114/365 Thou Shall Not Over-train

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Did you wake up this morning with an elevated heart rate? Have you noticed a decrease in appetite? Have you unintentionally lost some weight and muscle mass? If you have answered yes to any of these symptoms, you may have over-trained your body.

Perhaps you just started working out and are really gung ho about it. Perhaps you are trying super hard to lose weight that you are working out twice a day every day. Perhaps you pushed yourself beyond your limit. Whatever the case may be, you might have over-trained yourself. Exercise is stress on the body. In correct doses, exercise stress can be a great thing. Your metabolism gets kicked up so you're utilizing energy. Your heart gets stronger from demanding more out of it than usual. You breathe deeper to get more oxygen to your brain and blood. All these are great in moderation. Exercise is only as great as the amount of rest that you get. We are not all designed like Dean Kamazes. We can't all run 50 marathons in 50 states for 50 days straight. It's just not going to happen. The majority of us need to rest and recover from the happy stress that is exercise.

If you do find yourself with the aforementioned symptoms, take it easy the next couple days. Get a lot of sleep, a lot of water, and a lot of good food to replenish your energy stores. Ease yourself back into it then bring it on.

In health,

Lauren