Overtraining refers to a state of depression where an (MMA) athlete is no longer making progress while continuing to exercise--in many cases, the athlete will actually lose progress. There are a few causes of overtraining, but it's rare to find someone who has just one cause. Since your body is very adaptable, it requires a good combination of negative impulses to actually cause it to shut off and stop repairing itself. Overtraining can have several other bad side effects for MMA fighters, like emotional depression, general malaise, an increased risk of injuries, and a depressed immune system. Since overtraining can cause a wide range of issues, it's important to understand why it happens so that you can avoid it.

There are several factors that can contribute to physical depression and eventually overtraining. The main problem that a lot of people run into is a lack of nutrition, where they are not getting enough nutrients to fuel their body and repair it after each subsequent workout. While poor nutrition will stop progress, that condition is usually not referred to as overtraining. The next contributing cause of overtraining is CNS depression, which can result from a large amount of stress, be it mental or physical. Olympic lifts, for example, will cause you to overtrain more quickly than traditional lifts because they put so much stress on your CNS. Finally, overtraining can happen from just training too much, as the name implies. After you've been working out for about an hour, your body enters a catabolic state, which means it will start breaking down muscle tissue for energy. This will have a negative effect on your body, but will not usually cause overtraining on its own. A combination of all three is what normally leads to physical depression and loss of gains.

In order to avoid overtraining, you should make sure that you get plenty of rest, food, and that you actually enjoy your workout. If a workout is not fun or much too difficult, then it's likely that you will suffer from increased stress, which will lead to overtraining. You should also keep your workouts to under an hour, although it's okay to go for an hour and a half. A split workout wil give your body time to recover, which can also stave off overtraining. Remember that as an MMA fighter, you are likely to suffer from some injuries after a fight, and it's not advisable to start training under your body feels like it's at or above 90%. Otherwise, you'll just be doing more harm than good.

Before I close this article, I want to note that MMA fighters are particularly susceptible to overtraining. This is due to the high physical fitness that the sport requires. You are expected to have both incredible strength and conditioning, neither of which are easy to get on their own. For MMA fighters that are just starting, this is a major lifestyle change that will likely shock your body. This is why it's important to ease into your MMA strength and conditioning program in order to avoid a loss of power from serious overtraining.