Home -> Advanced Training -> Miscellaneous Q&A -> Overtraining         Q. Why is it so bad to overtrain and how do you know if you are overtraining?         Overtraining essentially means that you are giving your body more work than it can physically recover from and it will break itself down (lose muscle) rather than build itself up. Overtraining can easily kill any progress you are making in your training and even set you back. Everyone is different as to how much training they can do before overtraining. Some people, who are known as "hardgainers" cannot tolerate much before slipping into overtraining. Hardgainers must be especially aware of the signs of overtraining. Some people, call them "muscle geniuses", can tolerate huge volumes of training and still get great results. You will know if you are overtraining if you have one of more of the following symptoms: rapid resting heart rate (about ten beats per minute over your usual resting heart rate). Check this first thing in the morning after you wake up to get an accurate comparison. elevated blood pressure decreased desire to train decreased strength impaired immune system function (repeated or lasting illness) general tiredness decreased sex drive loss of appetite susceptibility to injuries Factors that influence whether you may be experiencing overtraining include: how much sleep you're getting quality and quantity of nutrition (including supplements) quantity and intensity of training training level stress levels To recover from overtraining, the best thing you can do is cut back on your training. You can also cease training for awhile, taking a layoff, just be sure you don't give up exercising completely, as can easily happen when you lose motivation through overtraining. Do about half of what you were doing before and reduce the intensity of the training that you are doing. Some people are so overtrained that they must reduce or stop their training for several or more weeks. If you have one of more of the above symptoms, do yourself a favor and reduce your load or take a short layoff. Your body will thank you for it.   Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss Lose the Fat and Keep the Muscle!   Get a free sample of Metabolic Surge now!    Learn how to use proper training and nutrition   to lose bodyfat while keeping and even   building muscle mass.    This free course will give you programs,    training techniques, supplement information,   exercise technique and more! Your E-Mail:   Return To Miscellaneous Question Index