When It Comes to Exercise, More Isn't Always More

A couple of days ago, I saw a video about a man having a nosebleed while deadlifting. It was from a professional strongman competition. The sight of blood gushing out from his nose made me squeamish. But, at the same time, it was an eye-opener for me.

Is shortening one’s life to prove the world how strong you are worth it? No. That is why before any of you beautiful ladies get into some serious health risks, I’m going to tell you the dangers of overtraining, what its signs are, and how to avoid it.

What Is Overtraining?

Overtraining is when your workout performance is degraded due to too much exercise with little recovery time. In worst-case scenarios, overtraining can paralyze you from doing even the simplest of tasks. This is because during a workout, your muscles are broken down and your body is put to stress. Only through recovery, you can grow to be stronger and fitter.

Without proper rest, you’ll never get to your fitness goals. You’ll be at risk of injury and fatigue. And instead of getting stronger, you’ll grow to be weaker to the point where you can’t do any prolonged activity at all.

What Are Signs And Symptoms Of Overtraining?

1. You’re on a constant state of a foul mood

When your body is breaking down due to overtraining, your hormones and mental state will also be at their limits resulting in a haywire mood.

2. Your sleep quality is messed up

When overtraining gives you perpetual fatigue and hormonal imbalance, you might find yourself asleep in the middle of the day. And at night, due to painful muscle sores, it’s hard to get that 7+ hours of uninterrupted sleep.

3. You get sick easily

If you think overtraining only affects your muscles and mental state, you’re wrong. Overtraining compromises your immune system as well. When you’re working out sick, you’re compounding your health risks even more.

4. Irregular menstruation

As mentioned in #1 and #2, hormonal imbalance messes up your red tide schedule as well. You’ll either experience a delay or won’t have any menstruation at all. Both are equally bad.

5. Irregular weight change

Overtraining is hard to detect when it comes to weight changes. Both losing and gaining weight are equally overtraining symptoms. For those who want to gain weight, losing accompanied by a lack of energy is a symptom.

For those losing or maintaining weight, gaining is also considered overtraining. With chronic body stress, your cortisol (stress hormones) is wrongly released from your system. This interferes with your metabolism thus the weight gain.

How Do You Avoid Exercising Too Much?

1. Have a recovery day

When your body is sore or you feel tired in general, skip the day entirely and recover. If you’re not tired, go for exercises that target other body parts. A light walk is also good if you want to move your body without subjecting it to more stress.

2. Listen to your body

While working out, don’t push yourself further if you’re tired or in pain. Your mind might tell you to push through but it’s your body that says enough. It’s also your body that suffers first. Your mind experiences stress soon after. Don’t let it come to that point.

3. Talk to a fitness professional

One way to cause an overtraining is that your fitness regime is too much for your body to currently handle. Mainly because you’ve read it from a magazine or an article online.

The safest way to know how much is right for you to handle is someone who’s an expert on that field. Talking to your coach or a physician will help give you an accurate workout program.

4. Reduce your workout intensity

Lastly, to avoid overtraining, cut down the reps and sets of every stressful workout you have on your program. This is easy to do once you’ve mastered how to listen to your body.

Only finish a set you can. For example, if you can do 3 sets of sit-ups with 20 reps out of the proposed 5 sets, then, stick to your 3 sets. Once you’re efficient with the 3 sets, only then you can move on to more sets.

Workouts are more effective if you stay within your limits. If you perpetually push yourself beyond that, you’re only subjecting yourself to pain and health risks. It’s not about moderation. It’s about maintaining your position at the peak of your fitness and going beyond that peak. When beyond is too much to handle, go back to your peak and keep coming back until you’re able to stay on what’s beyond.

More PRO CHEER LIFE™ fitness-safety articles for you to read:

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