How to Know if You're Overtraining
As women, we’re often told to push through discomfort, and to just keep on showing up in our fitness routines - no matter how our bodies feel. But what if we told you that working with your menstrual cycle - rather than against it - could transform your relationship with exercise?
What if we honour the powerful rhythm that governs our bodies every month, and instead we challenge the one-size-fits-all approach to fitness? What if we say no to the relentless ‘no pain, no gain’ mantra, and simply start listening to our bodies? The risk of overtraining is real, and the effects can be damaging - so we reached out to PT and Women’s Health & Mindset Coach, Chloe Thomas, for advice.
What are the most common signs that you could be overtraining?
As the founder of online holistic coaching platform Chloe Inspires Coaching, Chloe has coached over 700 women through nutrition, fitness, mindset coaching and counselling. She has a passion for helping women thrive, and feel strong, happy and confident on their skin. And she believes that the first step to achieving this is by understanding and aligning with our cycle. Amen to that!
So how do we do that, and how do we know if we’re overtraining
“Some of the most common signs that you could be over training are things like a weakened immune system. If you notice that you are getting more sick than normal, this could be due to over training.”
Chloe told us.
“Also declining performance - because when we overtrain it actually can become harder to hit our usual numbers in workouts, like how heavy we can lift or how far we can run etc. If you notice you’re also having more aches, pains or injuries this could be that you are not having enough time to heal and recover. You may also notice this mood change or disrupted sleep as well.”
Sound familiar? It could be time to for a rest day.
What are your top tips for balancing training and recovery?
So what do we do if we are pushing it too hard? How can we recover well, and come back even stronger when we’re ready? Turns out it pays to be attentive to the signals your body’s giving you. Chloe’s top tip?
“Always listen to your body. So if you are feeling exhausted, maybe swap a hard workout for just light movement or some mobility work.
“Make sure you're always optimising your sleep too - you want to aim for about 6 to 8 hours of good quality sleep at night. And what I mean by this is making sure you’re getting a good amount of deep and REM sleep (as well as light sleep).
“Make sure you are also focusing on your nutrition - if you are under fuelling yourself, this can affect your workouts. So make sure you’re eating enough quality food before and after workouts, with enough protein, carbohydrates and fats.”
And for those of us experiencing stress? Yep- that can play a role too.
“I recommend you make sure you’re managing your stress levels by including breath work or meditation, or even having therapy if you need to,” Chloe says. “This is because high cortisol levels from stress can make your recovery harder.”
How can I create a sustainable training schedule around my cycle?
So where does our menstrual cycle fit in to all of this, and how can we make sure we’re truly listening to our bodies and working in alignment with the phases for maximum performance?
“Create a sustainable training schedule by firstly tracking your cycle. You cannot train around a cycle if you have no clue of your cycle length or how long your phases are.”
Makes sense. Chloe explains more:
“I personally have used Natural Cycles for the last 2 1/2 years and it is one of the best tracking apps out there. By doing this, I know my average cycle length and my average phase length. From here I can then plan my workouts around my cycle.
“For example, it’s best to aim for lighter movement in your menstrual phase and potentially also your luteal phase. I tend to go for more intense and harder workouts in my follicular and ovulation phases. This is because we have a lot more energy around these two phases. Whereas around Luteal and Menstrual Phases my energy is a lot lower.
“I personally find tracking my cycle and adapting my training intensity based on how I feel is better than me trying to force myself to do a work out when my energy is really low, and then feeling bad about not performing so well in my workouts.”
What are your top recovery tips/ hacks?
So we’ve got our training schedule sorted, we know how to spot the signs over training - but how do we ensure we prioritise recovery after every single workout, and not just when our body is screaming at us to stop? Over to Chloe:
“My top recovery tips and hacks are to make sure that you do some active recovery. So on your days off, make sure that you’re doing some low intensity moving like some walking or yoga or swimming. This just keeps the blood flowing and can help you with muscle repair.
I’d also recommend that you make sure you get enough sleep because this is the time when your muscles repair and recover. And look at your nutrition too, to make sure that you’re eating a healthy balanced diet. You can also add some supplements to aid recovery like magnesium, electrolytes and protein.
“Lastly, one of my top tips would be to make sure you are doing some stress reduction exercises like meditation, relaxation and deep breathing. This will really help bring your cortisol levels down and aid recovery.“
The bottom line on overtraining
Working with your menstrual cycle can help to create a sustainable approach to fitness that honours your body's natural rhythms. By tracking your cycle and adjusting workout intensity - embracing challenges during high-energy phases, while choosing gentler movement when energy naturally dips - you prevent overtraining whilst still optimising performance.
Prioritising recovery is key - through active rest, quality sleep, proper nutrition, and stress management. As Chloe shows through her coaching work, listening to your body isn't weakness - it’s the foundation of true strength, confidence, and long-term fitness success.
Read more about Chloe at www.chlowinspires.co.uk, and follow her on socials: Instagram- www.instagram.com/_chloeinspires_ TikTok- www.TikTok.com/chloeinspires YouTube - www.youtube.com/chloeinspires
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