Being active is a vital part of both weight loss and good health. That said, it’s also important to know how much exercise is too much. Moving around is great for you, but only to a certain extent. There is such thing as too much of a good thing. This applies to exercise, too.
Always remind yourself that one of the most critical stages of a workout is recovery. If you don’t know how much exercise you should be getting or when you’ve had too much, it’s important to learn. If you are pushing yourself harder than you should, there are a number of unpleasant repercussions you could end up facing, including an increasing risk of injury and slower overall progress toward your goals.
Consider the following common symptoms of over-exercising. This may encourage you to pay more attention to how much exercise is too much:
· Feeling tired – if your workout sessions leave you feeling drained instead of energized, it could be that you’re not resting properly or enough.
· Frequently getting sick – without giving your body enough time to recover, you may find yourself catching every bug that is going around. Give your immune system a chance to use some of your body’s energy by providing it with adequate recovery time.
· Feeling down – when you’ve pushed yourself too hard in your workouts and just keep doing it, it’s easy to slip into a feeling of the blues. This fatigued, “down” feeling is an indication that you may need more rest.
· Being short tempered – if you’re feeling frustrated or short tempered on a regular basis, and this isn’t a part of your typical behavior, you may want to take a day or two off your workout to recover.
· Sleep struggles – if you’re struggling with insomnia or are sleeping too much, it may be a reflection of poor workout habits.
· Lasting muscle soreness – it’s normal for a bit of muscle soreness to occur after a good workout. However, if that feeling is sticking around, particularly if it’s accompanied by “heavy” legs and arms, this could be an important sign that your muscles aren’t given enough time to recover.
When you work out intensely, the microscopic damage it does to your muscles takes about 48 hours. If you’re not giving your muscles the chance to heal before taking on the next high intensity workout, you’re setting yourself up for discomforts, followed by the chance of injury and finally a reduced benefit regardless of the fact that you’re working out just as hard.