ROD 060312

ROD

Sunday, 03Jun12

 

REST DAY

 

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The Importance of Taking Time Off of Training

 By NLP Coach’s

You, the faithful NLP member,  have been coming to the gym religiously for months. Your looking good, you feel strong, you’ve been killin the ROD’s and your on a roll. Then the obvious happens, you feel fatigued most of the time and it seems like you can’t get enough rest. Your sluggish and feeling emotionally drained. Your muscles are sore and you just don’t feel like yourself. Many of you at NLP, get caught up in the idea that exercising a lot will get them to their fitness goals faster. While a majority of people in general, don’t exercise enough, there is a portion that can overtrain. It is good to know the signs of overtraining and its effects.

What is overtraining you may ask? Overtraining happens when a person exercises too much without allowing the body to recover. It occurs more often in weight training, however, but it is still possible in other physical activities such as running. You know who you are!

Overtraining is a good way to limit your progress. Instead of making gains from training a lot, you only end up limiting your progress due to a lack of rest that the body needs. Some of the most common symptoms of overtraining include:

  • Loss of muscle tissue increased
  • Persistent muscle soreness
  • Fatigue
  • Insomnia
  • Increased risk of injury
  • Decrease in appetite
  • Irritability

Once you get into the swing of things, one of the great benefits of exercise is the post-workout feeling of wellness. You’ve got the big, immediate, heady rush of endorphins during and right after a session, followed by that luxurious, warm glow that infuses your mind and body for hours (and even days). It’s the best feeling, isn’t it? We all love it. What if that glow never comes, though? What if instead of feeling energetic and enriched after a workout, you feel sketchy and uncomfortable? As I said before, post-workout DOMS (soreness) is completely normal, but feeling like death (mentally and physically) is not. Exercise generally elevates mood; if it’s having a negative effect on your mood, it’s probably too much.

These signs are not to be taken lightly. They are important to your continuing health and emotional well being. I have spoken to a few of you already on this subject and it would be way to important for you to ignore my advice. As your trainers, we feel that it is just as important to recover from long & steady commitment to training as it is to ease off and rest. Think of it as a vacation your body definitely needs. 

So how do I avoid overtraining? Your instincts will generally tell you which apply to you; but, if you are still unsure, check with one of us, NLP trainers. Remember, the primary goal of training is to become a healthier person. Your workouts give you the most benefit when you combine them with appropriate rest and healthy nutrition. When everything comes together, you’ll find that your workouts are really working for you. You may even decide that being too much of a fitness fanatic really doesn’t pay off in the long run.

 

 

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