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The overtraining myth is something that almost everyone starting out in fitness hits at one point of their journey. It is only natural that when someone enters into a gym for the first time, or takes their first time admission in an aerobics class that he or she becomes enthusiastic about different kinds of training. In an eager effort he or she starts doing strenuous exercises or doing long sessions, 7 days a week right from the beginning and this is a perfect example of the overtraining myth. Resultantly, the body could not bear this sudden and extreme change and starts suffering in the form of muscular tension or sore muscles. In such a case the recovery can take more than usual time. Overtraining myth takes place when either the work load is too much or the rest time or recovery time is too low.
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Due to this reason the person starts deviating from the physical activity without realizing that no exercise or physical activity is to be blamed for all this, rather it is overtraining myth that has left him or her with stress on the body and strain on the brain. The tension thus created can lead to depression and longer durations of bad mood, which impart negative effects on overall health.
It’s never advisable to do too much too early. The philosophy of slow and steady wins the race has realistic and practical implications. We can observe that constant ticking of the clock, second by second, converts into minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and ultimately years. The sun rises from the east, moves moment by moment throughout the day and reaches to the west at the end of the day. These facts are being presented just for the purpose of exemplifying the case. You need to move with an appropriate and gradual pace. Learn the lesson of being constant and steady from these universal processes.
- Intensity of Training
Regarding the intensity of the training you should always remember that a good workout gives you the feeling of hard work and it raises your heat rate to a certain level, you start feeling exertion and your body signals you of something that is out of routine. A slightly higher intensity workout causes tiny tears in your muscle fibers. After the training session these tears get repaired and grow back a little larger only when your body fully recovers from the training.
- Low Intensity Training
The disadvantage with low intensity exercise is that it doesn’t cause any tears in muscle fibers and as a result no growth occurs in the muscles. By low intensity we mean that you are not using the right weights, doing fewer reps or taking long rests between the sets. Naturally, if the muscles can handle a weight conveniently in their original state, there will not be any need for them to grow bigger and stronger to carry on with the same weights.
- High Intensity Training
If the intensity of training is too high, it directly means that the muscles are not getting sufficient time to grow back and recover and that can cause the overtraining myth to set in. In terms of bodybuilding the overtraining myth can be a cause from training a muscle group before it has had time to get fully recovered from the last session. This can happen if you are training each body part 2-3 times a week. As a natural rule a muscle takes 24 to 48 hours to recover after the training. The real growth, in muscles, starts after this period. For the same reason an expert trainer never recommends you to repeat the exercise of same muscle groups before a lapse of 3 days no matter how inclined you feel to repeat the exercise. They understand, if the muscles are put to work again after a little margin, no growth or development will take place, thus the purpose of exercise will be without any fruit rather it will cause fatigue, tiredness or soreness.
