Overtraining Syndrome, also known as burnout, is a common condition among athletes, especially among those who follow inadequate training schedules and practice under poor coaching and supervision. If athletes experience fatigue and decline in performance despite increased training, overtraining can be the cause. Consequently, the athlete might face frequent injuries, mood swings, lack of motivation and even infections.  

Athletes challenge the limits of their physical capabilities in order to improve performance. However, the recovery of your body ought to be as important as strenuous training and participating in competitions. Otherwise, the accumulation of small injuries over time will result in impeding the improvement of your performance.   

As you fail to recover properly after training, continuous physical fatigue and stress can lead to suppressed immune responses.  

There are many risk factors you need to be aware of. Being specialized in a single sport, a sudden increase in training intensity, participating in endurance sports, lack of confidence and parental or coaching pressure are the main reasons why athletes face burnout. 

Overtraining syndrome causes 

Unfortunately, most young athletes are prone to overtraining syndrome and often go unnoticed by their parents. In most cases, over-ambitious parents contribute to this condition unknowingly.  

However, adult athletes often face this issue because of the training schedules that are not based on best practices given by sports science.  

Symptoms and signs of overtraining syndrome 

• Chronic muscle and joint pain 
• Weight loss 
• Loss of appetite 
• Increased resting heart rate 
• Decreased sports performance 
• Fatigue 
• Prolonged recovery 
• Low mood 
• Frequent illnesses 
• Decreased performance in other fields such as work and school 
• Personality change 
• Irritability 
• Sleep disturbance 

How to prevent overtraining 

The training should be enjoyable, and you should be aware of how your body responds to the exercise. Generally, one or two-day breaks per week and longer breaks every few months are mandatory for your body, especially for your muscles to recover. You need to build awareness for cues that indicate you are at a burnout, such as prolonged physical and mental fatigue and muscle pain. 

How to treat overtraining 

The only treatment for overtraining is rest. Before the symptoms start exacerbating, take a break from training and rest until you are fully recovered. Avoid activities that exert your muscles during your rest and avoid stress triggers.  

What can you do to recover your muscles? 

Sore muscles after a demanding training routine is not necessarily a bad sign. You just need to rest and recover for a few days before you get back to your training. As you progress, you gain strength and agility with continuous training. To improve your performance without falling into overtraining, you have to incorporate a balanced workout regimen that includes resting and muscle recovery sessions. 

You can learn more about muscle recovery techniques here.   

Active compression massage tools are the best method to relieve muscle overuse symptoms such as muscle soreness, muscle knots and swelling in the legs. Active compression is a massage technique that promotes blood circulation in the affected areas in order to help the recovery process and ease the pain. You can read more about how to improve blood circulation in the legs and recover from muscle pain here. 

There are overtraining recovery tools such as SPRYNG which you can use to massage your sore muscles at home. SPRYNG is a highly effective active compression tool you can use conveniently. You wear it on your calves and activate its various preloaded massage patterns to get relief from muscle pain.