How much exercise is considered too much?

How much exercise is considered too much?

How do you know when you are doing too much? Is this something you think about on a daily bases? My guess is probably not. But that’s ok. That’s what this blog is for. I have been asked numerous times “Jess, what I need to do to lose weight? I can’t seem to get any further, I’m at a stall.” To which I then ask, “take me through your day to day schedule.” And the answer usually comes out of hiding at that point.

When I hear that someone is coming to the gym hoping on cardio and doing 1 hour then hoping off and heading into a class for cardio and weights, let’s say a body pump class, then back on cardio or does more weight training that night well, I want to scream! The worst part is they do this all week long. Yes, all week long! So what’s my point? My point is to slow it down! You are over training your muscles, and not letting your body have the proper rest it needs to rebuild the fibers that you break down during that workout in your muscles. Therefore you will see no results. You will end up exhausted and right where you are…asking me why?

Yes physical activity is wonderful and great for overall health. It’s the key to life let’s say. But too much can be dangerous. Let’s look at what else happens when you’re over training besides what I have just said above. One thing I have seen many times is that yes, exercise is great for your immune system, unless you do it too hard and too much. If you exercise too much you can actually repress your immune response. That means more doctors appointments! Another thing is you feel drained, worn out, cranky, short tempered even. Hmmm…that doesn’t sound like you would be fun to be around does it?

If you’re starting to think you may be over training pay attention to your body. If your resting heart rate is up; also caused from stress; that’s a good sign your body is in need of time off. If you are under stress and feel exhausted or cranky, and let’s say your workout five days a week, you may want to take it back some by working out only three days a week. Scaling back isn’t always a bad thing! You need to relearn in that case when too much is a bad thing for you.

Another way to see if your over training or seeing what happens is by measuring your normal workout performance. What I mean is if you can usually handle four sets of 15 bicep curls with 20 pounds and all of a sudden you can’t handle that many reps or sets then you may want to ask yourself…am I irritable? Fatigued? Have muscle weakness? Or have I had restless sleep? If so…then consider you are over doing it. I wrote a blog on how sleep truly affects your training and mood (www.jessicakiernan.com/sleeping). Please take a look at that if you have trouble with muscle gain or sleepless nights and you like to train.

I have also found that delayed onset of muscle soreness is another sign. The norm for muscle soreness is usually within range of 24-72 hours after exercise. When your body is let’s saying lowering a barbell or lowering into a squat; you are creating micro tears in your muscle. When your body goes to fix this, increased blood puts pressure on your pain receptors. So when you try to train that muscle you will find it compromised. What you need then is rest and recovery. Not continuous exercise. The body needs time to hear properly. Do not do as many set or weight for a few weeks to get your body back to a healthier state.

The key to re-oxygenating your muscles and joints is to warm the muscles up around your joints and start to massage it. Follow by doing what’s called cross-fiber friction, this is a horizontal motion, which will break up calcium buildup in your joints and helps maintain your range of motion.

Lastly, exercise should be a way to train and improve your athletic performance. Here I have listed recommendations from the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and from the American Heart Association. For health and fighting disease adults should exercise like so most days of the week:

• A minimum of 30 minutes of moderate activity to prevent chronic disease.
• 60 minutes of moderate to hard activity to manage body weight and prevent gradual weight gain as an adult.
• For those who have been obese, 60 to 90 minutes to keep from regaining the weight lost.
• Changes apply to athletes of course. Their style and means for training are very different from the normal person who just needs to maintain proper health and activity. And please get help if you can’t make the changes on your own and you are a compulsive exerciser.