Are you in the fitness trend today? The overwhelming benefits of exercising include staying healthy, looking lean, and increasing our confidence indirectly. But are we addicted to the endorphins after exercise? Do you feel tired all the time? Do you free stress when it is time for you to exercise and even, you do not enjoy exercise as much anymore? While getting more muscle mass and decreasing body fats sounds good, we should never overdo our workout.
Here are the four signs that you are working out too hard:
1. Feeling Tired All the Time
3 cups of coffee and still feeling exhausted? There is a difference between exhaustion and fatigue you feel from overtraining. We want to get stronger and faster, and to achieve that we push ourselves to train every day without resting.
But hey, you muscle need time to recover and your poor body, deserves some proper rest too. When you exercise too much, your body is using all the energy to recover from the training. Hence, you will feel exhausted and lethargy.
2. Experience Mood Swings and Anxiety
Mental fatigue? Feeling worn-out, depressed, get angry, and frustrated easily?
These are the signs that you should look out for. You might even experience insomnia as your brain activity remains high after overtraining. In addition, you will lose motivation and will be dreading your exercise routine without even knowing it.
3. Persistent Muscle Soreness
Muscle soreness, aches, and pains that just won’t go away? Knee pain and joint pain are getting more serious? Are you still training despite feeling pain and being injured?
This might be a sign that of poor recovery of your body and it is also indicated that you need more time to heal.
4. Getting More Colds
Are you getting sick more often or colds that just appear every other day? Your immune system might be compromised as your body feel stress because of overtraining. Exercise supposed to help us fight back against cold and flu but it won't help if our body is being stressed all the time.
Photo Source: Sonnie Hiles
Health expert recommends us to have a regular moderate-intensity exercise. If you are exercising a lot and experiencing all or some of the symptoms described above, don’t worry.
Take a good rest for 1 to 2 weeks. Heal your body and rejuvenate your soul. We do not want the exercise to backfire and impact our performance. No matter how much you want to keep a competitive edge, always remember to listen to your body, cut back on the exercise whenever you feel over stress.
Never let exercise become your compulsion.
Cover Photo: Avrielle Suleiman || Kelly Sikkema
