7 Signs You Are Exercising Too Much

They tell you, “no pain, no gain.” So, like all things you do in your life, you over do it. You take perfectly good advice and ruin it.

Here are seven signs you are overdoing exercise.

Losing Spirit

Sure, you used to get up at 4:30 AM and run to the gym, but now you sleep in till 4:37 or even 4:40 AM. You may be losing your exercise mojo.

This is a classic sign of overdoing exercise. You need to sleep in until at least 4:52 AM, let your body recover and get some of that energy back. Before long you’ll be waking up at 3:46 or even 3:58 AM, crushing your old routine and getting in more exercise than ever.

Heart Thumping

You never used to think about your heart too much. You just ran and ran and swam and swam. But now, just sitting at the diner getting a glass of orange juice, your heart feels like it’s beating out of your chest.

Again, this is a classic indication you are overdoing your fitness routine. Your heart is a muscle, and like all muscles it can be over worked. One way to get the heart to slow down is to give yourself electric shocks every 10 minutes. This will tend to counterbalance the palpitations of your ventricle network, adding much-needed harmony to your cardiovascular system.

Sluggish and Slow

If you’re feeling sluggish and slow during your regular day, it may indicate that your fitness routine is taking over your life. You don’t need to run 18 miles every morning, 26 miles at lunch and 43 miles before you eat dinner.

You can be just as satisfied running a simple 27 miles after dinner. Your body doesn’t need to have 0.000000 body fat. No, your friends will not leave you because they noticed your cheeks getting slightly fuller.

You are sluggish and slow because your brain is telling you that you are fat. You are not fat. You are simply deluded and feel that you need to exercise every waking moment.

Multiple Sports

Running wasn’t enough, was it? Then you got a bicycle and added that to your exercise regimen. One day you drove by a swimming pool, and the next thing you know you’re signed up and joined seven swimming classes. Then of course you combined all those sports into an Ironman competition, and within four weeks you had entered 112 Ironman competitions throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Now you are considering taking up speedskating to help you get through the winter months.

You don’t need to participate in 57 sports. You’ll be perfectly fine with two or three sports at the most. Here’s a tip: if you have ever thought about getting involved in the luge, you need to cut back.

Overstretching

If you find yourself standing at the copier at work while you stretch, stretching during the elevator ride back down to the parking deck and stretching during sex, you are over exercising.

Stretching is key to a decent fitness routine, but overstretching is more a mental affliction than an actual physical benefit.

Moody and Cranky

Exercise is supposed to help make you feel better. If you are moody and cranky, snapping at coworkers and giving short answers to loved ones, you may be exercising too much.

On the other hand, you also may be a truly mean and nasty person that no one really likes anyway.

Feeling Sick

Do you feel sick? Are you constantly sniffling, sneezing and taking all kinds of drugs just to get through the day? A healthy person doesn’t have the number of symptoms that you have. Over-exercising is breaking down your body. Your muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints are crying out for some rest.

Your body is striking against the management that is your exercise routine. Do you want a union invading your body, suddenly making new demands? No, keep out unionized labor from taking over your physical system. You need to back off your exercise routine until you can get labor under control.

If you’re experiencing any of these signs, review the role exercise plays in your life, and take steps to become healthier, happier and a better foosball player.