Super Tired. Over-Working Out?

[soma]

This is the schedule I've been trying to follow for working out:

day 1: work out
day 2: rest
day 3: rest in the morning, workout in the afternoon
(repeat)

so I get a good 48 hours of rest between each workout. I would like to assume that's enough. But more recently, I feel very very tired on day 3. Tired enough to take 3-4 hour long naps during the day. Before I started working out, I very very rarely took naps during the day. When I wake up from these naps, the muscles I've been working feel slightly sore. Not painfully sore, but sore.

Should I be resting my body for longer? should I be working out less intesively? I hear that over-training is a bad thing, and I feel that's what I might be doing. But it's kind of strange. I read in another forum that people workout on an every other day basis for 2-3 hours. I workout for less than an hour whenever I do.

[Carno]

I would say that your tiredness is unrelated to your working out. Working out usually causes people to have more energy, not less, but maybe you're doing something wrong. I work out 5 days a week, but I don't need to take naps. How much sleep do you get per night?

As for the muscle soreness, try stretching more, and drinking more water. Probably just due to overworking the muscles though. How long have you been working out in this routine? What muscles do you work out?

[ktspktsp]

Two questions:

1) What is your workout?
2) How has your diet changed since starting?

[soccerchamp76]

Another question, are you doing the same exercises both workout days? Or are you doing like upper body - rest - lower body - rest, etc.?

For rest, make sure you are getting at least 8 hours sleep per night. Eating right is another thing. Try taking a multivitamin, eating a lot of protein, and also eat balanced (fruits and veggies). Eat smaller meals too, like 6 "mini meals" a day instead of 3 normal meals.

[pje120]

That happens. How long have you been working out?

There's two types of recovery. Muscle and CNS recovery. How much you space your workouts depends mostly on muscle recovery, but it sounds like you've fried your nervous system. Training is very stressful on the body. Imagine putting yourself through constant stress, after a while you'll need a holiday. Your body is telling you that you need some time off.

It's typical for trainers to have a week break every 3 months or so. I train intensely, and I tend to need a break after about only 8 weeks. Most people take a week off for their break: no lifting. I perfer to take two weeks off but with light lifting (10-20 reps, one set per exercise, same routine, and staying away from failure).

You've overtrained your nervous system and needing more sleep is probably the most obvious way of telling. If you've only been training for a few weeks, then you need to make the routine less intense because you'll fry it too much. However, if a few months, then it is normal, so take a break and don't worry.. After the break you'll be back to normal, I'm quite sure

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by Carno

I would say that your tiredness is unrelated to your working out. Working out usually causes people to have more energy, not less, but maybe you're doing something wrong. I work out 5 days a week, but I don't need to take naps. How much sleep do you get per night?

As for the muscle soreness, try stretching more, and drinking more water. Probably just due to overworking the muscles though. How long have you been working out in this routine? What muscles do you work out?

I agree with this comment.

You didin't share with us things like:

- how much you drink
- if you smoke
- your nutrition habits
- do you eat correctly for recovery right after a workou

Napping for 3-4 hours sounds like possible depression or some medical problem if everything else mentioned above is in line. Perhaps you should get yourself checked out.

[Gabbyness]

If you've recently started working out hard, your body is tearing down muscle and rebuilding it constantly. I don't think it's anything to get alarmed about, sore is good, pain is bad!

Unless of course it's really sore, and kinda pain, a little bit of both . . . errr . . .

[Sweetpea]

As others have said, to give comment I need a little more info.

Is your stress level changed?

Are you a canidate for diabetic/lowblood sugar?

How are your sleep patterns normally?

Is your workout regime the only thing that has changed to cause this exhaustion you're experiencing??

Thanks in advance for clarifying for us!

sweetpea