Have You Pushed You Too Far?

Have You Pushed You Too Far? It’s exciting to be on a health kick, isn’t it? One minute you’re feeling euphoric at keeping yourself well-fed with nutrient-dense foods and the next you’re happy about the adrenaline rush of the latest workout that you’ve managed to complete. Getting healthy is a fun activity and doing it can change your life. Living by the mantra of ‘no pain, no gain’ is common for those who work out often, but while it’s not necessarily a bad thing to push yourself with your workouts, it’s not a positive thing to push yourself to the point of pain every single time, either.

There are a handful of signs that you should be on the lookout for when it comes to your workout routines, and these are the signs that tell you to chill out and relax a little. Listening to your body is so important if you want to continue your workout success and avoid a trip to urgent care, then you need to listen to yourself. Paying attention to the signals that your body is giving you is going to help you to avoid burnout and injury, but you need to know what those red flags are! Below, you’ll find some of the most common workout red flags that will warn you you’re pushing yourself too far.

• When you find it hard to finish your workout, collapsing before the end, you are training to fail. Challenging yourself to do as many reps as possible is admirable, but it’s not going to get you where you want to be in terms of your health. If you’re feeling worn down every single time you head to the gym, it may well be time to slow down and wait for your body to keep up.
• You’re not finding time to recover, are you? When you’re going through regular and intense workout sessions, you need your rest days to repair and recover your muscles. Alternating those harder exercises with low-intensity sessions will do your body good, and you need to ensure you’re not missing out on those rest days.
• When you’re not sleeping after a workout, it’s because your sympathetic nervous system is still working, sending your stress levels through the roof. The exercise that you are doing is a healthy stressor, but it’s still a form of stress. Slow it down and get some proper sleep!
• Catching every cold and virus going over the winter months is normal for some, but if it’s not normal for you, then you need to consider that your workouts could be to blame. A drop in your immune system means that you are more likely to catch a cold. Listen to your body and recover while you’re sick – slow down on pushing yourself when you have a virus so that you can work out better later.

Working out and getting healthier is wonderful and necessary, but if you’re hurting, not sleeping, and forgetting your rest days, you’re not working out right! Slow yourself down and take your time with your health; you won’t regret it!