10 signs it's time for you to slow down and get some rest

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The resources of our body are not infinite, and sometimes it is necessary to slow down a little in order for the muscles to have time to recover. But not everyone can do it at the right moment, because they don't want to stop. Every time you think that you can do even better and for this you need to train even more! And rest … Rest for weaklings! But no matter what happens at this moment in your head, the body has a natural fuse that simply cuts it off, not allowing itself to be brought to complete exhaustion.

But it is extremely undesirable to bring yourself to such a state, since the recovery will take quite a long time. In addition, due to stress, your body will not learn new skills anyway, you will not become stronger or faster. Overtraining will only cause you to lose strength, eat and sleep poorly.

Experienced athletes use the special service Restwise.com when preparing for marathons (the cost of a six-month subscription is $ 119), and we offer you 10 signs that will show you when it's time to slow down.

1. Decrease in body weight in one day

A 2% decrease in body weight in one day means that you are losing too much fluid. Chances are, you haven't drunk enough fluids since your last workout. Dehydration affects your mental and physical performance and can be detrimental to your next workout.

2. Increased resting heart rate

Checking your heart rate every morning before getting out of bed will help you know when to slow down, as one of the signs of fatigue is an increased resting heart rate. This means that your nervous system is preparing to deal with stress and has already triggered increased production of the appropriate hormones that will speed up your heartbeat so that your muscles and brain receive more oxygen. Unfortunately, your body cannot recognize whether it will be physical or psychological stress, so rest is needed both after a difficult workout and after a hard day at work.

3. Sleep disturbance

Everything is very simple here. A good sleep gives us the amount of growth hormones we need to help our muscles repair. If you don't sleep well, your muscles won't recover and your athletic performance will only get worse.

4. Dehydration

Your urine turns dark yellow, which means you are drinking too little. Well, or, as an option, they ate something that stains it dark, or took vitamins. But if this is the first option, then you should drink more water, since, see point one, dehydration negatively affects the results of training.

5. Constant feeling of tiredness

If you are constantly feeling tired, then something is definitely going wrong. In this case, honesty is key. Honesty with yourself. Some particularly stubborn runners may ignore this symptom and convince themselves that they will get even stronger, but in reality it does not always work that way.

6. You get moody

When your body is overworked with exercise, the hormone cortisol begins to be released, which can cause irritability or anxiety. Stress also stops the production of dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter. A deficiency has a "big bummer" effect, so if you get too moody or irritable it might be time to cut back on your workout a bit.

7. You start to get sick often

A small amount of exercise helps the body fight viruses and colds more effectively. Too much physical activity has the opposite effect: you start to get sick. And this is quite natural, since the body will draw off strength to restore muscles, and much less resources will remain to fight diseases.

8. Your muscles are constantly sore

Don't confuse this with crepature after a long break in training! If you are constantly exercising, but the muscles continue to ache and minor injuries begin to remind of yourself, then it is definitely time to rest. It takes your body much longer to "repair" than you give it.

9. Your workouts are not going as well as you would like, and the results are not encouraging

Performance is a subjective measure of the quality of training. If you felt great in yesterday's workout, you rate it as good. If you felt sluggish, then you consider it, accordingly, not very successful. If, according to your feelings, such unsuccessful workouts are becoming more and more and they go on in succession, it means that your strength is running out and you need to allocate additional time for recovery.

10. Lowering the level of oxygen in the blood

The amount of oxygen in the hemoglobin of red blood cells can be measured using a portable pulse oximeter (you just need to put your finger on it). The higher the percentage, the better. For example, above 95% is the level of an athlete who has adapted well to training. This is a new area in the science of recovery that requires more research, but there is definitely a link between low oxygen and fatigue.

So, if you want to know if it's time to slow down, count your red flags. It is recommended to do the counting once a week.

0–1 - you can safely continue at a given pace.

2–4 - you need to be careful and not overdo it. It may be better to make at least one of your training days easier.

5–6 - attention, you are entering the danger zone! If you have driven yourself into this state unintentionally (sometimes such loads are part of the training plan), it's time to slow down.

7–10 - red zone! You definitely need at least one day a week without training. And even better, if there are several of them - it all depends on how you have felt in the past few weeks. You may need to see a doctor.

Signs of overtraining also include increased injury rates, loss of concentration, constant thirst, and decreased self-esteem and motivation. The last sign is especially sneaky, as you want to give up everything, bury your sneakers somewhere under the fence and never remember about it.

How can you avoid this?

Use the 90 percent rule … This means that during intense workouts, you need to give all your best not 100%, but only 90%. After your workout, you should feel like you did a good job, but you could have done better. But in no case should this be scourging, they say, I could have done better, I'm such a rag and so on. On the contrary, you should set yourself up in a positive way and tell yourself that you really can do better and will definitely do so in the next workout.

Learn to enjoy light runs or workouts and be sure to respect your rest days. In no case should they be skipped, even if it seems to you that you will lose shape! We remind you once again that with proper rest and good sleep, your muscles recover and become even stronger.

Use the workout alternation rule. Overtraining can be the result of repetitive exercise, that is, when all of your workouts are of the same type and you do not alternate loads. There is such a rule - wait 48 hours before putting the load on the same muscles again. For example, if you did ab exercises today, you need to wait two more days before doing ab exercises again. You can spend these two days strengthening other muscles. While running, you can alternate light and short recovery runs at intervals and long distances.

Arrange yourself cross-training. Switch from your main activity to something else. Pop into the pool, take a bike ride, go dancing, play tennis, squash or badminton - there are many options.