What are the Negative Health-Effects of Over-Training?

 

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Over-training can be harmful to your health for several reasons. First, it can lead to excessive fatigue and overuse injuries. 

Second, it can result in decreased performance and motivation. It can cause hormonal imbalances, which can have negative effects on your health.

Take resistance training for example. Although it can have incredible health benefits too much resistance training can also seriously hamper your immune system. Most people don’t realize that the immune system is directly involved in muscle recovery from strength training. 

This immunocompromise effect from overtraining can be even worse when paired with fad diets that eliminate or severely restrict one or more food groups in an attempt to lose weight quickly and in unhealthy ways, such as crash dieting or dirty keto. 

A 2022 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health titled, "The Relationships between Physical Activity, Exercise, and Sport on the Immune System": 

The human immune system is constantly on the front line, defending us against pathogens, parasites, and cancerous cells. 

Antigens and antibodies work together to identify and neutralize threats to our health.

However, overtraining can strain the immune system, leading to negative consequences. When we overexert ourselves, we increase inflammation and decrease our body's ability to fight off threats. 

This can result in various health problems, including increasing the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes, and even cancer.

Over-training can also result in poor sleep, decreased performance and motivation, increased fatigue and risk of injury, and hormonal imbalances.

As an online personal trainer and health coach, it's shocking to me just how many trainers out there market quick-fix diet and exercise programs that can leave clients very unhealthy regardless of how they might look.

Different people have different fitness goals, and what works for one person might not work for another. That's why it's important to have an exercise program tailored to your specific goals and track your process with a good and highly affordable fitness tracker like the Fitbit Charge 5.

For example, if you're trying to lose weight, you'll need a different exercise and nutrition plan than someone who is only trying to gain muscle mass. 

Things can get even more complicated if you're goal is to gain muscle and lose unwanted body fat time at the same time. This process is called body re-composition. Although this is possible, it can take a lot of time and effort, and specialized knowledge. 

It's much better to focus on gaining some basic metabolism and general health boosting muscle and basic cardiovascular fitness, build a really good sleep habit, and then very gradually start loosing body fat, while maintaining that muscle you've added. 

And if you have a health condition, you'll need to be careful about which exercises you do and how often you do them. You'll also want to do a basic health screening (takes about 10 minutes) and then consult with a licensed healthcare provider before moving forward, just to be safe. 

Having an exercise and nutrition program along with some behavior change coaching tailored to your unique needs as a client, will help you stay motivated, help you really see results, and avoid injury.

Hope that helps! Click Here for Online Coaching

Your Coach David is a former Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapist and Clinical Behavior Consultant turned Certified Stress Management & Sleep Science Coach. He's also an International Sports Science Association (ISSA) Certified Personal Fitness Trainer and Nutritionist.