Over-reaching, sometimes also called over-stressing or burnout, is a common condition experienced by both athletes and non-athletes alike. According to a 2016 article in the Journal of Sports Medicine by Dr. Jeffrey Kreher, “it is a state of excessive volume and/or intensity whereby the athlete or exerciser displays a decrease in performance.” In plain terms, this means that you are not able to lift the weights you recently did or that the distance you were able to cover is now getting tougher. The bottom line is that your workouts are becoming harder not easier. I call this the intermediate trap. You’ve been training a while and know just enough to be dangerous. We all get to the point where we are making great gains and the answer seems to be to add more. More weight, more time, more distance — more everything.

In the short-term, over-reaching is not entirely bad and is often used by advanced exercisers and athletes to maximize their performance by slightly over-stressing their systems, followed by a period of rest, in order to elicit a peak in performance. Long-term over-reaching, however, is when a decrease in performance is noticed for months. Both short-term and long-term over-reaching are temporary states that, with rest, a full recovery is made. If, however, an excess of exercise and staleness persists, a person may actually be categorized as having overtrained which, while rare, is a much more serious physiological and psychological state.

While there is no single test that defines a person as being in a state of over-reaching or over-training, symptoms may include chronic fatigue, depression, heart arrhythmia, insomnia, chronically sore muscles, and loss of strength and endurance, among others.

So, what does this have to do with the average person that wants to get in shape? While true over-training is uncommon, the average person can easily and often does — overdo it. So, the question remains, how much exercise do we actually need to stay fit and healthy? The answer is somewhat complicated, as we are all different and have different goals.

Local fitness expert and certified personal trainer, Melissa Hubicki said certain guidelines can help. “Let’s face it, we all struggle from time to time with the energy and actual time to work out. According to the American Heart Association, National Academy of Sports Medicine, American Council on Exercise, and American College of Sports Medicine, for heart health 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week of cardiovascular exercise is all you need. This is heart health; your heart is a muscle and if you want to maintain the strength of your heart you only need to perform 150 minutes minimum per week and 300 minutes maximum in your target heart rate zone. The bottom line, just get up and get moving every day. Make it easy on yourself and keep moving. If you are concerned about increasing strength and muscle tone, the guideline is 2-3 full body, resistance workouts per week of 2-3 sets per exercise. This would be a minimum and not the only solution to building strength and muscle but would be a great start.”

For more information about how much resistance and cardiovascular training is necessary to see results, you can contact Melissa Gundy, MS, BS, COTA/L, ACE CPT & CPAs at Advanced Personal Training, 570-772-0173 or mfitnesstrainer@yahoo.com.