Overtraining is a very serious condition which affects those that have continued to stress themselves, through training and matches, to a point of exhaustion. Failing to recover between training and games through enough rest, good quality sleep and effective nutrition will catch up with any of us. Stress is both our friend and enemy in the performance enhancement process, use it to your advantage and it is a fundamental part of your improvement. However, fail to give your body the time, space and energy to manifest these improvements to a ‘new baseline’ and pay the penalty! Once you have reached exhaustion, here are some key points to help nurse your body back from an overtrained state!
Body TLC
Body tender loving care, that’s right! Consistently putting your body through the ringer with intense training and games without submaximal and lower intensity training modalities is a sure-fire way to breakdown in a hurry! Whilst heavy strength training, appropriate high intensity running and explosive plyometrics are forms of injury reduction tools, reducing volume and intensity of training will take on just as vital of a role. Great tools for your gym bag are items like stretching bands and foam rollers, each designed to help your body recover its range of motion and function in a timely manner!
Good Quality Nutrition
Protein, Fats, Carbohydrates; the macro nutrient cornerstone of your nutrition and the building blocks of your calorific intake! While fats will play an important part on your overall function, the role of carbohydrates to refuel and protein to rebuild mean they will be the focus of our attention in this article. Getting appropriate carbohydrates and protein on board during heavy bouts of training and matches is extremely important to give the body the energy required.
Calorie surplus, basal metabolic rate (BMR) and calorie deficit are differing forms of fuelling; surplus is usually when people are looking to grow or cope with increased demand, BMR is the ’minimum’ your body needs to tick over, and a deficit is when people are looking to lose weight. Once you're in an overtrained state, plenty of good quality carbohydrates and protein will help you produce the energy your body needs to replenish its diminished stores and repair damaged muscles!
Micronutrients
Something that is just as important as ‘macro’ nutrients but often gets less attention is your ‘micro’ nutrients. Whilst these won’t form the basis of your intake like macro nutrients will, their effect on your body’s outputs can often be just as pronounced. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies or deficits can often go undiscovered, making sure to provide your body with the correct levels of vitamin A, B, C … and so on will consistently help your body to repair and recover.
Ensuring adequate intake of said vitamins and minerals can at times be challenging, ensuring a good quality multivitamin supplement is a part of your daily routine is less so. Our multivitamins are packed full of the vitamins and minerals that can often be under consumed in your daily diet, as well as being ‘Informed Sport’ trusted, ensuring that you can be confident the ingredients on the packaging are 100% of what is inside.
Hydration
The other part of the nutritional intake equation; water consumption is the most basic human necessity. With ~60% of the body made up of water the ability to stay hydrated is critical to its most basic functionality. Sweating means (thermoregulating the bodies temperature as well as) losing certain electrolytes, which in turn need replacing to help your body regulate effectively. If we continue to sweat on multiple occasions without replacing what we are losing in the makeup of our sweat, we risk a deteriorating state. For more information on electrolytes lost within sweating check out this article ‘Everything you need to know about Electrolytes in Football’. Our Hydrate90 are an easy solution to electrolyte replenishment, one tablet added to your bottle of water is an easy way to help replenish your sweat loss!
Overtraining is a serious condition which, if left unattended, can leave you side-lined for considerable lengths of time. Attending to the identified items within this article will help you to recover to the best of your ability, overtraining is something to be taken very seriously!
