Are you over exercising? These 8 signs reveal you’re working out too hard

Exercising is really important to lead a healthy lifestyle. However, you may be surprised to learn that there is something like too much exercise. Although exercise has multiple benefits for your body, too much physical activity can cause muscle cramps, sore muscles, or in extreme cases, even serious health conditions like a heart attack. If you’re someone who can relate to this, it’s time you know how to recognise signs of over exercising. So, check before you wreck yourself.

Here are some warning signs that reveal you may be over exercising:

1. Muscle soreness

Pushing your limits during workout can lead to extreme soreness, joint pain, and massive burnout. Now, each of these signs indicates that you’re exercising too hard. Experiencing these symptoms is totally normal if it continues for a couple of days. However, if you experience prolonged muscle pain or soreness after a workout, it could be a sign you’re over-exercising.

2. Fatigue

Are you having trouble staying focused, or experiencing a lack of clarity? Or are just downright tired all the time? If yes, being exhausted may signal that you are pushing your body too far, too fast. In fact, chronic fatigue can result in physical and mental tiredness.

3. Immune weakness

While moderate training has remarkable benefits for your immune system, over exercising can wreak havoc on your body. If you’ve been getting more colds and flu, it’s a sign that exercising too much has weakened your immune system.

4. Increase in resting heart rate

If you notice your resting heart rate is high after waking up and it continues to stay high for 4-5 days continuously, it could be a dangerous indicator of too much exercising.

This happens because the muscle memory of your heart forgets what it is like to be relaxed, and have a normal resting ‘tone’. This keeps the heart rate elevated.

5. Overuse of injuries

Exercising too often can lead to overuse of injuries such as joint strains, broken bones, soft tissue injuries, and stress fractures. Frequent or recurring injury is usually a sign something is wrong, according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE).

6. Fat gain

This is a big issue. Sometimes, people think that they need to train harder, but it may lead you to gain weight. It happens because over exercising can lead to low testosterone levels and high levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. These hormonal changes are often associated with loss of muscle tissues, weight gain, and excess belly fat.

7. Decline in performance

A drop in your workout performance is one of the earliest signs of overload. If your body consistently draws on its energy reserves, you may develop nutritional deficiencies such as anemia.

8. Insomnia

You’re probably suffering from sleeplessness if you’re over exercising. Exercising too much may leave you tossing and turning on your bed at night. Your muscles may feel stressed, and you might find it hard to fall asleep.

So when it comes to workouts, always listen to your body!