Kidney failure and overtraining

Kidney failure or renal failure can happen when the muscles break themselves down and release myoglobin into the bloodstream. The myoglobin can then clog the kidneys and cause kidney failure.

One of the causes of muscle breakdown is muscle exertion. I drink whey protein while I work out, so it pretty much prevents my muscles from breaking themselves down. Even then I can only workout for only two to three hours without severe  catabolism damage to my muscles although I will usually eat a nice sized meal of eggs and carbohydrate before my workout to prevent muscle breakdown while I  lift weights.

Here's a link to a clinical description of rhabdomyolysis which is potentially life threatening.