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When it comes to healthy habits, you can have too much of a good thing. Fiber is good for you, but too much fiber is a major diet no-no (if you've done it, you know what I'm talking about). Even too much sleep can backfire and hurt your health. And exercise is no exception. In fact, trading evenings on the couch for marathon calorie-burning or muscle-pumping workouts day after day--without adequate rest--is a surefire way to burn out, hurt your performance and even get yourself injured. While everyone is different and no certain amount of exercise is automatically ''too much,'' it's recommended that you take one to two rest days a week, especially if you're working out at a really high intensity or with heavy weights. In general, exercising for up to 90 minutes (at a moderate intensity), most days of the week is reasonable and healthy, but you should take into account your fitness level, health status and how your body responds. You might already be aware of some of the common signs of overtraining, but sometimes the body sends more subtle signs that you're working out too much. These signs can sometimes be so sneaky that you may not realize your workouts are causing them. We've gathered seven of the unique and misdiagnosed symptoms of overtraining. While none of these is guaranteed to be caused by overtraining (always talk to your doctor), it's possible that if you've been putting in lots of hours at the gym lately, your heavier workouts could be causing these less-than-healthy results. Exercise leaves you exhausted instead of energized. Exercise should make you feel good and give you an energy boost. Yes, you might feel tired or fatigued right after a tough workout, but if you leave the gym exhausted, tired or generally feeling like you could go home and take a nap, it might be a sign that you're overdoing it. If you're not getting that feel-good endorphin rush that's one of the awesome by-products of being active, it's time to take a look at your training and see what your body may be telling you! You get sick easily (or it takes forever to get over a cold). When you exercise regularly, your body is constantly spending energy and working to repair those muscles. This means that when you come in contact with a bacteria or a virus, your immune system isn't able to give 100 percent to fighting off that cold or flu. So you get sick and can stay sick longer if you don't give your body the time off it needs to take care of itself. Remember, your body is an amazing machine that does much more than just power your workouts! Continued › |
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Fitness Articles › Pitfalls and Plateaus7 Hidden Signs of OvertrainingHow to Know When to Lay Off the Exercise-- By Jennipher Walters, Certified Personal Trainer and Fitness InstructorSparkPeople advertisers help keep the site free! Learn more
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Jennipher Walters
Jennipher is a certified personal trainer, group exercise instructor, and lifestyle and weight management consultant. She blogs regularly about her own fitness adventures at www.fitbottomedgirls.com. See all of Jenn's articles. |
By creating an exercise routine based on your individual needs and abilities, as well as taking some precautionary measures, you can reduce your risk of injury and make exercise an enjoyable part of your daily routine.
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Member Comments
One thing I always say is that you don't get stronger from working out, you get stronger recovering from your workout. When you don't give yourself time to recover than you are shortchanging yourself. - 4/23/2013 1:53:22 PM
I'm new to SparkPeople and relatively new to regular strenuous exercise, Yesterday, I went to my Tai Chi class,. When I came home I felt seriously energized. My inner Tazmanian Devil surfaced. I went into a cleaning frenzy. In contrast, I went to a fun Mud Run/Obstacle course a couple of weekends ago. While I did great and finished the race, afterwards, I slept 16 hours. When I awakened I felt rejuvenated and refreshed. I guess I really needed the sleep.
Thanks. - 4/3/2013 12:21:05 PM
If you feel tired, try a warm up and see how you feel after that, maybe that day is better of spent going for a walk or taking a break. Training 6-7 days a week will actually take you further away from you goal in some cases, remember less is more! ~Mia St-Aubin - 4/2/2013 9:37:08 PM
Thanks for the information.
~Meme - 12/3/2012 9:01:06 AM
For me, I have a tendency to get really sick right when I get to what I think is a great fitness level. Right now I have bronchitis and it's a rather nasty case. The only cure is complete rest because it's self-perpetuating and the slightest strain inhibits recovery.
I wonder if it became this bad because I continued exercising when I had a cold, if the cold was due to exhausting myself or due to the guy behind me who coughed through the whole workout session, or just bad luck.
Someone else said there's a fine line between overtraining and not enough and it's really easy to find excuses not to exercise. - 11/29/2012 1:39:41 PM