Overtraining vs. Under-Recovery: How to Break a Plateau

Are you really overtraining or are you just under recovered?

Overtraining happens when you are training harder than your body can recover and benefit from your training. So, you progressively get weaker and more run down. This can eventually lead to plateaus, adrenal gland dysfunctions, hormone dysfunctions, immune system suppression, or chronic injuries. Overtraining should not be confused with overreaching which is, the fatigue you feel after a workout that leads to increased performance once recovered. With the proper time, signals, and building blocks your body adapts and becomes stronger as a result of your workout. If you train the same muscles before they are recovered due to a deficit in one or multiple recovery factors then you are progressively making those muscles, and your entire body weaker.

Signs of Overtraining/Under-Recovery

There are many signs of overtraining but what you may notice first is either a plateau in training or even a decrease in performance. This could be a decrease in weight or reps for the same workout. Everyone has good days and bad days in the gym, so you would want to see if that is consistent over at least 2 separate training sessions, doing the same exercises at least 48 hours apart. For example, if you can typically bench 225 lbs for 5 (respect!) but all of a sudden you can only get 3 or 4 reps see if that continues on your next bench day.

Other signs that should be taken into account are fatigue, malaise, loss of enthusiasm for training, and increased soreness. If you monitor your heart rate you can also track if your heart rate response is about the same for similar workouts you have done in the past.

For women also pay attention to your cycle and menstruation period, since changes in this can also be a sign of overtraining/under-recovery. If you start missing periods (without any other explanation) then you have been pushing it far too hard for far too long.

Men there are signs for you as well. If you stop waking up in the morning with an erection or it isn’t as strong as it has been in the past this is a sure sign to start re-evaluating what you’re doing for your health and recovery.

How to Improve Recovery to Prevent Overtraining

Some people are pushing themselves too hard, but in my experience most people are under-recovering, meaning they aren’t doing what they need to do to let their body heal from their training and benefit from the effort they put in. There is a lot that can affect your recovery but some of the main aspects of recovery are as follows.

Sleep

Sleep is where you actually make your gains. This is when growth hormone increases and signals the body to heal, strengthen, and enlarge your muscles. Without proper sleep all that hard work you did in the gym is wasted. Sleep duration and quality matter since too little or poor sleep quality both lead to a decrease in muscle mass and increase in fat mass. If you are trying to maximize your muscle growth you will want to be asleep around 10 or 11 at the latest, since that is the time growth hormone is naturally at its highest. If you are waking up in the middle of the night one of the most common causes is not eating enough throughout the day, I would probably start with increasing your protein and fats.

More on sleep here.

Nutrition

You’ve heard it before, amino acids (protein) are the building blocks of your cells. Without adequate protein intake your muscles aren’t going to be able to heal from that awesome workout you just did. I’ve talked about protein in other articles so I won’t go too in-depth here but here’s the short version. Consume 0.7-1 gram of animal-based protein per pound of body weight. So a 160 pound person needs 112 to 160 grams of protein. Since the assumption in this article is that you are working out you want to aim for the higher number, because working out increases your protein needs. If you’re on the low end of your range and still feel like you aren’t recovering the way you should try increasing your protein by 20 grams or so and see if that helps. It’s better to have too much protein than too little. More on protein here.

Fats are extremely important for helping keep blood sugar and energy levels stable as well as making the “walls” that surround your cells. Eat healthy fats with every meal, such as grass-fed butter, coconut oil, avocado oil, fatty fish, etc. avoid eating a lot of refined seed oils and vegetable oils like canola oil. Too much of these lead to an increased inflammatory response that can decrease your gains and increase soreness. More on fats here.

Also make sure you are eating some carbohydrates since high-intensity training can burn through your glycogen (energy) stores. Without enough carbs in your diet your muscles will not be able to quickly replenish their glycogen stores and that can also lead to faster fatigue in the gym. Yes, the body can make glucose with protein through gluconeogenesis, but do you really want your protein being used to make sugar that you could be eating instead? This isn’t a free pass to eat as much sugar as you want since when insulin is too high it can reduce growth hormone.

Micronutrients

There are so many micronutrients that are needed for proper muscle growth and recovery, but here are a few that I think are among the most important.

These nutrients can all be obtained through eating a variety of nutrient-dense whole foods. I don’t recommend multivitamins because they often will have too much of some nutrients and not enough of others. Also if you do have a nutrient imbalance and a multi increases both nutrients a similar amount then you still have an imbalance between those nutrient.

Don’t believe the people that say macros are all that matter. Yes macros are important and are your base but if you don’t eat nutrient dense foods then at some point the deficiencies will catch up to you. You’ll end up with an injury that “came out of nowhere”. Injuries aren’t random, there was a problem that was ignored for too long.

Stress and Recovery

Overall stress levels plays a big role in recovery and if you live a high stress life that often equates to needing to lower your training load a bit on more stressful days so you don’t injure yourself. Chronic stress can lead to longer recovery times and this needs to be taken into account so that you aren’t pushing yourself to a point of exhaustion. I am a big proponent of pushing yourself in the gym, but if you’re having an off day and the weight isn’t moving as easy as last time it is okay to take it a little easier on those days. If you’re having more off days than good days re-evaluate what’s running your system down and make the necessary changes to ensure you have the energy to do everything that is important to you.

Overtraining is Overused

Sure there are some people push themselves too hard despite having everything “perfect” for their recovery, but the majority of us need to make some adjustments to our lifestyle that will help improve our recovery. When you take the time to correct your nutrition, sleep, and minimize stress where you can I think you’ll be surprised at how good you feel not just in the gym but in general. Now go out there and make some gainz!