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Just tired, or over-trained?

Everybody overdoes it occasionally. But severe burnout due to over-training can lead to injury. Here are some of the signs:

Fatigue, reluctance to train, body is tired and heavy
Persistent muscle soreness
Frequent minor injuries or injuries which are slow to heal or recur
Persistent desire to skip practices or games
Sleeplessness, trouble falling asleep, waking during the night
Increased resting heart rate (take before getting out of bed, for several consecutive days)
Decrease in appetite, weight loss, irregular menstruation in females
More frequent colds, upper respiratory infections
Boredom, lack of motivation, decline in academic performance
Decrease in self-esteem and/or unhappiness that pervades other activities
Cynicism, negative outlook, moodiness, inappropriate response to usual stresses

Tune into your body. Don’t ignore pain – especially sharp or joint pain.
Start training at least 6-8 weeks before your season starts. Be sure and allow 10-14 days for heat acclimatization.
Do not increase training more than 10% per week.
Get 8 hours of sleep.
Don’t skip meals. Include 1500 mg/day of calcium. Drink the recommended volume of fluids.
Include regular warm up before and stretching after training.
Take an “off-season.” (maybe just make your primary sport secondary for a season)
Have injuries evaluated and treated. Have a sports medicine professional identify strength and/or flexibility imbalances and weaknesses. These are “your weakest links.” Focus your pre-season training here.

Find more articles about over-training, over-use and burnout on the website.