How to Recover from Overtraining

Co-authored by Scott Anderson, MA, ATC, SFMA, DNSP

Last Updated: December 9, 2021 References

If you’re working towards a new fitness goal or training for an upcoming race or event, it might seem like the best way to prepare or achieve your goal is by increasing the amount of training you’re doing. While this might help you in the short-term, overextending and overworking yourself while training will leave you exhausted and unable to maintain your fitness. By making sure you’re eating properly and taking enough rest, you can recover from overtraining and prevent it again in the future.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Recovering with Proper Nutrition

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Plan out a post-workout meal before you begin training. Recovering fully from each training session will help stop you from overtraining in the long run. Calculate the number of calories you'll burn in your workout, and plan out a meal with an equal number of calories. Make sure to eat after exercising, even if you don’t feel like it.^{[1]
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- Intense training can raise your cortisol levels, which can make you feel less hungry. It might help to recognize this when choosing and consuming your post-workout meal.
- If you’re unsure how to balance a diet for your own workout schedule, talk to a nutritionist. They’ll be able to help you design a meal plan perfect for your workout schedule and dietary requirements.
2
Make carbs around 50% of your daily calorie intake. While a low-carb diet can be a good way to lose weight, reducing your carb intake too much can prevent you from recovering after an intense training session. Eat some quality, starchy carbs after your big workouts to help your recovery process.^{[2]
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- Potatoes, sweet potatoes, tubers, winter squash, rice, oats, and bananas are all great and healthy sources of carbohydrates.
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3
Drink plenty of water. Not drinking enough water when exercising can prevent you from digesting food properly and can lead to dehydration, both of which will only make your overtraining worse. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water throughout the day, not just during and immediately after your training session.^{[3]
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- Drinking 8 glasses of water a day is generally sound advice, but won’t be exactly right for everyone. A good rule of thumb is to drink some water whenever you feel thirsty or hungry.
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Take a probiotic to help with digestion. Even if your diet is perfect, your body won’t get the nutrients it needs if you don’t digest your food properly. Take your time when eating your meals to help digest them properly, or take a probiotic an hour before eating.^{[4]
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- Talk to your doctor about whether or not a probiotic is a good addition to your diet. They may also have recommendations on which probiotic will be best for you.
- Rather than taking a probiotic pill, consider increasing the amounts of probiotic food that you eat. Try adding probiotic yogurt or acidophilus milk to your diet instead. Additionally, fermented foods like pickles, tempeh, sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, and kombucha are great options for consuming more probiotics.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Recovering by Relaxing

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Sleep for 8 to 10 hours each night. When it comes to recovering from overtraining, few things will be as useful as getting a good night’s sleep. Many studies have shown a correlation between increased sleep and increased performance.^{[5]
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Research source} Get a good night’s sleep every day in order to speed up the overtraining recovery process.
- Increasing the amount of sleep you get may also help improve your mood and make you feel better, overall, which can also help when recovering from overtraining.
2
Add rest days to your training schedule. An important part of any good exercise routine is scheduling regular rest days. Take 1 or 2 days off from exercising each week to give your body enough time to recover fully. If you don’t want to add dedicated rest days, consider reducing the intensity of your workout routine every 2 to 3 days to give your body a break.
- Rest days aren’t the same as cheat days! Take a break from the gym, but make sure to continue eating healthily on your rest day.
- If you don't want to take an entire rest day, you could try doing a completely different workout than you'd usually do. For instance, you might go for a walk in nature or take a gentle yoga class so you are still active on your rest day.
- There's no one right workout and rest day schedule that will work for everyone. Talk to a personal trainer about what the right training schedule should be for your exercise goals.
3
Get a sports massage to relax your muscles. Overtraining can result in tense or overworked muscles, which can be very painful. To reduce the stress to the area and release tension, book a deep-tissue or sports massage. This can help speed up the recovery process significantly.^{[6]
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- If you can’t afford a massage or don’t want to schedule one, you can instead try self-massaging your sore muscles.
- You could also look into getting acupuncture, which may help relieve pain and stress in your body.
4
Find ways to reduce your stress. It’s very difficult to recover from anything if you’re stressed and your cortisol levels are unbalanced. Look into some ways to relieve stress that work for you. You could try keeping a journal, reducing your responsibilities, tidying your home, getting more sunlight, or even just listening to music.^{[7]
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- Stress relief differs for everyone — things that some people find relaxing might be stressful for others. Find a few methods to relieve stress that work for you and that you can add to your current routine.
5
Take 1-2 weeks off from regular training if you’ve seriously overtrained. If you feel exhausted, sore all over and generally overtrained, consider taking at least a week off from training entirely. Taking a few weeks off will give your body plenty of time to recover and help get you back in the right mental state to exercise when your break is over.^{[8]
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- If you’ve been overtraining for several weeks, it might take you longer to recover fully. Take as much time off as you need to recover — pushing yourself beyond your limits for too long can be very damaging and reduce your performance overall.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Preventing Future Overtraining

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Keep a workout diary to track your training. If you’re working out a lot, it can be easy to lose track of how much exercise you’re doing and overtrain without realizing it. Start writing down exactly how much you’re exercising in each workout session. This will help you keep track of what you’re doing and help you see when you’re at risk of overexerting yourself and overtraining.^{[9]
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- Keeping a physical journal can be a great way to see in one place how much exercise you’re doing. Having a physical record may also make the work feel more real, and remind you to keep it updated.
- If you don’t want to start a physical journal, look for an exercise tracking app for your phone.
2
Recognize the symptoms of overtraining you’ve experienced before. Overtraining manifests differently for different people, so your experience of overtraining will be unique. Keep a physical list or take mental note of your own overtraining symptoms so that you can identify them as soon as you start feeling overtrained.^{[10]
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- Some common symptoms of overtraining include exhaustion, general soreness, muscle and joint pain, insomnia, headaches, depression, decreased appetite, and increased injuries. You may also notice lack of energy, lethargy, reduced motivation, and loss of interest in things you used to like.
- You can also detect overtraining by testing your heart rate. Lie down for 10 minutes, checking your heart rate at the end of the 10 minutes. Stand up and record your heart rate after 15 seconds, 90 seconds, and 120 seconds. If your heart rate increases by more than 10 bpm from the first recording to the last, you may be overtraining.
3
Know when you've recovered from overtraining. Recovering from overtraining can take anywhere from a few days to a few months, depending on how much recovery time your body needs. Wait to return to the gym until your symptoms have faded and you feel energized to begin working out again. If you're unsure, consult your personal trainer or doctor for more advice. ^{[11]
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Expert Q&A

Question

How do you prepare for an endurance event?

Scott Anderson, MA, ATC, SFMA, DNSP
Sports Medicine & Injury Prevention Specialist
Scott Anderson is the Chief Clinical Officer at SyncThink, an award winning startup founded out of Stanford University. Scott previously served as the Director of Sports Medicine/Athletic Training for Stanford University for over ten years from 2007 to 2017. Scott has over 18 years of clinical and management experience, and is a recognized international speaker on topics of clinical specialization, which include developmental kinesiology, neuroscience/concussion, and movement dysfunction. He is a certified Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization Practitioner (DNSP), Sports Safety Specialist and is certified to conduct Selective Functional Movement Assessments (SFMA), and Functional Movement Screenings (FMS). He earned a BS in Athletic Training from Washington State University in 2000 and an MA in Athletic Administration from Saint Mary's College in 2002.

Scott Anderson, MA, ATC, SFMA, DNSP

Sports Medicine & Injury Prevention Specialist

Expert Answer

When you're preparing for an endurance event, count backward from when the event will be, then plan how to build your endurance safely and progressively over that period of time. Include plenty of time for recovery, as well. Then, when you're getting closer to competition time, you can transfer your focus from building endurance to getting more speed.