Your Rush To Destruction

Rush to Destruction Over training (V)- 1. To engage in excessive training. 2. To train too much.

As defined above, over training may seem like a way to maximize desired results, but instead, is a way that destructs the body and mind. Instead of strengthening vital muscles needed in sports or work, they are weakened. So why do so many athletes, trainers, or coaches insist on the very theory that many researchers disprove to be helpful. Did they reverse the phrase “quality not quantity”?

Don’t get the wrong idea, extra work is a good way to separate you from the rest, but there is a fine line between perseverance and ignorance. Second to your heart, the mind is the most important muscle in your body. It controls, figures, and analyzes situations you encounter everyday. Weighing every option and result like an imaginary scale. While this fortress may seem indestructible, it is a very fragile muscle that can be built up as well as torn down. With overtraining, the psychological symptoms range from increased irritability and tendency to hysteria, to oversensitivity and melancholy.

As with the mind, overtraining can greatly affect the physical condition of a person. Coach Brian Mac summarizes the effects to the body from overtraining in an excerpt from its series of books on physical capabilities. “ The bottom line in sports conditioning and fitness training is stress, not mental stress, but adaptive body stress. Athletes must put their bodies under a certain amount of stress to increase physical capabilities.

Where the stress loads are appropriate then the athlete’s performance will improve but if the stress loads are inappropriate then a state of overtraining/burnout could come about for the athlete.” Diminished powers of endurance, strength, and speed, reduced readiness of action, and even fear of competition are just a few condition symptoms that can over load an athlete.

It is reasoned that improvements in strength and fitness only occur during a rest period of 12-24 hours. If insufficient rest occurs, incomplete regeneration will occur. Researches also theorize that excess training and inadequate rest will only allow performance to plateau and decline. Knowing all of this information, it is imperative that workers of any kind whether in the athletic or corporate field realize and address all the body’s needs. in appropriate fashion and with appropriate timing.

So next time your body feels used and your mind useless, keep this information in mind.

Do not rush yourself to destruction but rather work towards your goals with knowledge and patience. Implement a strategy of regeneration and recovery to offset the impact of the work.

In strength!

JW