Training Overload - When Less is More

When training hard, especially those preparing for a Special Ops level selection program in their future, multiple challenging workouts in a week always requires a strict recovery regimen.  That means your sleep, nutrition for fuel, nutrition for recovery, electrolytes / hydration, recovery days, and a smart balance of training using split routines that allow for muscle group recovery ALL have to be in perfect alignment.  When any of those get neglected, you will start to see the signs of over-training or under-recovery start to show themselves usually as lack of energy to train and decreased performance. But there are many more symptoms when  you need to pull the reins on yourself and simple follow the axiom - LESS IS MORE. Here are some of them:

NOTE: Beginners are susceptible to these over-training symptoms too as it is easy to do too much, too soon, too fast when getting started. 

Call it over-training, under-recovery, but it really just over-stressed. When your workouts start to negatively affect your mood, it has gotten into the central nervous system and it is starting to become chronic form of stress. Not only is a rest day is needed, but maybe several.  That means reducing weight lifted, calisthenics reps, miles run, intensity of all workouts and purely focus on all of the recovery mentioned above.  Do a de-load week and you will see your performance come back and you may even reach new personal records. 

Injuries also occur in this over-training zone - typically over-use injuries but intensity / speed injuries can occur as well.  If you look back at your training injuries over a lifetime, you will find that you hurt yourself when you were running too fast (sprint without good warmup), running too much / too soon (improper progression), lifting too much weight, doing too many reps of calisthenics or weights, exercising when it is too hot, and of course there are training accidents that can occur as well (sprains, fractures, dislocations, etc). 

Multiple Training Days a Week
(You need a day off)

One way to prevent most of the symptoms from showing up and stunting your performance is to add in an easy day or two each week. Sometimes less is more and very often that sixth (or seventh) work out of the week can tip you over the edge. I get it - taking days off can make you feel like you are cheating yourself. Instead of focusing on the day you decide to take easy, take a look at what you accomplished all week. That’s a better assessment of your training. And if you are seeing decrease performance across the board, LESS IS MORE. More training will likely break you.

Here is a list of easy ways to stay on the right side of the over-training bell curve:

- Don't train 7 days a week (unless 1-2 are easy yoga / mobility days)

- If you train 6 days a week, make a middle of the week mobility day.  See this life changing workout not only I have used as I have aged, but what my 20 year old spec ops candidates do each week.  When you add this day to your mid-week, you crush day 5 and day 6 versus getting crushed by it or having to skipping it.

- Consider taking Sunday off and a re-energizing day and start a great week of training on Monday. Plus add in a day 3 or day 4 mobility day.   Some weeks, may deserve a double mobility day depending on your activity and neglected recovery. 

- Consider breaking up training cycles by adding in an active recovery week.  For instance, our block periodization Winter Lift Cycle now has a 3 week strength training and 1 week PST training (3:1 week cycle). All Winter, we are on this cycle and have seen strength numbers increase and PST numbers increase or maintain high levels of competitive levels. 

- If you think maybe Stew is getting soft in his old age, remember BUDS is only a 5 day a week program with weekends off. There is a reason for that. 

HOWEVER - If you are one of those people like me that if I take a week off of running it is like I have never run before, but when you take a week off of lifting, you come back stronger, you may want to still get a few runs in or at least get some non-impact cardio options if you need a break from the impact. You can work good cardio session in on the mobility day I created nearly a decade ago:

Repeat 5 times
Bike, elliptical, or row 5 minutes (non-impact)
Stretch, foam roll, massage tool 5 minutes

Or mix in some good pool sessions especially if you need to work on technique of swimming or treading.  Those technique oriented workouts are fine as de-load week activities. 

See more on recovery ideas - Recovery Articles / Podcasts

In conclusion, the most important thing for you to be able to do is to self-assess the above symptoms.  To be honest, I have a hard time with that myself, so I gave my wife the list and she helps "remind" me that I am over-doing it. Try it - it works. 

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