Fri, Oct-10-03, 11:46
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Registered Member
Posts: 1,182
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Plan: SPII IS/BOAG
Stats: 186/136/140
BF:A lot/18%/20%
Progress: 109%
Location: Jackson, MS
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Natrushka
How long have you been working out non stop? Exercise, weight lifting in particular, coupled with insufficient calories and not enough rest and recovery (i.e. sleep) can lead to overtraining rather quickly. You begin to feel tired and run down at first, then you start getting colds and flus and feeling exhausted all the time. Your heart rate will be raised and you'll find you're not only not making gains in the gym, you're backsliding. This is full blow overtraining and it can take months to recover from it. Taking a week or two off every 3 - 4 months will help stop this from getting out of control. If you haven't had any time off in the past few months it might be a good idea to curtail all extra activities, rest up and get some good quality food in you.
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Masonpips, listen to this advice -- Nat knows what she's talking about. I hit the tired/run-down phase about two months ago, but it took me a while to figure out that overtraining was the cause, and a little longer to do something about it. I finally gave myself a break from the gym, but it was too late, and I'd been dealing with a punishing work schedule and too little sleep for too long. Now, I've got my second case of flu in a month (really never recovered all the way from the first one), and I don't remember the last time I felt really well-rested. It's kept me entirely out of the gym for about a month now, because I just don't have the energy, and I think I've dropped a pound or so of muscle mass as well. You DON'T want to go where I am right now, because it's miserable.
Sleep is the real key here -- don't fool yourself into thinking that you can function long-term on six hours, because you can't --- but it's important to eat enough, especially protein. You may think you're eating "enough" in terms of grams or ratios, but that may not be enough for a stressed-out body. I've noticed that the more tired I get, the more I crave protein, even though I've never been deficient in that area, and to me that's a sign that I need more nourishment (red meat, especially).
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