Signs You Are Overtraining (And What To Do About It)
Overtraining is not a badge of honour. It is a failure of recovery management — and it will cost you performance, health, and time.
Dejan Koceski
Health & Performance Coach · Melbourne
Signs You Are Overtraining (And What To Do About It)
Overtraining is not a badge of honour. It is not evidence of dedication.
It is a failure of recovery management — and it will cost you performance, health, and time.
What Overtraining Actually Is
Overtraining — more precisely, overreaching — occurs when the accumulated training load exceeds the body's capacity to recover.
The result is a state of maladaptation: you continue training, but instead of getting stronger or fitter, you regress.
The Warning Signs
Performance. Persistent decline in performance despite consistent training. Weights you could lift comfortably now feel heavy. Times that were easy now feel hard.
Recovery. Muscle soreness that does not resolve. Feeling perpetually fatigued regardless of sleep.
Sleep. Paradoxically, overtraining often produces insomnia. Elevated cortisol disrupts sleep despite physical exhaustion.
Mood. Irritability, low motivation, and depression are well-documented signs of overtraining. The psychological toll is significant.
Illness. Frequent illness or infections — the immune system is suppressed by chronic training stress and elevated cortisol.
Heart rate. Resting heart rate elevated by 5–10+ beats per minute above baseline is a reliable physiological marker.
Loss of drive to train. When someone who loves training dreads going — that is meaningful.
What To Do
Rest. This means complete rest — not light training. One to two weeks of significantly reduced training is often necessary to fully recover from overtraining.
Eat more. Overtraining is frequently accompanied by under-eating. Increase caloric and protein intake.
Sleep more. Prioritise sleep duration and quality above everything else.
Reassess your programme. Overtraining is a structural problem — the programme needs to be redesigned with adequate recovery built in.
Build a sustainable training structure at Movement & Training. Apply for coaching at The System™.
Continue Exploring