Signs That You’re Overtraining

Going beyond your training threshold can have negative effects on your body. Symptoms of OTS can be psychological, physiological, immunological, and biochemical.

OTS – Psychological Symptoms:

• Irritability/mood changes
• Low motivation
• Decreased libido
• Lack of focus
• Reduced appetite
• Fatigue
• Depression

OTS – Physiological Symptoms:

• Reduced strength and dexterity
• Drop in physical performance
• Prolonged periods of pain after workout session
• Persistent muscle soreness
• Sleep disorders such as insomnia
• Increased blood pressure and heart rate
• Impaired concentration

OTS – Immunological Symptoms:

• Slow healing of wounds
• Increased susceptibility to viral and bacterial infections, such as common colds

OTS – Biochemical Symptoms:

• Raised cortisol levels (stress hormone)
• Significant decline in testosterone levels
• Reduced testosterone to cortisol ratio

Many signs of overtraining may not always manifest clearly, so you could be far beyond your threshold and not even know about it. That’s why it’s important to always incorporate healthy periods of rest into your workout routine.

Signs of Low Testosterone

One of the effects of OTS that men should be particularly concerned about is low testosterone levels.

Testosterone is responsible for everything that makes you a man, and if you have low levels of it, you’re in for trouble.

Signs of testosterone deficiency in men include:

• Low sex drive
• Low semen volume
• Erection difficulties
• Reduced muscle mass and strength
• Decreased bone mass (which could lead to osteoporosis in the long term)
• Increased body fat
• Fatigue
• Hair loss
• Mood changes
• Enlarged breasts
• Brain fog

While low testosterone is generally considered a male issue, it can also cause problems in women. Low testosterone levels in females can cause:

• Irritability
• Hot flashes
• Loss of libido (sex drive)
• Sleep disturbances
• Reduced bone density
• Reduced muscle mass
• Hair loss

Testosterone deficiency can have profound effects on mood in both genders. If you’re having difficulty concentrating or are always irritable and fatigued, low T levels may be the cause.

How Overtraining Reduces Testosterone Levels

Over the past decades, a number of scientific studies were conducted to confirm the link between low T levels and overtraining. A small study carried out over 20 years ago investigated the cortisol and testosterone levels of five healthy, endurance-trained males with normal spermatogenic and hormonal background. Immediately after overtraining, the subjects showed a drop in basal testosterone levels by 39% and a drop in sperm count by 43%.

Another study conducted in 2004 looked at the correlation between hormone levels, overtraining, and feelings or tiredness. The results showed that a quarter of the athletes who trained excessively had a reduced testosterone level by roughly 30% below the normal range, and one of the players saw an immense 50% drop.

A study in Spain also found that over-trained elite cyclists experienced a 50% reduction in their sperm count, and their pineal and testis glands were exhausted. It took at least three days to restore levels to normal after training stopped.

Similarly, a more recent research study that examined the testosterone levels of professional rowers revealed that this parameter was significantly lower during intense training periods compared to resting periods.

Finally, another study showed that while T levels significantly drop after overtraining, levels of stress hormone cortisol increase. Exhaustion also hits much faster than before overtraining. These problems can last for several weeks.

In addition to its effects on your T levels and sperm count, overtraining has also been shown to impair the immune system.

Another highly reliable study found that overtraining can literally kill the healthy cells in the body, increase cytotoxin levels in the blood, reduce catecholamine secretion, increase cortisol levels and oxidative stress, and further disrupt mood and sleep.

Dozens of similar papers reveal the same results: that overtraining can heavily and directly impair testosterone levels. But how exactly? Experts believe that the main factor that leads to the development of OTS is the acquired instability that occurs in the nervous system, especially in the sympatho-adrenergic nervous system, which is mainly responsible of handling stress.

Exposing the body to more stress than it can handle reduces this framework’s ability for controlling certain processes in the body, resulting in hormonal imbalances and many other issues. This could all be avoided by simply getting enough rest to allow the body to regenerate. Not only will doing so allow you to maintain peak T levels, it will also improve your performance, boost motivation, enhance muscle growth, speed up recovery, and increase your overall well-being.

How to Avoid OTS and Improve T Levels

Most people make the mistake of monitoring their muscle soreness to decide whether they should train or not. The problem with this is that overtraining does not start in the muscles; it impacts the nervous and endocrine system first and that can be harder to identify. Though you may feel the urge to maintain the momentum of your training, you should consider the following if you suspect that you’ve gone beyond your capacity:

• Take a break. Allow your body enough time to recover. Some people take a week of two off from training to revive their mind and body. When they go back to exercising, they find that they have increased focus and are more energized.
• Reduce the intensity or volume of your training. If you’re used to doing 5 or more sets per exercise, consider cutting it down to just 2 or 3. You can also reduce the weight and focus on form. By doing so, you can improve your mind-body connection, as well.
• Get a massage. Applying good self-massage, sports massage, or deep-tissue massage on the affected areas will release muscle tension and restore balance to the musculoskeletal system. Getting a therapeutic massage regularly will also help you prevent injuries.
• Make sure you consume an adequate calorie intake. Your calorie intake should match (or possibly exceed) your caloric expenditure. Overtraining depletes the body of various nutrients so make sure you get enough carbohydrates, healthy fats, and lean proteins to aid in recovery.
• Address vitamin deficiencies. Take nutritional supplements to address lack of vitamins and minerals. While it’s important to get vitamins from your food, supplementation is often necessary when overtraining becomes a concern.

The Importance of Identifying Your Threshold

Overtraining exists and the threshold varies from person to person. If you believe you’ve over-trained and suspect you have low testosterone levels, you should now know what you need to do. By listening to your body and allowing it time to recover and rebuild, you can come back stronger than before and ultimately achieve that longed-for athletic success.

You might also like:

• 7 Ways To Spot Signs Of Overtraining And Stop It From Happening To You
• You’re Not Overtraining, You’re Under-Recovering
• Repeat After Me: There Is No Such Thing As Overtraining

The post Low Testosterone? You Could Be Overtraining appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

We recently discussed how training and a diet too low in fat can really kill your sex drive. And while I will always recommend a balanced workout routine and a diet that includes a healthy amount of fat, some of us want to jumpstart things, am I right?

We want to see changes now! Tweaking your training and diet will help rev up your libido but it takes time – a lot of time. Since patience isn’t a virtue that I currently possess, I am not going to preach to you about having it. Also, I know some of you may have had your hormones checked out and found that they are off kilter, but you’d rather not go down the hormone replacement road just yet.

So, this article is for both of you camps of people – the impatient and the newly diagnosed seeking a more natural treatment. I am going to give you three recommendations for supplements that can light the fire under your libido.

There are many different reasons why your libido might not be what it used to be and different supplements serve different purposes. We’ll start with the most obvious: low testosterone and/or estrogen (for the ladies). When our levels of either hormone are too low we just don’t have sexual urges we used to nor the physical responsiveness. As both estrogen and testosterone go down, so does the sensitivity of the genitalia and the lubrication needed to make sex comfortable. As you might imagine that makes initiating sex and actually achieving orgasm harder. So, we need something to boost our testosterone, and perhaps estrogen, in a natural way.

1. DHEA

DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) is a hormone that is converted to testosterone and estrogen in the body. If levels are too low, as they often are as you age or when you are stressed, you will produce less sex hormones. Therefore, supplementing with DHEA will often times increase testosterone and/or estrogen levels.

Women respond best to 50-100 mg of DHEA daily.

2. DIM

I would also highly recommend adding in the supplement DIM (diindolylmethane – pictured below). This is a phytonutrient that can help with the healthy metabolism of estrogens and can decrease something called sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG).

If you’re taking a birth control pill or drink regularly or in excess, your liver will produce SHBG. It does exactly what it sounds like it does – binds hormones, specifically testosterone. When a hormone is bound it can’t do its job. So, your lovely testosterone gets bound to SHBG and just floats around not making you want to have sex. Boo!

Also, if you’ve checked your hormones and you know you have high estrogen levels, DIM can enhance the healthy metabolism of estrogen. This basically means it decreases the bad estrogen, ups the good stuff, and can decrease cramps, bloating, and heavy cycles on top of making you feel a little more amorous. Score!

About 100-200 mg per day is enough to reap the benefits.

3. Yohimbine and Arginine

Sometimes blood flow to the genitalia is the biggest reason for a decreased sex drive or an inability to actually climax. We ladies are typically slow starters anyway but if it takes longer than normal this may rally be a damper on date night and might make the whole thing seem like too much effort. So, there are two more supplements that work very well together to enhance blood flow and the ability to orgasm – yohimbine and arginine.

Arginine is actually the supplement that increases blood flow. It works like the pre-workout supplement you might use. It causes vasodilation and you get a “pump” but in a different area than what your pre-workout supplement was intended. Studies have shown it works best when combined with yohimbine (pictured right). The exact mechanism by which yohimbine increases libido and sexual responsiveness isn’t clear, but when you put it together with arginine good things happen!

Dosages of around 6 mg of both supplements have been shown to increase libido, but some sources suggest 500-1000 mg of arginine is more beneficial. I’d say it would be best to start low and titrate up to see how you tolerate it. I promise your significant other won’t mind experimenting.

There are many other natural supplements that may be beneficial as well. I suggest trying things systematically until you find the right combination for you. And don’t forget that you also need to enhance your sexuality mentally and emotionally as well. You can’t expect to come home from a crazy day at work, walk in the house, and be ready to go.

You also can’t expect to be super into a partner sexually if the rest of the relationship is flawed. Figure out what makes you feel sexy. Make sure you are happy in the other areas of your life as well. And if you simply need to relax in order to set the mood, consider wine (not too much) your aphrodisiac of choice. Now you have some things to experiment with – so go get busy!

DHEA graphic by Edgar181 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

DIM graphic by Fvasconcellos (talk · contribs) (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Yohimbe graphic by Cacycle at en.wikipedia [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], from Wikimedia Commons.

The post 3 Natural Libido Enhancers (Especially for You Ladies) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

So, you’ve been hitting the gym regularly and eating well. You’ve shed some fat, gained some muscle, and look better than you have in years. In fact, you’re looking hot! However, you are feeling anything but sexy. Indeed, sex is about the last thing on your mind. Why is that?

Why, when you should be feeling like jumping your man’s (or lady’s) bones, is all you really want to do is zone out to some Netflix and go to bed? Could it have anything to do with the fact that you work a fifty-hour workweek, take care of the kids, pay the bills, get dinner on the table, and fold everyone’s laundry on top of eating well and hitting the gym? Maybe you’re just a little overworked? Underpaid? Stressed?

Yes! Our favorite TV characters might be able to juggle their careers, family responsibilities, rock a six-pack, and still be a wild woman or man in the bedroom, but guess what? They’re acting. When we try to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders, more often than not, our libido suffers.

Survival = No Sex

I think a lot of people are scared to talk about their lack of desire. No man or woman likes to admit they have little to no interest in sexy-time shenanigans. I think it’s especially hard if you are fit. Why wouldn’t you want to get jiggy with it? You’ve worked so hard to look awesome!

Well, when you’re stressed out and trying to do too much, your body – which turns out to be pretty darn good at this whole survival thing – turns down the drive to reproduce. You see, hormone synthesis and potential reproduction are pretty darn demanding on the body, especially for us ladies. When we’re stressed out and taking on too much, our bodies put the kibosh on anything that might require even more of us mentally and physically. Thus, our libido suffers and we turn down sex more often than not.

The No Sex Science

Let’s talk about this on a more scientific (but simple) level. Our HPA axis senses stress, turns on the fight-or-flight response, and fires up the production of cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. This causes anxiety, rapid heart rate, and high blood pressure, and shunts blood to the muscles, heart, brain, and lungs – away from other organs and body parts. If we’re chronically stressed and our fight-or-flight mode is basically turned on autopilot, you can imagine which body parts aren’t getting a lot of blood flow.

Also, too much stress can also cause a decline in serotonin and dopamine. Both of these are neurotransmitters that make us feel happy and attracted to our partners, aka sexual. Testosterone, the hormone most responsible for sexual drive in most men and women, also plummets as a result of too much stress. So these neurotransmitters and sex hormones that drive libido take a nosedive and make our desire for nookie and physical sexual responsiveness abysmal.

How to Get Your Sexy Back

I’ll admit, there were times when I wondered what the heck was wrong with me. I’ll just be really honest and say there were entire years, maybe decades, when I felt completely asexual. Nary a dirty thought crossed my mind. It’s kind of sad when I think back on that part of my life. It’s not normal to be that young and feel completely devoid of sexuality.

And why, in my early- to mid-twenties, was I so completely uninterested in sex? Because I was over-trained, working several jobs, going to school full time, and constantly worried about making ends meet. I can only imagine how people with kiddos, a mortgage, and a high-stress career plus the physical demands of a vigorous training schedule feel. It’s a wonder any of us have kids at all with the nutty schedules most of us keep.

So, what do we do to get our sexual mojo back?

1. Reduce stress. Both physical and mental stressors need to be dialed back. I’m not telling you to go out and quit your job, but you should look into ways to reduce hours, become more efficient, and say no to extra projects. Also, reevaluate your training schedule. Has your libido suffered ever since you started training for that marathon or started two-a-days at the gym? Or maybe you’re running yourself ragged trying to ferry the kids to multiple after-school activities? Maybe it’s time to simplify their hobbies? They probably need all those extra activities about as much as you do. Too much is too much no matter how old you are.
2. Change your diet. If you are eating a super low-fat diet, you are probably lacking cholesterol, which your body uses to make sex hormones like testosterone. Foods higher in cholesterol, especially when eaten before bed, can help to boost testosterone levels.
3. Force yourself to be more sexual. No, I’m not saying just lie there and take it. But I am saying you will probably have to stoke the embers a bit if it’s been a while since you really felt like having sex. Everyone’s going to be a bit different when it comes to what does it for you sexually. It might mean stopping at your local Victoria’s Secret or maybe just some flirty text messages between you and your significant other. For some it might take a trip to the “toy store.” Play around, figure out what works for you, and have fun with it. Remember, it is supposed to be fun!
4. Get your hormones evaluated. I cannot stress how important this is. If you’ve tried all the aforementioned tips to rev up your sexual appetite and nothing is working, then you may need the help of a health care provider. Sometimes, a kick-start with hormone therapy, dietary supplements, or even compounded creams or lotions can help reignite the flame, so to speak. But, you’ll want to know what your estrogen, testosterone, and adrenal hormones look like so the proper therapy can be initiated. For me, hormone therapy is what it took to kick things into gear and my only regret is not doing it sooner.

So, if you’ve lost that loving feeling and you’d really like to get it back, it’s time to reevaluate some things in your life. Scale back, simplify, and take some time for yourself and your significant other. Take hard look at your training and make sure your desire to meet fitness-related goals isn’t causing too much physical stress and resulting in a reduced libido. Flirt, dress up, and go on a real date, and fake it ‘til you make it. Oh, and have a steak (or Brazil nuts for the vegans), too! If all that fails to make a difference, then find a doctor who is familiar with hormone treatment and get checked out. Being sexual is a very large part of the human experience. Don’t miss out!

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Get Your Sexy Back: How Your Workouts Are Crushing Your Libido appeared first on Breaking Muscle.