Overtraining is something that many athletes struggle with. Not just professional athletes, but weekend warriors are constantly pushing themselves too hard.
People overtrain because exercise is addictive. When we workout, endorphins (feel good hormones) are released. Our bodies think that we are in a life or death situation. Endorphins allow us to push ourselves to the limit.
Listening to your body is the best way to know if you are overtraining. However, many athletes are great at ignoring cues from their body to stop or slow down. That’s part of what makes them athletes to begin with.
Luckily modern science has come up with a measuring tool for those athletes who don’t know how or don’t want to listen to their body; heart rate variability (HRV). HRV measures the time between heart beats. An increased HRV is a good thing, it means that your body is better at switching from a sympathetic (stressed) state to a parasympathetic (relaxed) state and vice versa.
There are two popular devices that measure HRV, the Whoop and the Oura Ring. The Whoop is a wrist band that comes with a monthly subscription and coaching based on the data it collects. The Oura Ring is a ring that connects to an app and gives information on sleep and readiness for training.
HRV provides the user with quantifiable information so they know when to crush it in the gym or take a rest day. There may be days when you feel good but have a low HRV, so you should take it easy that day.
Many things can result in a low HRV: poor sleep, recovering from an intense workout, increased stress, etc. Tracking this information will help the user work on areas to improve their HRV.
General HRV trends may emerge and help you schedule future workouts. If you notice you generally have a low HRV the day following your leg workouts, then you should probably schedule a recovery day right after leg day.
So if you are one of those people who’s constantly pushing themselves too hard, then you should invest in a device to track your HRV.