Too Much Exercise Can Be Bad, Too

Here’s something that we don’t often talk about on fitness blogs.  The fact that too much exercise can be as bad (or worse) than too little.  It’s probably a subject that should be considered more frequently.  I know that I’ve overdone it a few times while chasing the goal to improve my fitness.  In fact, just yesterday I was out for a run when my former running partner pulled up alongside me on his bicycle.  He had been out of town for a while, and wanted to talk.  Unfortunately for me, I ended up working VERY hard, while he was just coasting along.  Not fair at all.  But it got me thinking about the times my friends, family, and I have overdone it while trying to be healthy…

The Signs Of Too Much Exercise

My wife went to the gym this past weekend.  They were having a celebration, and there was a lot of hype.  She ended up taking a few fitness classes.  More than she planned.  By the end of the day, she had taken a total of four 30-minute high intensity classes, and she was wiped.  She came home, and was totally zoned out for the next 8 hours.  That night she got a migraine.  Was it because she over-exerted herself?  We can’t prove it, of course, but there’s a high likelihood that she did.

The Safety Of A Half Marathon

I don’t know if its safe to call myself a “runner” or not.  I’ve completed several races.  Most of them 5K’s, but only a single half marathon.  For the half marathon, I did my training during cold weather, and the day of the race turned out to be the warmest day of the year.  It was the hardest sustained expenditure of physical effort I’ve ever undertaken.  My sense of personal reward from completing the race was tremendous, but when it was done, I crashed hard.  My wife jokes that I came home and vegged out on the couch for the rest of the day.  She’s right.  I spent the rest of the day in the recliner watching basketball.

Joining In Training Mid-Stream

I have a buddy that was planning on going on a 3-day mountain hike with some friends.  He’s always been in excellent shape, but had tried this expedition a year earlier, and – well, let’s just say that the mountain got the best of him.  He recognized that he’s not very good about motivating himself to train, and knew I was training for a sprint triathlon.  He asked if I minded if he tagged along on some of my training workouts.  My next one was a Saturday, with a planned 1/2-mile swim, 18-mile bike, and 2-mile run.  He did tag along, and said he was hurting at the end.  His wife clued me in that the next day, he rolled out of bed and crawled on his hands and knees to the couch, where he remained for the rest of the day.

Too Much Exercise Can Be Bad, Too

My guess is that all of us have a story about having overdone it in pursuit of our exercise and/or weight loss goals.  It’s easy to get carried away.  Sometimes, with dangerous consequences.  People talk about being addicted to running, but until I started training to be a runner, I just thought it was all a load of bunk.  If you’ve struggled with your weight, it can be just as addictive to watch the scale, as the pounds begin to melt away.  But, wherever you are in the pursuit of your weight loss and fitness goals, always take a moment to run a sanity check on what you’re doing.  Physical exertion will often to involve some level of discomfort.  It’s hard work.  But there’s a threshold that you don’t want to cross.

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