to replenish your bodily fluids.
TREATMENT
First and foremost, is rest. Listen to your body. You know most of the time when you are not feeling your best. Instead of going to class 3 days in a row when you are only at fifty percent, you are better off taking a day off. Depending on how tired you are, you could take the day too incorporate some milder cross training: yoga, pilates, stretching, low to mild intensity cardio, etc. Organize your training program so that different muscles are worked on different days.
Reduce the intensity and/or the volume of training during the week. A good athlete or martial artist will follow a periodization of training. If necessary, you may even need to take an entire week off if training has more of a negative impact rather than positive. Every individual is different and everyone has different stress factors to deal with. Do what you think is best for you in order for you to come back with clear mental and physical focus.
Plan your training program wisely during the week. If you have work functions or personal matters you have to tend to as well, try to fit everything in without spreading yourself too thin. If you don't cut yourself some slack, the psychological stress factors in combination with the physical will negatively impact your fitness regimen.
Increase sleep time. This is one of the best remedies. You may not be getting the average 7-8 hours of sleep on a regular basis, but that extra hour will make a big difference!
Change your diet. As addressed previously, poor nutrition and vitamin deficiencies may have a great impact on your physical state. Make sure you are eating enough or are supplementing if necessary to allow your body a quicker recovery.
A deep tissue or sports massage of the affected muscles may be just what you need after all the abuse your body has taken. Treat yourself every once in a while for faster recovery process. If this is not in your budget, a foam roller or tennis ball can help greatly to massage out those sore muscles. You could also partner up with a friend to help each other with stretching or a rub down of the affected muscles.
Everything comes down to balance in life. If you want the best results, you cannot neglect the elements that are commonly overlooked in your training program. A good Capoeirista understands all aspects of the game. Psychological elements are just as important as the physical elements. In Capoeira, you are not only learning the movements, but the music, dance, language and the cultural aspect of the martial art. It is important to have balance in your training regimen as well. Just as you need to incorporate all elements of the martial art, you should always be taking care of your mind, body and soul. A wise Capoeirista is a good Capoeirista.
Previously:
Core Strength
Why You Should Warm Up (Especially Now)
A Happy Holiday Survival Guide
Issues Facing Active Females
The Importance of Stretching and Flexibility
Joint Pain & Common Capoeira Injuries (Part 2)
Sprains, Strains & Common Capoeira Injuries (Part 1)
Capoeira Nutrition (Part 2)
Capoeira Nutrition (Part 1)
Capoeira and the Importance of Cross Training
Cindy Lai is a NASM certified Personal Trainer and runs Cindy Lai Fitness Bootcamp, a bootcamp in Central park that incorporates all the above elements and a kettlebell bootcamp on the West Side Highway for non-traditional strength training. Check out her site for more details.
Photos by illustir, andronicusmax, stephmcg, Caitlinator, and Pink Sherbet Photography via CC BY-SA 2.0
Lift and tone your butt in five minutes with these exercises. Brazilian women are famous for their gorgeous bodies, but you don't have to go to Rio to get a beautiful butt. Brazilian native Leandro Carvalho brings his sculpting secrets stateside with the Brazilian Butt Lift class at Equinox Fitness Clubs in New York City.
Taking a class at a community gymnasium has renewed the confidence I lost when I found I was suddenly illiterate. Verbal communication got me a coffee that I didn't want and put me on a bus to the wrong part of town. It also put me in a position to make friends with locals-people with whom I can practice my Portuguese. I see these people two or three times a week, and since the class is all about movement and playing music it's easy to participate. It's a non-judgmental atmosphere; since, everyone in the class is there to learn. 
On the other side of the camp, capoeira lessons are starting. Viva Rio has been teaching capoeira to children here for more than a year, but since the earthquake, the number of children in the program has grown by more than 100. In the shell of a building that locals say gang members used to use for hiding kidnap victims, about 30 children remove their shoes and sit on a rug in front of a line of musicians for the morning class. The music is key to capoeira, and the morning session focuses just on the songs, while the afternoon session teaches the components of the martial-arts based dance.
