Background

I’ve just gone through a peak period of my training programme and I’ve done this whilst still working, running the business and preparing for the annual CS&PF dinner. Understandably, there have been times when I’ve been tired. There have also been times when I’ve not been sleeping very well which is pretty annoying when you’re tired.

I figured that it was time to re-familiarise myself with the signs of over-training and adjust if necessary.

Now, alongside this, work is pretty busy right now and some projects are going through difficult phases with challenges both inside and outside of our control. My role in these projects is to ensure that they keep to the original vision and to act as a design authority. As these projects work through the challenges, those most closely involved can indeed find themselves subject to stress.

It was at this point that I had a bit of an eureka moment. What if the signs of over-training are similar to or the same as the signs of stress? In both cases, a bit of pressure helps you to perform at your peak and to achieve things you may not have considered possible. Also, in both cases, too much pressure or stress can take you into overload or collapse where you are no longer able to perform at all.

So, I set out to look at both the signs of over-training and the signs of stress to ask myself if there was indeed any overlap.

What is stress?

The Mind website says that

there's no medical definition of stress, and health care professionals often disagree over whether stress is the cause of problems or the result of them.

Of course not all stress is bad. A little bit of stress or pressure can help you perform at your very best. It can stretch you to achievements that you didn’t realise were possible. But it is a fine line. Go a little bit further or for too long a period, and that magical sweet spot of performance quickly switches to crumble and crisis where you can’t perform.

What is over-training

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 over-training/burnout could come about for the athlete. Training principles identifies the need for rest to allow the body to recover and adapt to the training loads, failure to allow the body to recover can lead to a state of over-training.

The signs

The tables below show the signs of stress and over-training and highlight where there is obvious overlap.

I’ve taken the signs of over training from a guest blog by Paul Massey and the signs of stress from the Mind website.

Physical signs

Behavioural signs

Psychological signs

So there does indeed appear to be a link!

So, it doesn’t take too much investigating to see that there really is quite an overlap. When looking at only the words on the page, there is a fair amount of overlap, when I think about whether the signs are visible in both contexts, I think the list gets a lot longer.

So what about those athletes that are also holding down stressful jobs? Well, that really can be a recipe for overwhelm.

When I think back to my ill-fated Jersey swim, that’s exactly where I was at. It wasn’t just work and training that was piling the pressure on, but every other avenue of life too. Add to the mix all the voluntary work I was doing supporting one of the channel pilots and also running training in Dover AND having an increasingly ailing Dad, plus a ridiculously long commute and it really was a recipe for disaster.

What to watch out for

So if you face stress in multiple parts of your life including the stress of over-training, here are some of the key signs to watch out for:

Inability to concentrate
Difficulty making decisions
A feeling of overwhelm
Irritability and being easily wound up
Being more argumentative or aggressive than normal
Avoiding situations that feel a little difficult
Loss of interest
Loss of your normal sense of humour
Anxiety
Depression
Restlessness or muscle disturbances
Issues with sleeping (either duration or quality)
Tiredness
It takes longer to recover than it used to do (I often find this feels like I’m suddenly old)
It’s increasingly more difficult to motivate yourself to continue, to the point where you can’t see the point
A tendency to believe or be drawn to the negativity and disbelieve the positives

What can you do about it?

Over-training

If you are an athlete, the guest blog shows you some of the causes of over-training and the factors that can reduce performance.

You may find that the causes are obvious and you should adapt accordingly. If you’re still not sure, there is a useful assessment, have a go at that and if it indicates that you are indeed over-training, then ensure you take additional rest and recovery. Ploughing on with too high a workload will likely have a detrimental impact on your performance, which is the exact opposite of your intention with all your hard work.

Train smart, not just hard.

Stress

The Mind website have some very useful tips.

Identify your triggers

Working out what triggers stress for you can help you anticipate problems and think of ways to solve them. Even if you can't avoid these situations, being prepared can help.

Take some time to reflect on events and feelings that could be contributing to your stress (you could do this on your own or with someone you trust). You could consider:

Issues that come up regularly, and that you worry about, for example paying a bill or attending an appointment.
One-off events that are on your mind a lot, such as moving house or taking an exam.
Ongoing stressful events, like being a carer or having problems at work.

You might be surprised to find out just how much you're coping with at once. Remember that not having enough work, activities or change in your life can be just as stressful a situation as having too much to deal with.

Organise your time

Making some adjustments to the way you organise your time could help you feel more in control of any tasks you're facing, and more able to handle pressure.

Identify your best time of day, and do the important tasks that need the most energy and concentration at that time. For example, you might be a morning person or an evening person.
Make a list of things you have to do. Arrange them in order of importance, and try to focus on the most urgent first. You may be able to push back some tasks until you're feeling less stressed.
Set smaller and more achievable targets. When you’re under a lot of pressure it’s easy to set yourself large targets that are often unachievable. This can make you feel more stressed and if you don’t reach them, it can make you feel disappointed and frustrated. Setting smaller more achievable goals can make you feel in more control and you can see your achievements more easily.
Vary your activities. Balance interesting tasks with more mundane ones, and stressful tasks with those you find easier or can do more calmly.
Try not to do too much at once. If you take on too much, you might find it harder to do any individual task well. This can make you feel like you have even more pressure on you.
Take breaks and take things slowly. It might be difficult to do this when you're stressed, but it can make you more productive.
Ask someone if they can help. For example, you could ask a friend or family member to help with some of your daily tasks so that you have more time to spend completing your tasks that are causing you to feel stressed.

Accepting the things you can’t change

It's not easy, but accepting that there are some things happening to you that you probably can't do anything about will help you focus your time and energy more productively.

But wait……

So which came first, the chicken or the egg? Or in this case, if you are an athlete who also holds down a stressful job or life, how can you tell if your symptoms are purely stress, stress and over-training or just over-training? What can you do that would help no matter what the cause?

Sleep is your first priority. Short sleeping can have significant physical and mental impacts.
Keep a diary of how you feel - physically & mentally. Notice if there are any patterns.
Is training easier at weekends or when you’re on annual leave? If so, what can you cut out of your day to day life to reduce the overwhelm? What can you stop, what can you delay, what can you get someone else to do? If you have a big commute, is there anything that you can do to minimise that? Is working from home some or all of the time possible for you?
Prioritise and be prepared to make sacrifices in order to achieve what matters most to you

Bottom line, you can’t force yourself to cope with more than is possible. Push too hard or for too long and there will be consequences and the very thing that you’re working so very hard for will slip further from your grasp. Bring yourself back to the sweet spot and you will achieve far more with less effort. Less really can be more.

Keep honestly reflecting using the over-training checklist and notice the areas where your score could be improved. Focus on the root causes behind these areas.

So, what are you going to give up to enable you to have what it is that you really want? What are you choosing to prioritise?

Signs of over training vs signs of stress