Bodybuilding – How To Treat Overtraining Syndrome

If you’ve been slaving away in the gym on a bodybuilding routine trying as hard as you can to gain weight but are not seeing the progress you’re looking for, consider the fact that you might just be overtrained.

Overtraining syndrome is potentially the most common issue seen, especially amongst those who are new to weight lifting. They start out and are incredibly motivated to do everything they can to get the results they’re hoping for from their program. With such dedication though, they forget that they do still need a break from the gym.

They’re in there six days a week, pounding away with full effect. Unfortunately, their body can’t quite keep up.

This is when overtraining syndrome sets in.

Overtraining is something that you don’t want to take lightly as it can take anywhere from a week to a few months to overcome. How long it takes you to recover will depend on first, your own individual recovery abilities, along with how deep into overtraining you were when you finally decided something had to be done.

Here are the things you need to do in order to promote a full recovery.

Remove Yourself From The Gym

Yes, this is going to be hard. If you are on the verge of having a training addiction, chances are, not working out is the last thing you want to do at this point. BUT, consider this. How many more months are you going to go without making any progress at all with your weight gains? If you don’t take time off now, you’ll just be wasting time into the future.

Being out of the gym does not give you an access pass to start up some outdoor physical activities either. The point of this is to rest. Rest means rest means rest. For some trainee’s, this must be really drilled into their head.

If you simply cannot fathom the idea of relaxing, go for a light walk – this is to be done at an easy pace for 20-30 minutes each day. Nothing more intense than that should be performed.

Eat More Food

Your next defense is to increase your food content. Right now your body is in recovery mode and as such, needs food to help heal itself.

Neglecting to give it the nutrition it needs and you are essentially neglecting recovery. Again, look at this way. If you don’t eat, you’ll just have to stay out of the gym longer. Is that what you want?

Chances are unlikely.

Do not worry, you aren’t going to get fat by taking a week off – if anything it’s going to help with your muscle gains. Some people actually find they get leaner after taking a week off and eating more food.

In particular, if you’ve been eating a reduced carbohydrate diet, you need more carbs. Your muscle glycogen stores are likely depleted and this is part of the problem for causing overtraining.

On the other hand, bumping your protein intake up slightly can also be a smart idea, as this will help ensure you are giving your muscles plenty of amino acids to which they can use for repair.

Fat can be added as extra calories if necessary.

Find Something Psychologically Relaxing

Finally, the last thing you want to do is find something that’s going to psychologically relax you. You would be amazed at how everyday stress affects the CNS. When you combine this with too much physical training, you have got big problems.

Doing some activities aimed at total relaxation can really improve the overall situation and help you recover a great deal faster.

This could be reading, seeing a movie, trying meditation, or whatever you feel will help with your situation.

So, if you have been feeling fatigued on an ongoing basis, it’s time to sit up and take notice. You really shouldn’t keep pushing yourself if you feel this way because all you will end up doing is more harm than good.

Fix the problem, then get back on your program. You won’t see gains until you do.