Why Overtraining Feels Great Right Up Until You Crash
One of the trickiest things about overtraining is that it doesn’t feel like a problem while it’s happening. In fact, for a while, it can feel like the opposite — like you’ve never trained better.
Why Pushing Too Hard Feels So Good At First
When you consistently train hard, your body responds with a surge of adrenaline. This is a normal stress response, and in the short term it’s a powerful one — it sharpens your focus, lifts your mood, and gives you that wide-awake feeling. That feeling is real, but it’s misleading. It isn’t necessarily a sign your body is adapting well; it’s a sign your nervous system is in a heightened stress state. Because it feels so good, it creates a pull to keep pushing, and it becomes a self-reinforcing cycle.
The Crash Comes After the Surge
This adrenaline-driven state isn’t sustainable. Adrenal output can’t keep climbing indefinitely to match escalating training demands, and eventually it can’t keep pace. When the crash arrives, it tends to come as a step change rather than a gradual slide — energy drops off, motivation disappears, and performance that felt effortless suddenly feels impossible. By the time this shows up, you’re already well into overtraining, and it often takes considerably longer to recover from than it took to get there.
Why “Feeling Great” Isn’t a Reliable Guide
How you feel in the moment isn’t a trustworthy measure of how well your training is actually going. Feeling alert and eager to push harder can just as easily be a sign of an adrenaline wave as it can be genuine, healthy adaptation. It’s worth paying attention to more objective signals — resting heart rate trends, sleep quality, and whether your performance is actually improving week to week.
Getting an Outside Perspective
If you notice a pattern of training harder just to chase the buzz, and you’re not sure whether you’re building fitness or heading for a crash, that’s worth talking through with someone outside your own head. Our team at Spinewise in Maidstone can help you read the signs of overtraining before they read you, alongside your broader recovery and nervous system health. Call us on (03) 9318 7758 or book online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Look at objective trends over weeks, not how you feel after a single session — resting heart rate, sleep quality, and whether your actual performance is improving over time.
Rising resting heart rate, declining sleep quality, a performance plateau despite harder training, and needing the “high” of training to feel good day to day.
It varies by severity and individual, but recovery from a genuine crash almost always takes considerably longer than the period of overtraining that caused it.
Scale back intensity and volume before the crash forces the issue, prioritise sleep and recovery, and get an outside perspective on your training load.
About the Author
Dr Trevor Chetcuti, B.Chiro.Sc, B.App.Sc (Clin), DIBAK, CNET
Dr Trevor Chetcuti is Clinical Director at Spinewise in Maidstone, holding dual degrees in Chiropractic and Clinical Science from RMIT University and a Teaching Diplomate in Applied Kinesiology through the International College of Applied Kinesiology (ICAK). He is chairman of ICAK International’s Board of Research and Standards and has spent over 20 years helping patients work through complex health, neurological and pain-related concerns.