Overtraining syndrome.

[PeterHealey]

Hey all. Wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of some good information on overtraining and how to deal with it. I think I'm hitting a wall. Currently on week 17 of continuous Op/Black Professional with 3 day DL option. Have been using 1 rep maxes, not a training max for my lifts. Symptoms include feeling pretty wiped out/low energy, wakefulness/restlessness during the night. Decided to just take the whole week off and pick up again next week. Was thinking about switching to a base build to give the anaerobic system a break. I was wondering if this would be a good idea. I am not an operational athlete, 54 years young and do not 'need' any particular domain to be dominant other than my own personal fitness.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts ideas.
Pete

[Jefferson]

You're probably not over trained. But here is a list of how I prioritize recovery. Also if you've got a lot of stress in your life, sometimes it's appropriate to put training on cruise control, go through the motions, use light weight, work on technique, maintain the habitat, but make it so easy it seems silly.

1) Sleep. This is the most important thing. Bed before midnight. Completely black room. No blue lights and cell phones. Turn your wifi off for the night. Airplane mode on phone. When the sun sets, switch house lights to red light bulbs. I could write a book on this topic.

2). Eat enough food. Don't restrict calories if you're feeling fatigued. I find drinking promix grass fed whey while working out helps me recover quicker, especially when I do longer 3 hour workouts.

3) Cold showers. Ice baths. Contrast showers. Epsom salt baths (only at night because they make me tired). Mobility work with foam rollers, lacrosse balls etc., voodoo band flossing.

4) Include lots of movement in daily life. Walk more, hang from a pull up bar, sit cross legged and stretch a bit when watching tv, sit in a full squat, etc.

5) Dont stress about this stuff too much. It's supposed to be fun. Create an environment that's conducive to success and let things happen. Think long term. Sometimes the best recovery is a long three day weekend at the beach drinking beers, eating steaks, swimming in the ocean, going for walks, riding a beach cruiser and hanging with loved ones.

6) Some form of mindfulness, meditation, yoga, breathing, whatever practice probably helpful, but in my opinion, only if you enjoy it.

[PeterHealey]

Thanks Jefferson. Looks like some good advice, all of which I could improve upon apart from the meditation (2 x 20 minutes day). I don't tend to stress too much period and I thoroughly enjoy the whole TB training. I have experienced some significant progress in my strength since beginning the process. Maybe a change of pace might be in order and up the endurance training with a base build for 8 weeks.

[Barkadion]

This is very interesting topic. Jefferson has listed solid points. But the actual over-training syndrome is still seems to be a mystery at some degree. There are articles, researches and discussion all over the net about the syndrome and its relation to the adrenal function.

Personally, I don't have formed opinion. Simply not sure. I tend to work on my recovery and nutrition once I hit the wall. Does that help? It does a little.. My lifestyle is not ideal for the recovery. So, I eat more... lol.

My personal best way would be to take ~ 3-4 weeks off and to recharge completely. But I do hate that due to the pain of returning to the regular training.. So, I bite a bullet

I'd love to see any other opinions/thoughts/personal experience on the topic, though.

[alottadav]

PETERHEALY-
Some awesome advice so far in this thread.

One thing you left out if caffeine and alcohol intake. If either one of these is excessive, or it has been a while since you hit the RESET button on those it may be time to do so. (if you're inside a large portion of the day maybe try and get some natural sun on the weekends)

Myself, like most of this board, has probably learned first hand you can train pretty damn hard under "less than ideal" recovery and nutritional conditions. You can also CONTINUE to train too hard under such conditions, even if it's detrimental. The one thing I'm learning about the TB process is Less is More, and slow and steady wins the race. Doesn't appear like you have those problems.

I say that, as once upon a time I had a difficult work schedule requiring all nighters regularly. The general fatigue you speak of happened to me as a result of WAY TOO MUCH caffeine consumption. I couldn't function without Monster/pre- workout/and various others. This went on for a long time before I clued into it.

Apologize for the tangent, just something to consider if you're hitting the coffee pretty hard or tossing back a few dinner beers each night.

[PeterHealey]

Thanks Alottadav. No alcohol in 23 years so I'm set on that one. Caffiene yes, a French press every morning and 2-4 cups of black tea throughout the day. My 'naturopathic' wife tells me my adrenals need some love and caffeine abstinence would be a good beginning. Reset I will. This may also help with the restless sleep issues. Sometimes it's the obvious that is staring me in the face and I can't see it. Thanks for your input.
Bark...the idea of taking 3-4 weeks off kills me, not because of the pain of returning but I think I would be like a bear chained up if I couldn't work-out.

[alottadav]

That amount of caffeine doesn't seem insane to me but that doesn't mean it isn't the culprit. Poliquin has some interesting articles on caffeine/cortisol/ timing of it all which has recently influenced me to ATTEMPT to cut back; I recommend looking at a few of those.

When I'm fired up/ stressed out/ caffeine overdose/ lack of sleep I find the Epsom salt baths really help. Both physically and mentally decompressing. Plus, its cheap. YMMV. Let us know what you see in the coming weeks.

[WallBilly]

I'm also 54, for 4 more weeks.

I did a fair bit of experimenting with Starting Strength and TB over the past 3 years.

One thing I have come to believe in strongly is a training max.

I've seen it in myself, and in my lifting partner who is 20 years younger than me but who refuses to use a training max. If you don't use one, you just get worn down. You could probably get away with it if all you did was lift.

KB says if you are doing anything more than moderate conditioning (black probably counts), use a training max. At our age, that probably goes double. Maybe triple, with 3x/week deadlifts.

$0.02

[PeterHealey]

Thanks Wallbilly. Yes I agree. I went through the 1st 12 weeks feeling awesome. I tested, gained big #'s on my lifts:
Back squat went from 275 to 315
Bench from 205 to 225
DL from 365 to 400
Strangely WPU stayed the same at 80.

Nonetheless I went with the new #'s for this next run through and it may be too much. I also need to consider the 'easy' conditioning week a little more also as I haven't paid due attention to backing off a little on the conditioning when the %'s get higher. It's a learning curve. Considering finishing out 1 more week of Op and switching to a base building.

[Barkadion]

KB says if you are doing anything more than moderate conditioning (black probably counts), use a training max. At our age, that probably goes double. Maybe triple, with 3x/week deadlifts.

This is very true.

I am still trying to find nice balance with proper ratio for lifting/HIC load. It seems reasonable to go bit lighter on HIC if I stay with 5 sets/regular OP cluster. And I can push harder with conditioning if I opt for 3 sets.

Also, I am thinking that taking complete month off on yearly basis wouldn't be bad idea.

I might be wrong, though.