She has not been well these past two days.
Unable to quite put her finger on the reason as to why, poor Gym Ninja has been feeling completely drained of all energy, unable to focus, concentrate, string together a complete sentence or even talk in 'joined up writing', let alone write it it. It swept over her Sunday evening, so she sent herself to bed fairly early, hoping a decent night's sleep would cure her.
Monday came...and poor Gym Ninja had to drag herself out of bed, despite having had a decent night's rest. Hmmm. Gym Ninja is usually bionic. Perhaps she had suffered too much sleep? However, as the day progressed, she found it harder and harder to concentrate on her day job, and driving was certainly hairy when feeling that her concentration levels were lacking. It comes to something when, despite feeling tired, Gym Ninja concedes defeat and drives right past her regular gym haunt and instead sent herself directly to home, not even passing Go. (or whatever the Monopoly board does-hey, they should make a gym-based Monopoly Board!).
After a nap on the sofa and a health home made soup to try & boost her vitamin quota, Gym Ninja attempted again to go to bed early to try and sleep off the sleepiness. Well, she 'says' early, and indeed 10pm is an early night for her. But to no avail. Her body may have been exhausted, but her mind was wired!
Today, Gym Ninja is less tired yet still feeling 'out of sorts'. A bit flaky. A bit wobbly. A bit lacking in 'oomph'. So Gym Ninja began to consider that perhaps this may not be an odd little virus after all? Perhaps it may be her body telling her to take a break? So she did some research on 'Over-training' and the symptoms it can cause..
Apparently, one does not have to suffer all of the signs to signify that perhaps one is suffering from over training. (Get one, talking in the third person!!), but here is a list that she found online...and she has highlighted those symptoms she feels she may be suffering herself to see if she is indeed a victim!
- Decreased performance (strength, power, muscle endurance, cardiovascular endurance)
- Decreased training tolerance and increased recovery requirements
- Decreased motor coordination
- Increased technical faults
Physiology
- Altered resting heart rate (HR), blood pressure and respiration patterns
- Decreased body fat and post-exercise body weight
- Increased VO2, VE , and HR during submaximal work
- Decreased lactate response
- Increased basal metabolic rate
- Chronic fatigue
- Sleep and eating disorders
- Menstrual disruptions
- Headaches, gastrointestinal distress
- Muscle soreness and damage
- Joint aches and pains
Psychological
- Depression and apathy
- Decreased self-esteem
- Decreased ability to concentrate
- Decreased self-efficacy
- Sensitive to stress
Immunological
- Increased occurrence of illness
- Decreased rate of healing
- Impaired immune function (neutrophils, lymphocytes, mitogen responses, eosinophils)
Biochemical
- Hypothalamic dysfunction
- Increased serum cortisol and SHBG
- Decreased serum total and free testosterone, testosterone/cortisol ratio
- Decreased muscle glycogen
- Decreased serum hemoglobin, iron, and ferritin
- Negative N2 balance
Don't ask Gym Ninja what the last lot means please. She is feeling all fuzzy in the head as it is, let alone trying to decipher that! However she has noted that a lot of her symptoms are reflected in the 'Psychological' category. Maybe Gym Ninja is in need of a holiday? Maybe it is not actual gym overtraining, but just the stresses of work and everyday life as it sure does get hectic this time of year!
But Gym Ninja will take it easy this coming week, as she has some exams at the weekend which means she is effectively not having any time off for 12 days on the trot. Tonight, she will attempt to hit the Gym, as it can often help boost energy levels when feeling mentally fatigued (which in itself can manifest as physical fatigue). But just to be on the 'safe' side, Gym Ninja will avoid cardio (for fear of falley-offey treadmillitis) and instead stick with lighter upper body weights than usual. See if that helps in some way?
What a terribly self-indulgent blog post today this may seem. But Gym Ninja would ask that you all just take a moment to see if you are suffering any of the symptoms listed above? Are you pushing yourself too hard? The point of exercise is to boost our health remember-not damage it. Sometimes it takes something like this to make you realise it!
OK-Gym Ninja is now signing off so will be back to her cheery self tomorrow. Fingers crossed....
But hell, why not add one of these eh? Can't ALL be doom and gloom today....
Man Who Run In Front Of Car Get Tired.
Man Who Run Behind Car Get Exhausted!
Gym Ninja x
