No pain, no gain? Contrary to what you might believe, there is such a thing as working out too much. It even has a name: overtraining syndrome.

While a big part of working out involves challenging your body and pushing your limits, reaching the point of overtraining can actually have the opposite effect than you intended. It can make you drained, put you in a world of pain, and can even cancel out all of that hard work by slowing down your progress. 

Here are 7 signs of overtraining you should look out for, and what you can do to heal if you’ve pushed yourself way too hard. 

7 Signs of Overtraining 

1. Your energy is always flagging. 

“Training maladaptation” refers to a point where you’ve pushed your body to the limit and overtrained yourself enough that your workouts are causing more harm than benefit. If you reach this point, your body can go through several negative changes, rather than the positive ones you might come to expect from working out. 

One of the most common self-reported symptoms of training maladaptation is general fatigue. There are several theories as to why this might happen. For example, some researchers believe that overtrained athletes might be experiencing depleted glycogen stores that affect their energy levels, while others believe that overtraining leads to excessive oxidative stress that causes fatigue. Other theories include changes to the autonomic nervous system, hormones, or even inflammation. 

No matter where the fatigue comes from, it can have a disastrous effect on your training, not to mention your health and lifestyle as a whole. This general tiredness can drain you of your motivation to work out, take care of your responsibilities, and even your personal interests and hobbies that you would otherwise enjoy. 

2. You’re not seeing performance improvements (if anything, your performance is getting worse). 

There’s an obvious benefit that comes with working out a lot: when done correctly, you can often see improvements in your lifts, speed, or general performance. This adaptation is called “functional overreaching,” and it can look like an initial short-term decrease in your performance for up to two weeks followed by long-term improvements. 

However, if you aren’t seeing any improvement over the course of more than three to four weeks, this is a good sign that you may actually be experiencing overtraining syndrome. When you’re overtrained, your body can’t make the positive adjustments that you would want to get out of your workouts, leaving your workout progress stagnant (or in the worst cases, reversing it). 

3. You’re always sick.

Exercise is hard on the body, and all of the energy and resources that your body dedicates to repairing itself after those big workouts can take its toll on your immune system. Researchers have found that your immune system’s natural healing and protective functions tend to slow down slightly and temporarily after an intense workout — and when you’re overtraining for longer periods of time, it’s also hypothesized that this effect can make you more prone to common minor illnesses like colds. 

4. Your muscles are constantly sore

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is often thought of as the sign of a good workout, but if you’re feeling stiff and sore for longer periods of time, it might be a sign that you’re not giving your body enough time to recover. 

DOMS is thought to come from microscopic damage on your muscle tissues after you put them through a tough workout. Your immune system triggers a healing process to help those muscles recover, but it can lead to tender, sore, and stiff muscles in the days to follow. 

DOMS typically peaks at around 24-72 hours after your exercise but then goes away on its own. If you’re constantly sore and stiff, it might be a sign that you’re pushing your muscles too hard without giving them adequate time to repair. 

5. You keep getting injured.  

If you’re going too hard and not giving your muscles, tendons, and joints adequate time to recover afterward, all of that excessive use might be making your body more vulnerable to injuries. 

This is especially true if you’re specifically training in a sport. Athletes are particularly susceptible to “overuse injuries” from excessive loading (for example: lifting a weight that’s too heavy), not giving themselves enough time to recover, and being underprepared. For example, adolescent athletes commonly experience issues with tendons, stress fractures, and issues with bone health. 

6. You’re feeling depressed, anxious, and/or irritable. 

Exercise is supposed to be good for your mood and your overall well-being. Unfortunately, if you’re overdoing it, it can have a serious negative impact and leave you with unpredictable mood swings, depression, and generally poor mental health. 

The effects of overtraining on your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems have been linked to mood changes including depression, irritability, agitation, and anxiety. Not only can this make maintaining your regular training schedule difficult, but it can also bleed into your day-to-day life and affect your other responsibilities and relationships at worst. 

7. You’re completely burnt out from training or athletics. 

Finally, if you find that you suddenly have zero interest in working out, it might be a sign that you need a recovery break. It’s estimated that about 20-60% of elite athletes experience overtraining, and up to 10% of elite athletes report experiencing burnout.  

Your workouts might not always be fun, but you shouldn’t feel so exhausted and tired that you lose your motivation completely. If this is the case for you, it’s a good sign that you should take a little break to give your body and your mind adequate time and space to recover. 

How to heal from overtraining 

Schedule rest days in your training regimen. 

Adequate rest is crucial for letting your stressed and damaged muscles recover. Unfortunately, rest days are sometimes overlooked by people who are trying to get the most out of their workouts. 

Take at least one day off a week, especially in the days following your most intense workouts. If the thought of taking a break scares you, remember that you don’t necessarily need to stay completely still during a recovery day. Instead, try doing more gentle activities like long walks, stretching, or yoga to keep moving while still allowing your muscles and mind a much-needed break from the usual high-intensity grind. 

Prioritize nutrition for muscle recovery.

Working out is just one half of the puzzle — your diet is the other. 

Nutrition is the other key to good training: not just for fuel, but for recovery as well. Make sure to eat a healthy and well-balanced diet to give your body the tools it needs to properly repair itself from all of that work you’ve done in the gym. As you’re planning your diet, focus on:

• Protein, which is necessary for muscle recovery and growth, 

• Healthy carbohydrates like whole grains, vegetables, and legumes to to replenish your glycogen stores and keep your energy levels up 

• Plant-based foods for antioxidants to protect your body from damage 

Get a good night’s sleep. 

Finally, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting your beauty sleep to get the most out of your workouts! 

Good, high-quality sleep is essential — not just for your mind and mood, but for your physical body as well. Not only is sleep necessary for your body’s recovery processes, but it’s also thought that it can reduce injuries and even improve your performance. Try following a regular bedtime routine, keeping your screen time to a minimum and engaging in relaxing activities like meditation or reading if you have trouble drifting off. 

Conclusion 

Working out is one of our biggest tools for improving our body composition and our health as a whole, and you never want to be too comfortable if you want to make progress. However, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing here. To prevent overtraining, it’s important to factor in adequate time to rest, know your physical limits, and recognize signs of fatigue when they start. Remember, fitness is a lifelong journey, and pushing yourself too far is only going to backfire in the long run.

As people continue to live longer and longer, cancer will only become more common. One of the essential treatments of cancer is called chemotherapy. For those who don’t know, chemotherapy refers to the use of chemical agents of substances in the treatment of cancer.

Chemotherapy treats cancer by using chemical substances to halt the division of cancerous cells. Unfortunately, these cancer-killing agents can also impact the patient’s metabolism and the absorption of calories. These therapies can also impact the patient’s body weight, which can affect his or her chances of survival.

In this article, we’ll discuss the body composition changes that occur when a person undergoes chemotherapy. We’ll also share practical ways to combat these changes to reduce the negative changes in body composition from treatment.

Weight Gain and Chemotherapy

There are many different types of chemotherapy treatments, however, all of them slow down the uncontrolled cancerous cell division that defines this condition. Examples of common chemotherapy agents include:

• Alkylating agents: These attack cancer cells during the resting phase before they start the process of cell division.

• Antimetabolites: These are agents that are absorbed by cancer cells and prevent them from dividing.

• Topoisomerase inhibitors: Topoisomerases are enzymes that are required for DNA replication and cell division. These chemotherapy agents halt the action of these enzymes, making it impossible for cancer cells to divide.

Unfortunately, these chemotherapy agents also attack normal, healthy cells. These are where the side effects come from. Examples of common chemotherapy side effects include:

• Nausea and vomiting

• Hair loss

• Puffy appearance of the face

• Numbness and tingling

• Weight gain

• Urinary retention or incontinence

• Acoustic damage leading to difficulty hearing

• Pulmonary fibrosis and cardiotoxicity, in some cases

Researchers analyzed more than 200 women undergoing breast cancer treatment and found that the average patient gained around 4 kilograms (about 10 pounds).

Similar results, published in Clinical Oncology, showed that in a sample of over 100 women, the average weight change was a gain of 3.7 kilograms (about 9 pounds). These studies are in line with numerous others, indicating that many people with cancer gain weight while undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

There have been many different hypotheses proposed regarding why patients gain weight during treatment. Examples include:

• Changes in the ability to process and absorb nutrients from food

• Individuals feel sick and tired, leading to an inability to exercise

• Fluid retention related to cancer and/or chemotherapy treatment

• Steroid use to offset some of the complications related to cancer and treatment

Having excess fat (obesity) is clearly linked to an overall increased risk of cancer. However, just because you are gaining weight from treatment doesn’t mean that your chance of cancer recurring will increase, as weight gain does not always mean fat gain. The first study found no association between the amount of weight gained and the cancer recurrence. That said, these changes in body composition are highly linked to weight gain, often associated with increased risk for disease.

While these factors may contribute to weight gain, weight is not the best indicator of body composition change. While going through treatment because there are significant changes in body composition, it is imperative that you track these changes in order to understand how health risks can change over time.

Why is Body Composition Important?

For those who may not know,, body composition refers to the makeup of your body or, more commonly, your body weight. While other measures such as weight and BMI have been used as a measure of health for decades, body composition is a more accurate representation of your health and health risks. Body composition is typically divided into:

• Total body water: Located in all components of the human body

• Protein: Found in the muscles and organs

• Minerals: Includes vitamins, calcium, iron, and other trace metals that are important for various functions

• Fat: The primary way the body stores energy

Every aspect of body composition is important for a different reason. Your health isn’t just about gaining or losing weight, but about the fluctuation of the various components of your body composition. Cancer and chemotherapy can drastically impact your body composition, making it of vast importance to understand and track body composition in these patients.

What Effects does Chemotherapy Have on Body Composition?

Chemotherapy and Fat Mass

Chemotherapy, unfortunately, can cause unwanted body composition changes, as well as uncomfortable side effects.

A study was published in Clinical Breast Cancer analyzing the body composition of women undergoing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. Body composition measurements were completed prior to starting chemotherapy and 12 months into chemotherapy. This helped analyze not only whether or not the participants gained weight but also where and how their body composition changed.

The results indicate that those who were of normal weight gained about 4 pounds and added fat in their torso and arms. On the other hand, those who were overweight or obese prior to starting chemotherapy lost between 3 and 4 pounds.

Another study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism analyzed body composition and weight changes in women with breast cancer undergoing treatment. Conducted in a similar manner, this study found that their patients did not have any significant changes in their weight; however, they did have an increased amount of fat mass and decrease in fat-free mass.

Why do these changes occur?

These researchers also surveyed women on their lifestyle changes as a result of their chemotherapy treatment. The survey shows that many women reduce their levels of physical activity, reduce their work activity, and have a reduction in their appetite. All potentially contributed to the changes in their body composition discussed above.

Even though these studies demonstrated that women gained weight in the form of fat, as well as lost lean mass, these studies are important because they help patients anticipate what might happen as they start chemotherapy. If patients can anticipate that these changes might happen, they can take steps to avoid or decrease the extent of these changes in body composition.

Chemotherapy and Muscle Mass

A study was completed to analyze the specific metabolic changes that happen in people who experience cancer-related cachexia. Researchers found as the patients approached death, they lost an average of 4 kg of muscle mass. These patients also lost fat mass and burned more calories, representing a major shift in metabolism.

A similar study found patients who lost more than 9 percent of their total muscle mass had significantly lower survival rates. While the average patient lost about 6.1 percent of their muscle mass, those who lost more than 9 percent were almost 3 times less likely to survive.

Since body composition and muscle mass play a major role in the survival of cancer patients, treatments should focus on proper nutrition to maintain muscle mass and prevent or minimize the effects of cachexia.

Novel Treatments and Maintenance of Body Composition

In addition to dietary changes, there are other interventions to help halt cachexia progression and increase survival. Novel treatments of cancer cachexia  include:

• Exercise mimetics: Since many people are restricted to a sedentary lifestyle while undergoing chemotherapy treatment, drugs that help the body mimic exercise may stimulate muscle fibers and help retain muscle mass

• Metabolic targets: An early study on the impact of AR-42 inhibitors (a type of cancer therapy) in animals with cancer showed that those who took the medication had less reduction in muscle fiber size and strength when compared to the control group.

• Digestive targets: Probiotics are important for maintaining a healthy digestive tract while undergoing chemotherapy. Certain bacteria, such as Lactobacillus Reuteri and other probiotics, can help stimulate genetic targets and regulate inflammation, helping to reduce cachexia.

So, what does this mean for the cancer patient? People should think about incorporating various dietary changes and exercises to maintain muscle strength and slow muscle loss. It should be recommended to incorporate fish oils, amino acids, nutritional support, and exercises that focus on building muscle because, not only will this improve mood, it could also improve prognosis.

Conclusion

Chemotherapy can significantly impact a patient’s weight and body composition.

Studies have shown cancer patients gain weight, however, it’s primarily fat and body water stemming from inflammation. Because of this, body composition must be tracked to understand how the various physiological changes can influence health risk. This tracking can help healthcare professionals see fluctuations in fat, water, and even skeletal muscle mass, helping to prevent the negative changes in body composition in order to increase survival and quality of life.

Because of the changes discussed above, it is important for everyone to maintain a healthy diet and remain physically active during their cancer treatment. While this can be hard because of side effects such as nausea and vomiting, it will help people maintain their body composition and could increase survival.

There are inevitable changes to the body when cancer cells proliferate in the body. Performing treatment of the cancer is of utmost priority, but the next step is to manage the health of the body. Body composition can change, which will be associated with health risks, thus performing a mixture of diet and exercise can help offset these changes. Cancer exercise is a growing field due to the increased knowledge of the benefits of exercise.

The goal is not to become a bodybuilder, so weights aren’t always necessary. The goal is to stimulate the muscle fibers by using them, sending a signal to the body that these muscles are still needed. This will prevent muscle degradation and help the body incorporate ingested protein into new muscle fibers.

For those who do enter a cachectic state, there are treatment options available such as vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. Through education and collaboration with healthcare professionals, effects on body composition from cancer and subsequent chemotherapy treatment can be delayed and patient outcomes can improve.

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David Randolph graduated from medical school at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He is currently completing his Residency in Pediatrics at the University of South Carolina.

When you hear the word recovery, what do you think of?

1. a day filled with no strenuous physical activity

2. getting a few ‘junk miles’ in on the road or the bike

3. popping anti-inflammatories and putting on a pair of compression socks

No doubt you’ve tried one, if not all three, of the statements above at one time or another to speed your recovery process. Or perhaps you used another recovery method such as an ice bath, massage, or foam roller.

But which techniques work? Does popularity equate with effectiveness? Is there data that says one method works significantly more than others? And just what the heck are compression socks?

So many questions… Today, we’ll investigate the curious relationship between compression socks and recovery.

The Need To Recover

We know integrating recovery days into our workout regimen is critical to avoid injuries and the dreaded effects of overtraining. Download any free training guide on the interwebs and you’re bound to trip across the word ‘REST’ on no fewer than one dedicated day of each week (most likely on Monday after you’ve killed yourself being a weekend warrior on Saturday and Sunday).

If you’ve ever unwisely decided in your magnanimous way to ignore this tenet of training, it’s a good bet you’ve shortly thereafter landed on your couch, spending some quality time with the seat cushions, laid up with an overtraining injury or illness. In case you were wondering, experiencing symptoms such as severe fatigue, decreased performance and appetite or trouble sleeping, even after several days off from working out, are strong indications that you may be a victim of overtraining.

So now that we’ve agreed that recovery days are a good thing, we can move on to another frequently asked question by staunch recreational athletes: what’s the best way to recover? Phrased a different way: how can I recover faster?

We live in a world where squeezing the most productivity out of every day is highly prized. It’s no surprise that athletes would want to do the same with their method of rest. Which brings us back to the topic of our discussion today, do compression socks aid in recovery?

If the answer is yes, should we really be pulling on compression socks after a weekend 5k? If the answer is no, then are they just another fancy addition to our workout wardrobe that lets everyone around us know we got some serious miles in?

So many questions… Let’s get a common baseline of what we mean when we use the word recovery in order to answer some of these questions.

Recovery and Swelling

Recovery, as we covered earlier, is an essential part of every athlete’s training program. In the field of exercise physiology the term recovery has several meanings, but the one we are examining today is described concisely by Meredith J. Luttrell, PhD and John R. Halliwill from the Department of Human Physiology at the University of Oregon as,

an end-point, e.g., having reached a state of recovery after a bout of exercise, or a starting-point, e.g., an athlete has recovered from prior training and is physiologically ready for additional training stress…

A major sign that the body has undergone intense physical exertion and requires recovery is swelling. Swelling occurs for a number of reasons, but in terms of exercise, it is the body’s response to tiny, microscopic tears in muscle that occur from intense use. If you’ve ever run a race or lifted heavy weights, you’ve probably experienced this.

It’s possible to also see this swelling in body composition results. For example, here are the Segmental Lean Body Mass results right and left legs for a 27-year-old individual:

And here are the results three days later:

Notice the slight increase in overall Lean Body Mass for both the right and left legs. Because an increase in Lean Body Mass reflects increase in water (as well as Skeletal Muscle), it’s safe to conclude that the roughly ¼ pound increase seen in both legs is the swelling due to exercise.

Recovery is about giving your body a chance to relax, recuperate, and recover from this swelling with the end goal of setting you up to resume physical activity. What this statement leaves out is the psychological benefits of recovery, but we’ll touch on that in a bit. Again, we circle back to the question, should compression socks play a role in getting you fit to tackle your next workout?

What are compression garments and socks?

Compression garments come in several different varieties: shirts, pants, sleeves and socks (some actually do cover your feet, but many simply go the length of your calf and are called socks), to name a few.

If you read the back of a box of compression socks you’ll likely see words and phrases like “quicker recovery” or “improves circulation and oxygen delivery to muscles” or “reduce lactic acid build up”. What was once a treatment reserved for the patients of medical professionals with circulatory complications has ended up on the racks inside our local running shoe stores and big box sporting outlets.

In fact, lower-limb compression garments, those colorful knee-high socks that cut off at the ankle, are no longer reserved for elite athletes or the ‘in it to win it’ marathoner’s toeing the starting line.

Do compression socks aid in recovery?

If we’re being honest, the answer is…inconclusive.

It’s worth noting that numerous studies that involve the analysis of the effectiveness of lower-limb compression garments on athlete’s recovery have very low subject numbers. In other words, the sample size is so small (or so specialized, as in the subjects are professional athletes, so their response to periodization training and recovery as a whole could very well be different than the desk jockey’s response) that it makes one pause and seriously question whether the results can be generalized to represent the majority of recreational athletes.

One review of studies on this topic will conclude that wearing compressions socks post-strenuous physical activity will promote recovery by aiding in the removal of blood lactate and reduce muscle swelling, while a different study will come out reporting that there is no evidence of any physiological benefit whatsoever.

So where does this leave us?

One thing that does stand out among the back and forth of compression socks effectiveness is the marker for the wearer’s perception of recovery. Several studies indicate that participants who wear lower-limb compression socks perceived themselves to be recovering better by wearing them versus not wearing them. In a small study consisting of 24 subjects, researchers concluded that perceived muscle soreness dropped for a group of endurance runners who wore lower-limb compression garments.

Mind Over Matter: All That Matters?

Before we donate our compression garments to the nearest thrift store or throw them out completely, we should not discount the value of perceived improved recovery. Recovery is indeed a tactic used to evade physical injury, illness and fatigue (really, take Mondays off), but it’s also helpful psychologically. Using mental strategies to improve your recovery time isn’t cheating. It’s smart.

When it comes to mind over matter, if wearing compression socks mentally makes you feel like you have less muscle soreness, then the positive psychological boost is worth the fashion statement.

If you’re still looking for a reason to purchase a pair of compression socks, or justify a past purchase now that you know the data doesn’t overwhelmingly support their recovery benefits, here are a few things to consider:

• Defense from the elements

They shield you from the sun, some forms of dirt and the lashing from weeds as you whistle by them.

• Improved Warmth

Compression garments can be used as one more layer between you and the bitter cold. They also can be useful for keeping your muscles and joints limber, thus reducing risks of injury.

• It’s not an ice bath

Unless freezing is your thing.

Do compression garments aid in recovery? The answer seems to be, we don’t know.  But that doesn’t mean researchers won’t keep looking for more solid evidence one way or the other. And if you feel better if you use them, then maybe it doesn’t matter that much. It can’t hurt.

Researchers don’t seem to have lost interest in testing their effectiveness on both athlete’s performance and recovery, so don’t expect to stop hearing about the pros and cons of wearing compression garments anytime soon.

Now, how about those ice baths?

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Hilary Fosdal is an ACE certified personal trainer. She also does a lot of heavy lifting at redphonestudio.com, a web design and digital marketing company that helps health practitioners improve their professional identity online.