FITNESS TRAINING: ARTICLES

Are You Exercising Too Much?
By John Hoeber, MS, RD
owner of Body Kinetics on Greenwich St.

We mostly hear of the dangers of not getting enough exercise, but what about getting too much? What are the consequences of over-training?

Over-training can happen if one exercises to his or her physical or mental limit on successive days without enough time between workouts to fully recover. That can mean different things to different individuals because limits vary. What seems like a reasonable amount of exercise to some may be too much for you. Also what seems like a reasonable amount of rest to some may not be enough for your body.

Over-training is common among beginners and novice exercisers. They are not as familiar with their limits or are expecting their bodies to respond like they did ten or twenty years ago. Symptoms of overtraining are usually not felt right away. You may feel great after the first weeks of a new program, but then slowly things start to deteriorate.

With proper training one will experience more energy and a relaxed, positive mood. Over-training results in constant fatigue and irritability. Instead of improved sleep, one has more sleepless nights. Instead of stronger, suppler muscles and joints, one has chronic muscle soreness, stiffness, and pain. With over-training in cardio exercise, energy stores are depleted, and the nervous system exhausted to the point where resting metabolic rate slows, defeating one of the purposes of the exercise.

The theory of exercise is to present a challenge that pushes the body to its limits. When that limit is reached the body actually breaks down a little bit. That breakdown signals the body to rebuild itself better than it was before. If it doesn’t fully recover before the next challenge, it simply continues to break down. If it is given time to recover it adapts, gaining strength, endurance, flexibility, coordination, and balance.

Most of us have some idea of where our limits are, but we have less of an idea of what it takes to recover. We think we can run or do resistance training everyday. Most of us can’t; in fact, the risk of overstress injury skyrockets if one does more than five cardio workouts per week. For exhaustive resistance workouts muscles usually need 48 hours to recover. The tell tale signs of over-training are muscle soreness and fatigue. If muscles are sore from a resistance workout, regardless of how many days ago it was, do something else like a flexibility workout. If you’re still tired from a previous cardio workout, take the day off, go very light, or try a different cardio exercise (cross-train). If you have a minor nagging pain that won’t go away, chances are you need to change your routine, and perhaps get more rest.

Proper recovery also depends on proper nutrition. Carbohydrate is the main fuel for cardio exercise; a low carb diet can deplete that energy store and make you feel listless during your workouts. Not enough protein on the other hand can delay muscle recovery. Remember to eat carbohydrate before and after a cardio workout and protein after a strength workout. Vitamins and minerals are also very important, so if you’re not eating well, take a multivitamin/mineral supplement.

Another important key to recovery is to give yourself a mental diversion so you don’t get bored with the same routine. Rotate your exercises, your trainers, and your goals. Try something new. Mental fatigue has the worst effect on physical fitness because it lessens our enthusiasm for quality workouts. We go through the motions of exercise, but don’t get the results. Eventually we give up.

Over-training comes from focusing on quantity over quality. Remember that too much of a good thing can be dangerous, and in this case lead to failure and injury. Strive for high quality workouts, and pay attention to your body rather than your exercise plan to tell you when to rest.