What are the signs of overtraining?

Warning signs include performance dropping despite training hard, persistent fatigue, disturbed sleep, an elevated resting heart rate, low motivation, frequent illness, and mood changes. The usual response is a planned reduction in load along with attention to sleep and food.

A useful distinction

Functional overreaching is short-term fatigue that resolves within days and is a normal part of training hard. Non-functional overreaching takes weeks to clear and costs performance. True overtraining syndrome is rare, takes months to resolve, and generally requires medical involvement. Most people who describe themselves as overtrained are under-recovered, which is a much better problem to have.

Signals worth tracking

• Performance: Working weights or paces declining over two to three weeks despite consistent effort.
• Resting heart rate: A sustained rise of five to ten beats above your normal.
• Sleep: Difficulty falling asleep, or waking unrefreshed, despite being tired.
• Motivation: A persistent lack of desire to train, in someone who normally enjoys it.
• Illness and niggles: Repeated minor infections or small injuries appearing in clusters.
• Mood and appetite: Irritability, low mood, and reduced appetite.

What usually causes it

Rarely training volume alone. It is nearly always volume combined with inadequate sleep, insufficient calories, and life stress arriving at the same time. Under-eating is a particularly common and overlooked contributor, especially in people simultaneously trying to lose weight.

What to do

Take a genuinely light week: Cut volume by around half, keep intensity moderate, and prioritise sleep and food. Most cases resolve within one to two weeks. If nothing improves after two or three weeks of reduced load, see a doctor, since low iron, thyroid issues, and other conditions produce similar symptoms.

Preventing it

Build lighter weeks into the plan every four to eight weeks rather than waiting until you need one. Increase training load gradually, and reduce it deliberately during stressful periods at work or in your personal life. The framework is set out in Recovery Science and Adaptation.