Bump!
https://www.t-nation.com/training/what-overtraining-is-and-isnt
Been there done that, I think, in my grad student days when I was trying to pursue both climbing and martial arts. (Later I got a job and released it had to be one or the other, as recently discussed on another thread). I was going to karate training most evenings, going to the wall on evenings when I wasn’t doing karate, and doing circuit training or weights most lunchtimes. I wasn’t great at either climbing or karate, but I was gratifyingly lean and muscly.
… and, after a few months, had no appetite, wasn't sleeping well and generally felt washed out and listless. It took several weeks of resting / severely dialed back training to recover.
Interesting experience. You don’t have to be a super advanced elite athlete for it to happe to you. I wasn’t. In fact, if you persist in that state it probably guarantees that you won’t be. I was a penniless student and iirc vegetarian at the time too, so I wouldn’t entirely rule out protein / amino acid deficiencies having played a supporting role, but the main factor was just pushing it much too hard for a sustained period of time.
