How much exercise is too much? Celebrity fitness instructor Namrata Purohit breaks it down for you

Are you over exercising? Do you know how much exercise is enough for you? It’s hard to define what is and what is not over exercising. But it is possible that sometimes you can end up pushing yourself too hard. And as with everything in life, an overdose of anything is not good. In fact, it can make you physically and emotionally stressed. 

While exercising has multiple benefits for your body, too much activity can cause muscle cramps, injury, sore muscles, or in extreme cases, even a serious health condition like a heart attack. If you’re someone who can relate to this, then it’s time you listen to celebrity fitness instructor Namrata Purohit. 

Namrata, who has trained the likes of Sara Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor, often takes to her social media account to share fitness tips. In her latest Instagram post, she has addressed the impact over exercise can have. 

She wrote, “Yes! There is such a thing as too much exercise.. read on to get a little idea on how much might be too much”. 

Check out her post here:

So, how much exercise is too much? And how do we know when we need to rest?

Namrata explains, “Thirty minutes a day of moderate physical activities is enough to help prevent things like diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Exercise addicts tend to think that a two hour run makes them four times as healthy, It doesn’t work that way.” 

“While there’s no one answer to ‘how much is too much exercise, there are distinct signs you may experience. Over exercising can cause an energy imbalance (between the amount of energy consumed and the amount of energy expended during exercise). If you’re in an energy deficit for an extended period it can cause many health issues,” she adds.

Apart from facilitating physical changes like building muscle and losing fat, exercise can help people with mood, sleep, and stress management. “However, there is such a thing as overdoing it when it comes to physical activity,” says Namrata. 

Look out for these signs of excessive exercise:

• Some physical effects of overtraining can include increased resting heart rate, decreased appetite, restless legs, and dehydration. 
• Mental effects such as poor mood and increased stress.
• In women, over exercising along with undereating (for the amount of training they are doing) can lead to amenorrhea (classified as no menstrual period for three months or more).
• For women with amenorrhea (caused from an energy imbalance) this can lead to a higher risk for low bone mass, leading to weakened bones, called osteoporosis. This type of bone loss can cause an increased risk of fractures, including stress fractures.

Can you gain weight from exercising too much? 

As over-exercising can lead to hormonal imbalance or changes in levels of testosterone and cortisol (our stress hormone), it can drive overeating and the body can also begin to burn muscle instead of fat. These can compromise training sessions and cause your body to hold onto or gain fat, particularly abdominal fat.

Rest days are important for overall health and performance. and can help you reach your goals more easily and quickly.

Rest days are essential. When you allow your body to rest, that’s when the magic happens. This is when your body can rest, regenerate, rebuild and repair.

So, what’s best to do is to just listen to your body and workout accordingly!