Can You Work out Too Much?

We all are aware of the benefits of working out, and how imperative it is to be active and remain healthy in order to help our overall health and prevent some diseases.  The risks of diabetes and heart disease are off the charts, and often times the culprit is a sedentary lifestyle. Not to mention, the fitness industry is booming with gym rats and yogis who can’t wait till their next sweat session.

But, can you actually work out too much?

As we’ve already made clear, the benefits of working out are numerous, it not only helps you keep a healthy body weight, but it also helps you feel great, beat stress, and increase your strength. If taken to extremes, working out can actually have negative effects on the body and health. Overexertion can be the result of working out for too long at a high intensity too often, causing your body excessive stress and in turn, impairing your health and overall performance.  Recover is an essential part of fitness, allowing yourself the time to recover in between workouts is essential in muscle healing and development.

Some signs you are working out too much should tone it down:

1. You feel exhausted.

This shouldn’t come as a shock, but if you are over exercising your body is going to take the worst toll. You will be left feeling fatigued, mental clarity will be less, and many people often find it difficult to have the energy to do everyday tasks.

2. You are constantly aching

If you constantly feel sore, your joints, muscles and you have difficulty walking, you should tone it back a little bit. Being sore every once in awhile isn’t bad at all, however, never recovering from the soreness is.

3. You have an elevated heart rate

If you have noticed that your heart rates is elevated at rest (over what is normal for you), this is a serious sign that you are stressing your too much and need to cut back. If your heart rate doesn’t return to normal, you should see your doctor immediately.

4. Your immune system is low

When your body is under tons of stress, of any kind, one of the places to be affected first is you immune system. You will be more susceptible to illnesses and can take a long time to recover from them.

5. You are grumpy or irritable

If you are compromising your sleep and rest time to exercise too much, you will notice you become more irritable and grumpy. This is hard on the people around you and can be isolating.

6. You can’t sleep or you seem to need more sleep than usual

If you are working out too much you may notice you are tired all the time. No matter how much sleep you get, you still feel fatigued. You can also have the adverse reaction, where exercising gives you endorphins, it can keep you up later at night, cutting into your rest time.

7. You are gaining fat despite working out more

Overtraining can sometimes have the opposite effects of those you want to achieve. You may be burning more calories than previous workout schedules, you may still fail to loose fat due to the hormonal responses induced by too much exercise. Overtraining can lead to increased fat stored in the midriff and reduced insulin sensitivity.

8. Disruption of menstruation in women

Excessive exercise can cause disruptions in the menstruation cycle for women. This may mean irregular periods or a complete lack of menstruation. This means you need to cut back and rest more to get on a regular cycle again.