Deciding how often to exercise is a personal choice and should be based on your individual characteristics and circumstances. For some people, exercising daily can help maintain motivation and create good exercise habits, while for others, alternating exercise days with rest days is a better option.
How Do I Know If I’m Over-Exercising?
What happens if you over-exercise?
Over-exercising can occur if you work out too frequently, too intensely or for too long. And while you might think that exercising as much as possible will help you reach your goals faster, the opposite can be true.
If you are over-exercising, you may notice that you feel very tired, or lack energy throughout the day. You may also find that it takes you longer than usual to recover from a workout.
Physical symptoms of over-exercising can include an increased heart rate, changes in appetite, a decrease in performance, poor quality sleep or insomnia, and you may even experience mood swings or irritability
Although it’s normal to experience delayed onset muscle soreness, also known as DOMS, if this persists for longer then two days, it may be a signed that you have over-exercised.
There are multiple reasons why you shouldn’t over-exercise. Exercising too much is counterproductive as exercising with weakened muscles from overuse will make it harder to achieve your fitness goals and make you more susceptible to injury.
If you recognise the signs and symptoms of over-exercising in yourself, there are steps you can take to address the problem. Try focusing more on what makes you feel good and exercising for enjoyment rather than focusing on achievement.
A good first step to addressing over-exercising is to reduce the time, intensity, or frequency of your workouts to give your body more time to recover.
You can also allow yourself more rest days, replace high-intensity exercise with low-intensity options, and mix up your exercise routine by incorporating calmer movement such as walking or stretching.
Finally, to support your recovery and help reverse the symptoms of over-excise, make sure you drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and eat good quality, fresh, whole food to replenish your vitamins and minerals.
BeFit Hire offers a range of equipment including treadmills, manual and programmable cross-trainers, upright and recumbent exercise bikes, rowing machines and back inversion tables.
Operating for more than 50 years now, BeFit Hire offers the safety and convenience of exercising on professional equipment in your own home. Every piece of BeFit Hire equipment is tested, cleaned and disinfected prior to delivery, with free delivery available to most of metro Adelaide and Melbourne for most hire periods.
Free delivery is available to most of metro Adelaide and Melbourne for most hire periods, so please get in touch today.
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