Do You Know When You Are Exercising Too Much?
Even if you love working out you need to know the signs that show when you’ve been exercising too much. As rewarding as it is to work out daily, you must always take care of your body through rest periods, and to be able to see the signs of overuse. Here are a few tips on how you can tell if you (or a friend) are exercising too much.
Do You Know When You’re Exercising Too Much?
1. Decreased Performance
This is an easy sign to spot that you are exercising too much. When you are having trouble lifting the same weights you used to lift a couple of weeks ago, or if your feet fail you after 10 miles, when you used to be able to ramp up 15 miles easily, it’s time for rest. Your muscles are probably overworked, and you need to give them some time to repair in order to have effective workouts.
2. Fatigue
The difference between fatigue and just being a little tired is that fatigue remains even after you sleep a longer night. If you feel drowsy all the time, and if you’d rather take a hundred naps a day, then you’re probably exercising too much.
3. Fat Gain
Of course, you exercise more to lose more fat and to increase your performance, but if you exercise too much the opposite happens. Gaining fat is not uncommon amongst those who over-train- it’s your body’s way of telling you to take it easy, or else…
4. Longer Recovery Time
You can tell that you’re exercising too much by analyzing your recovery time as well. If your sore muscles are getting better at a very slow pace, then it should be time to take it easy for a while. If they are overworked, your body will be too busy building an immune system that can handle fatigue to take care of the muscles as well as it used to. And speaking of which…
5. Weakened Immune System
Because of that bothering fatigue we talked about earlier, your immune system will be over-challenged. We all know that when we are tired for long periods of time out body has a hard time fighting even smaller threats like the common cold. So if you’re exercising too much you can expect your immune system to falter- and you can fix it by getting some rest.
6. Losing Interest In Exercise
Some say that our motivation is a limited resource. If you use it all up in a few weeks, you’ll have to wait for it to “grow back up” and recover. Of course it’s a little more complicated that just this, but if you find it harder and harder to find the motivation to go to the gym, it might again be a sign that you are exercising too much.
The solution to all this is, of course, to take it easy. Not to quit going to the gym, but to try and be less rough on yourself, and to make sure you fully enjoy your rest days.
If you’ve experienced the effects of exercising too much, share your thoughts in the comments below so we can all learn a bit today.
