Anyone who starts training always wants to get the desired result in the shortest period of time possible. Social media influencers further fuel and promote this idea by posting their success stories without elaborating how they did it and sharing all the hardships they have gone through on the way to the perfect body. Besides, everybody’s different and we require our personal plans. Some people must workout more, others – less, but we all need to have sufficient rest, otherwise it will lead to irreversible negative consequences instead of the desired perfect body. Professional athletes have a whole team who monitors performance, and bettors can predict their result with the baji app, available for download using a guide at the link. Amateurs should be cautious, because they are fighting alone against overtraining.

When your body screams to stop but your brain asks for more

You enter the gym for the first time full of enthusiasm and grab all the equipment. Set the maximum mode possible everywhere, use the heaviest weights and leave the facility with confidence that you did everything right. On the next day you can’t move a muscle and take a day off at your work, because even going from the bed to the kitchen to drink a glass of water causes inhuman pain in the body. After such a bad experience you decide that you will never want to train again in life. 

That’s how overtraining works – rather than doing everything according to the plan and gradually building up the loads you might decide that there’s a shortcut to success. But there’s none and if you’re ready to work, then stick to the reasonable energy distribution and don’t lift too heavy if you aren’t ready yet, because it can cause serious injuries.

Warning signs: How your body holds up protest signs

Your body is smarter than you think. When you push it too hard, it starts sending out SOS signals. It might start subtly – a little muscle soreness here, a bit of fatigue there. But before you know it, it feels like your muscles have formed a union and gone on strike.

Here are some signs that your body might be rebelling:

1. You feel tired even after sleeping for 12 hours.

2. Your performance drops faster than before.

3. Your mood swings more than a teenager on a roller coaster.

4. You get sick more often.

Adrenal fatigue: Your hormones can go haywire

Imagine your adrenal glands as little factories that produce stress hormones. Normally they run at a comfortable pace, but with overtraining you force them to work around the clock. The result? They go on strike, shut down and suddenly you feel more exhausted than a marathon runner after an ultra across the Sahara.

The mental rollercoaster

Overtraining doesn’t just affect your body – your brain takes a ride on the carousel too. Suddenly you find yourself crying over a puppy advert or you’re furious that someone has eaten the last slice of cheese. Welcome to the mental rollercoaster where your emotions are as unpredictable as the weather in Norway.

Recovery: Your new best friend

Now you might be thinking to take the easiest route and just give up, but calm down. It’s not about stopping training, it’s about training smarter. Think of recovery as the secret ingredient in your training smoothie. Without it, it just doesn’t taste right.

Here are some tips to make friends with recovery:

1. Learn to love your sofa, but not too much – we don’t want you to get stuck on it.

2. Try yoga – it’s like stretching but with fancy names and expensive pants.

3. Eat right – your body needs more than protein shakes and willpower.

4. Sleep like a baby, but minus the screaming.

From overambitious to wise athlete

Avoiding overtraining isn’t about lowering your ambitions. It’s about being smart enough to achieve your goals without ending up a wreck. Think of it like being a Formula 1 driver – you need pit stops to win the race.

The way to a healthy and beautiful body isn’t a sprint – it’s a marathon that lasts long and, understandably, requires the athlete to have a rational distribution of energy and motivation. You’ll need both along the way, especially in the early stages, when it’s hard to see any changes and convince yourself that your hard work was not in vain.

Being smart and making breaks doesn’t make you weaker or further from the goal. It just gives your body a needed time to recover before you continue the way to the planned objective, because even the best needs to rest sometimes.