It’s no secret that one of my pet hates is over training. It’s something that’s close to my heart because it’s something that used to affect me a great deal.

I was that person

I was that person that did high intensity exercise 5-6 days a week. My weekly training routine consisted of 2-3 intense boxing sessions, crossfit, heavy lifting and sprints

I desperately wanted to drop body fat so I thought the only way to do this was to keep pushing my body

I didn’t get results this way

All it led to was frustration and tears. Why was it that I was working so hard but still not losing weight?

What did come out of it was I went on to explore the whole mindset side of things and the understand the nervous system

Now it’s very clear to me why over training doesn’t work and how it’s actually quite dangerous

If you are confused too here’s the science bit:

• Exercise is not what makes you loses weight
• Exercise is a stimulus that the body then adapts and responds to – during the recovery phase
• Meaning recovery is just as important as the exercise it’self

The nervous system: Recovery happens in our parasympathetic nervous system. If we keep training for hours on end we keep our body sympathetic. It then becomes very very difficult to access the parasympathetic system. Without allowing ourselves to become parasympathetic our bodies can’t mobilise fat, build muscle and do all the things we need them to do to keep ourselves strong and healthy

The other thing is when we train for over an hour at a time, partially cardio, we start to break down muscle tissue. WE WANT TO RETAIN AS MUCH MUSCLE TISSUE AS POSSIBLE AS THIS KEEPS OUR METABOLISM HIGH

I get it that training can be addictive. All this stress hormones running through our veins feels good, it gives us energy and a dopamine high

But like any addiction the high are short lived and you have to keep doing more and more to get the same effects

Continuing like this means you literally fry your nervous system and could end up with chronic fatigue at a later date

So less really is more

My advice:  – keep your training sessions to one hour
(unless you are training for a competition or specific goal, and then you should take professional advice about supplements and rest in between sessions)
– Ensure you have a mix between cardio, resistance training and stretching throughout the week
– Make sure you are fuelling your body correctly for the amount of training you do

As Jim Rohn once said ‘Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to live’