Long-term effects of overtraining?

[Sassy69]

Wondered if anyone has experienced any long-term effects of overtraining / burnout? I trained for two competitions last year (novice, natural) and have since gained weight & bodyfat, above even the level that I've maintained over most of my adult life (I'm 35) whether training or not. Its bee 6 months since I got completely burnt out, to the point of not being able to complete a workout or getting my heartrate above 130 on a treadmill.

I still follow a regular training & cardio schedule with a fairly clean 6-meal-per-day diet. Was using ephedrine / No Doz/ aspirin, took some time off, now cycling Ripped Fuel 6-8 weeks alternating w/ Adipokinetix. My strength and endurance have returned and are increasing, but I still can't drop body fat and experience depression from it. I also haven't gotten sick in the last 2 years with no indicators for compromised immune system.

All the stuff I can find on the internet (and a great Cortisol thread here!) talks about the effects of short-term overtraining, called "over reaching" (e.g. over-worked muscles, weight loss, inconsistent sleep despite exhaustion, etc.), which can be addressed in a period of days or weeks with enough rest and recovery time. Longer term overtraining can produce more depression, "sluggish thyroid", weight gain, sleep problems as well, but can take on the order of weeks to months to recover from. I haven't found much on the treatment of overtraining and my own doctor said that not much is understood about metabolism, so I'm stuck trying to figure out what I can do to correct my current situation.

Has anyone experienced this? Any suggestions? I'm waiting on blood test results to see about any thyroid issues or anything else outstanding.

 

[WalkingBeast]

Im sure I have, definately. If anyone has, I have. I have more issues than I can easily list. Definately wake up exhausted and it never leaves. Joints and muscles definately take a beating over time as well. Ive always trained excessive, for the exorcism, and not the results.

It has never gotten better for me, only worse over time. However Ive learned to adapt. I can still get stronger and larger after 21 years of training. Despite everything.

Though I do one thing differently now. My metabolism is very slow now and I gain size much easier. Fat as well. But I also dont lose my size quickly anymore. I can take 10 months off and get it all back within 4 months.

So what I do is take breaks now. I will take off several months at a time off from training and eating heavily. This refreshes my mind and body to a degree. When I came back from my last 10 month break, I was breaking strength records weekly and pushing way heavier overall, to what I could do before the break, due to strains.

Ill be taking atleast a few months off now, if not more. Once you adapt and get used to getting it all back, after breaks, you dont stress about the shit. Your body ends up lasting way longer too, and making continued progress. When I do train its all out, for the most part, but there is some balance now as well. Holding contractions, dropsets, things like that have allowed me to train lighter for some of my sets, after the main strength lifts. This has all allowed me to keep shit rollin. Theres no point in trying to run through this shit, it takes very long and is very gradual.

KILL THAT SHIT