Overtraining

Today I wanted to talk about over training.

The reason I thought about it was last Saturday when I went for the Spinning class that Eric was subbing for, he was saying how after Spinning he was teaching RPM and then teaching Body Pump.

Now he yells at me- a lot- to make sure I am not over training.

Which lead me to question him Monday night on how in the world he doesnt overtrain???

I mean lets see...

Tuesdays he teaches RPM, Thursday he teaches RPM, Saturdays he teaches RPM and then straight after Body Pump, and then Sunday he teaches RPM, Body Pump and then RPM again!!

First I think we need to define what over training is.

There are lots of really LOOONNNGGG definitions but I will paraphrase.

Overtraining is basically training SO hard and SO often that you dont give your body time to heal from the training. If insufficient rest is had, then it can lead to injuries and plateaus because the body doesnt have time to repair itself.

Here are some symptoms: Fatigue, moody, easily irritated, altered sleep patterns, become depressed or even lose desire for the sport they are partaking in.

Physical symptoms include persistent muscular soreness, increased illness, increased instances of injuries.

This is how Eric explained to me how he doesnt overtrain.

Besides the classes he teaches, he has to be very careful with what he trains when. For example: he cant train his legs heavily on a Friday because he teaches RPM and Pump a LOT on the weekend. So he has to do his legs more lightly then he might want to because he uses them so much in his classes.So he might train them on Wednesday when he isnt going to use them that night to let them recover a bit before Thursday night.  He said it is one of the big problems with being a fitness instructor. That you dont get to train necessarily as hard as you may want to.

Now I admit...I have overtrained in the past.

Pretornado I was not only working in the gym taking 2-3 classes in an evening (remember my Tuesdays? CX, Body Flow then RPM with Plyometrics in the morning?), but I was also doing P90X at home during the day. And though I was seeing the results, I was getting sick a lot more! Remember when I had both my eardrums rupture last year? And pink eye at the same time? UGH!

Now I only do my warm up which is running and then work with Eric or take my class. I have gone from working out about 4 hours a day to working out at max 2 hours a day and most of that is just warming up on the treadmill in one form or another. Tuesdays and Saturdays I dont even go into the gym. I work out on the elliptical or K's treadmill. And Sundays are my rest day.

And the results of that are definitely showing. You saw my stripe shirt picture. I was actually heavier in it but now that I am training correctly it is showing more and firming more.

And I noticed while I run that my endurance is MUCH better than before when I was doing all that training. I did 5.5 miles Monday before it was time to work with Eric and I could have kept going. Seriously! That was even kicking up the speed to 6.5 for about 7 minutes!

And I know, I know. Most of you probably dont train like I do. HOWEVER when you are just starting out you have to be conscientious of not over training either. Your body goes thru an initial shock and says "WTF are you doing to me?" Then week 2 it has figured it out and doesnt want to release the fat. Think about the Biggest Loser. Week 2 ALWAYS sucks for weight loss! And you see some people injure themselves where they are on medical restrictions. Do they overtrain? YES! But I would say that their situations are extreme and they are watched closely by a doctor.

SOOO...my question to you is Do you feel like you over train? Do you feel like you train enough?? What step have you reached today (see picture above)?

Onto the recap of yesterday.

K made a fabulous vegetarian cacciatore for us. I had a very small amount of that and some spaghetti squash for dinner. Then I went to K's house to run about 7:30.

She wasnt home so I started off alternating between 5.5mph and 6mph. Then I remembered that I needed to call my mom so I bumped the speed down to 4.5 mph and walked while I talked to her. I ran about 3 miles before calling her and in total on the treadmill I did 7.5 mph. I burned 877 calories so not a spectacular burn in just under two hours.

Today my legs are VERY sore. I am glad that it is upper body tonight. I will probably do a nice easy run at 5.0 mph to stretch them out before upper body tonight.

I did weigh in at 158.0 so I am back down to pre-binge weight. And I am NOT doing that again this week I can tell you.

This morning I had a modified juice again. I am really starting to run out of produce.

This is what I made: spinach, kale, broccoli, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, parsley and a few shakes of hot sauce. Blend and strain, Not bad at all but I am not feeling too well today so the hot sauce probably wasnt the best thing for my stomach.

I just have some nerves hitting me today. This afternoon will fine. Aaron has some stuff going on this afternoon so we both have some queasiness hitting us today. Come about 4 or 5 all should be peachy keen but please say some prayers for us!

So here is my meals for today:

Breakfast will be my english muffin with PB and my hard boiled egg.

Lunch will be a gala apple with PB and a hard boiled egg. Also some pretzels and hummus. No hot sauce.

Dinner will be my cheese stick when I get home.

Because I am not feeling well I really just want to take it easy on the food today. I really am not hungry and my juice is rolling around in my stomach right now. UGH.

Anyways...thats my plan for today.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!!

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