Less is more
We live in a culture that celebrates hustle, grind, and pushing past limits. Trust me, I’ve been there and this is something I still grapple with. This mindset often seeps into the fitness world, amplified by the pervasive noise of diet culture. It’s no surprise that many people bring that same mentality into the gym. But when it comes to fitness, more isn’t always better, and in many cases, it can actually be worse.
As a coach, one of the most common breakthroughs I see in my clients happens not when they push harder, but when they learn to step back. That’s when they start making real progress. It might sound counterintuitive, but more workouts, increased intensity and fewer rest days often don’t equate to faster results.
It’s not until you take a step back, take a minute to breathe and evaluate how hard you were pushing that you realise how much you might be harming yourself versus helping yourself.
The overtraining trap is the cycle many fall into, believing that doing more always leads to better results. But the truth is, overtraining can stall progress and even reverse it. In sports science, this is known as Overtraining Syndrome—a real condition that leads to prolonged fatigue, performance decline, and even hormonal disruption (Kreher & Schwartz, 2012).
Here are a few important reasons why you should try to avoid overtraining:
1. Your Recovery Window Closes
Every training session creates stress on your body causing muscle damage, nervous system fatigue and hormonal changes. You need time to rest to repair and adapt. Without recovery, you stack stress on top of stress, meaning your body doesn’t heal, and performance starts to decline.
2. Your Nervous System Burns Out
Overtraining doesn’t just affect muscles—it drains your nervous system too. When your nervous system is overstimulated, it’s harder to move efficiently, stay focused, or even stay positive. You feel sluggish, weak, and unmotivated (Lehmann et al., 1993).
3. Hormonal Imbalance Kicks In
Chronic overtraining can spike cortisol—your body’s main stress hormone. Elevated cortisol disrupts sleep, slows fat loss, increases inflammation, and weakens your immune system (Gleeson, 2002). It becomes harder to build muscle, drop fat, or even just feel good in your body.
4. Your Progress Plateaus or Reverses
At a certain point, your body just can’t keep up. You may feel stuck, working harder but not seeing results leading you to lose strength, gain fat, or suffer an injury, forcing you to stop altogether.
So, how do you know when you're overtraining versus when you need to push through? I've seen a quote online: "If you listen to your body when it whispers, you won't have to listen to it when it screams." Signs of overtraining come in the form of constant fatigue, poor sleep quality, declining performance in the gym, mood swings, lack of motivation, and lingering soreness. In my opinion, this is your body whispering gently, "I need a rest."
Training is the stimulus, and rest is the response. The tricky part that clients don’t see—especially when they're working hard and doing everything to make something happen—is that growth happens between the workouts, not during them.
Reducing training time and frequency or lowering intensity can impact you in numerous positive ways:
Better Sleep: Quality rest becomes more attainable.
Increased Energy: Feeling more energised throughout the day.
Faster Recovery: The bounce back is quicker between sessions.
Steady Gains: Seeing consistent improvements in strength and performance.
Renewed Joy: Regain the joy of training and fall in love with the process all over again.
It’s not about doing nothing. It’s about doing enough and letting your body adapt properly.
I’ve had clients go from six days a week in the gym to four—and suddenly start hitting personal bests. Others have swapped out a high-intensity day for active recovery like a yoga class or long walk and noticed their energy skyrockets. Less volume, more intention. As I’ve said before regarding other topics; quality over quantity, always.
Don’t let doing more become a hole you find yourself falling down. Fitness isn’t about how much you can do, it’s about how well you can recover, grow, and stay consistent so that ultimately you can achieve the goals you set out to reach.
Sometimes, the best thing you can do for your body is to do a little less.
If this post resonated with you and you realise it might be time to reset your approach, check out my 1:1 online coaching programme where we will focus on intentional, sustainable progress—with training, nutrition, mindset and recovery all working together to support your goals (and your life).
Whether you're feeling stuck, burnt out, or just ready to build strength with more balance and less guesswork, this is your next step.
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References:
Kreher JB, Schwartz JB. Overtraining Syndrome. Sports Health. 2012. Link
Gleeson M. Immune function in sport and exercise. Sports Medicine. 2002. Link
Lehmann MJ et al. Training-overtraining: A prospective study. Sports Medicine. 1993. Link
Kellmann M. Recovery in training: the essential balance. J Sports Sci Med. 2010. Link
Gabbett TJ. The training-injury prevention paradox. Br J Sports Med. 2016. Link