When we commit to exercise, we seek to obtain the desired results and we do not allow ourselves to lose motivation or discipline. But sometimes we tend to take this a little too far.
If we are in the gym, or we know people who exercise, surely we know of cases of some who do it every day, because their body has adapted to the activity and thinks that they will obtain faster results.
However, the reality is very different from what is believed. Exercising every day of the week can have certain side effects that we are not aware of.
We see what are the main risks of exercising every day . Once we know them, we can be more aware and understand the importance of letting our body recover.
Side effects of training every day
The experience of Geoff Tripp, recognized Trainiac certified personal trainer , has identified these side effects of daily training .
1. Your performance is not at its best
This happens when you train without including recovery days. If we don't give our body the rest it needs, it shows some resistance to adapt to the routine, which will allow for better muscle development. All of this leads to the person experiencing exhaustion and pain that can last for several days.
All of these effects have a high impact on our performance. If we cannot perform during exercise, then we will be more prone to injury from a poorly performed exercise. In fact, subjecting the body to a workout 7 days a week, without taking into account a routine for its recovery, will only lead to muscle stress and injuries.
It should also be noted that excess training has a very negative effect on the hormonal level. This causes chaos in our adrenal glands, unbalancing hormones and causing chronic fatigue (Brooks and Carter, 2013).
2. Weight loss stops
Just as overtraining can cause the body to lose its ability to adapt to exercise, so can weight loss.
Physical activity puts the body to the test, pushing it close to or off limits, which means that consistently exercising so hard can increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol. As a consequence, a body with high levels of this hormone will be much more prone to developing obesity (Jackson, Kirschbaum and Steptoe, 2017). This is not to say that you will gain weight, but you will not lose it either.
And this is not the worst part. Chronic stress is capable of increasing appetite, which leads the person to have more cravings for sweets and other foods that will not help them lose more weight, but gain it. On the other hand, some people develop a loss of appetite, and by eating less the body is forced to change its metabolism.
3. Stress gets over-active
A constant drop in the variability of the person's heart rate (HRV) can be a clear sign that the body is pushing itself to the limit, due to the stress it is being subjected to.
HRV measures the variation in time between each heartbeat. It is a variable that is regulated by the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for the fight and relaxation responses of our body. If it is at the lowest level, it means that the body is going to be in a constant fighting response; instead, a higher HRV is the opposite: the body is more relaxed.
Going constantly to the gym or subjecting our body to consecutive days of training can cause low levels in our HRV. Because the body's stress is constantly on, it will always have a fighting response, leading to health problems and even heart disease.
4. Mood swings
If we are experiencing exhaustion, excessive tiredness or feel that we are doing the workouts slower , it is necessary to rest for a couple of days, even more if necessary. The body needs to recover.
Over-training does much more than just physically exhausting, it is also capable of exhausting us emotionally and mentally.
Don't we feel like training today? Lack of motivation to exercise can be a clear sign that perhaps we are training too much. In fact, overtraining has been associated with depression (Kreher & Schwartz, 2012).
5. You have a harder time sleeping
If falling asleep starts to be a problem, or we start to feel like we're not getting enough rest after several days of excessive routine, these are clear signs of overtraining .
Sleep is very important for muscle recovery, especially if you are lifting weights, since small muscle tears occur, and it is during rest that sleep produces that muscles are repaired and rebuilt.
In this problem, the stress produced by excessive exercise comes into play again. These hormones will do nothing to improve the quality of sleep, quite the opposite. It has even been found that high levels of cortisol are closely related to insomnia (Andersen, Hirotsu and Tufik, 2015).
How often do you have to exercise?
This is something that will always depend on the physical condition and the state of health. For those workouts that are very intense, Tripp recommends about 75 to 150 minutes a week. Now, for those who are of a moderate intensity, 150 to 300 minutes is more than enough so that the body does not enter a state of muscular stress .
That recommended time is for the activity. Remember that recovery is also part of an optimal routine. This can be very varied, a recovery day can be of rest, or it can also be used to walk for 30 minutes or attend a yoga class.
conclusion
Excess exercise is not going to give us faster results, the only thing it is going to do is harm all the work that we are doing.
Our body needs to rest, and it will give us the warning signs we need when we need to become aware of our well-being when training.
References
- Andersen, M., Hirotsu, C. and Tufik, S., (2015). Interactions between sleep, stress, and metabolism: From physiological to pathological conditions. Sleep Science . doi: 10.1016 / j.slsci.2015.09.002.
- Brooks, K. A, and Carter, J. G, (2013). Overtraining, Exercise, and Adrenal Insufficiency. Journal of Novel Physiotherapies . 3: 125.
- Jackson, S., Kirschbaum, C. and Steptoe, A. (2017). Hair cortisol and adiposity in a population-based sample of 2,527 men and women aged 54 to 87 years. Obesity . doi: 10.1002 / oby.21733.
- Kreher, J. and Schwartz, J, (2012). Overtraining Syndrome. Sports Health . doi: 10.1177 / 1941738111434406.
