How Do You Know If You’re Doing Too Much Aerobic Activity
Aerobics is SUCH a great workout and you love it … maybe even a little TOO much. You’ve been showing up for your aerobic workouts every single day … but can you have too much of a good thing?
Your body will show signs you’re doing too much aerobic activity. This includes symptoms of fatigue, body aches, fitness plateaus, and sleep disruption. Read on to learn more about the symptoms of too much aerobics (or cardio).
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Signs You’re Doing Too Much Aerobics
In the Western world, most of us are getting too little exercise rather than too much. We spend a lot of time at our desks, in front of the TV, and sitting, so more regular activity is important for most!
Exercise is wonderful and it’s meant to make you feel GOOD!
The rush during aerobics activity is a well-documented phenomenon called the “runners high”. And you get it for a good reason!
It means that cardio is doing your body good.
But when that feeling stops and you start feeling rubbish instead?
You get that for a reason, too!
This is called overtraining - pushing your body above and beyond its capacity to recover and adapt before your next cardio session. We’ll talk more about it in a moment.
Here are the signs you’re doing too much aerobics, or overtraining, and may need to scale it back:
Symptom of Aerobic Overtraining #1: Fatigue
Aerobics is wonderful for giving your body a burst of energy!
It pumps blood around your body, floods you with fresh oxygen, and clears the cobwebs from your brain.
Despite this, it's normal and likely to feel mild fatigue after a challenging workout. This is because exercise places moderate (and healthy) adaptive stress on your body.
That said, your body should recover easily from this mild slump and your fatigue should ease fast.
However, if you find that you:
feel excessively exhausted or “heavy” while doing aerobics
feel drained or fatigued for an extended period after your workout
feel fatigued even later on in the day after your workout
it’s an indicator that you need to scale back on your aerobics workouts.
Symptom of Aerobic Overtraining #2: Everything Hurts All the Time
It’s a myth that you need to feel “sore” to get a good workout, popularized by Fit Bro Culture.
Muscle soreness can happen when your body isn't used to the type or intensity of an activity, so it needs to adapt.
This should happen less often as you get used to the activity.
So if you’re doing lots of aerobics and you’re constantly holding onto the walls to get up off the loo, it's time to slow down!
Overstressing your muscles can lead to muscle strains/tears, and other ouchy injuries that can bench you for several weeks.
Better to just add a rest day or two into your weekly fitness routine!
Symptom of Aerobic Overtraining #3: Even “Easy” Workouts Feel Too Hard
We all have days when we “bottom out” with our training. A workout we’d normally breeze through feels like climbing Everest, and our feet feel like they’re made of rocks!
However, if this becomes common, it’s a sign of overdoing it with your cardio.
Overtraining makes your usual workouts feel impossible. Even easy workouts can become challenging, leading to plateaus and declining workout performance.
You may even notice that your heart rate takes longer to recover after a workout.
Are you doing a little too much aerobic activity? If you notice your heart rate takes longer to recover back to resting levels after a workout, this may be a time to scale it back on the cardio (and see your doctor if you’re worried or have other symptoms, as this could also be due to other conditions).
Symptom of Aerobic Overtraining #4: Joint pain & overuse injuries
Excessive high-impact activity causes excessive joint strain and stress, leading to stress injuries. Stress injuries commonly occur in the knees, ankles, and hips.
Common overuse injuries include joint strains, shin splints, and stress fractures.
This is especially true if you’ve started doing “too much too fast” e.g., going from no or very little aerobic activity to five or more hour-long sessions a week.
If your joints are talking, it’s time to listen and take a break from high-impact cardio!
Symptom of Aerobic Overtraining #5: You can’t sleep
Moderate aerobic activity is very useful for getting a good night’s sleep.
However, overdoing cardio triggers the release of too much cortisol, the stress hormone. Among other things, this decreases your ability to switch off at night, making it harder for you to sleep.
This is a vicious cycle: because sleep is critical for your body to heal and repair itself from training.
Excessive cardio also elevates your body's core temperature, which can interfere with sleep. The lower your core temperature, the better you can fall and stay asleep.
Lack of sleep can also lead to mood disturbance, chronic fatigue, and a grumpier you. Not winning.
NB: Even if you’re NOT overtraining, cardio too close to bedtime also releases cortisol and raises your core temperature. This is great for energy during the day, but not great for bedtime. Try exercising in the morning or earlier than 6 pm to minimize sleep interruptions.
Symptom of Aerobic Overtraining #6: You’re dreading your workouts
Aerobics should feel good! What we love about our workouts is how much fun they are – so fun you’ll wake up feeling excited to work out.
If you love your aerobics workouts but suddenly dread them, your body could be saying it needs a break!
Symptom of Aerobic Overtraining #7: You keep getting sick
Moderate aerobic activity is beneficial and even important for a healthy immune system. There are lots of reasons why!
However, too much cardio releases excessive cortisol into your bloodstream, suppressing immune function. Interrupted sleep (see above) will also weaken your immune system.
If you’re catching everything going around, it may be a sign you’re overdoing it with the aerobic activity.
Catching more bugs than your Aunt Millie’s electric mosquito zapper? You could be overdoing it with your cardio training.
Even More Signs You’re Doing Too Much Aerobics
More physical signs of overtraining could include:
Inability to gain muscle mass/losing muscle mass
A plateau in your weight loss or other fitness goals
Reduced coordination
Elevated resting heart rate
Elevated resting blood pressure
Frequent or recurrent headaches
Loss of appetite
Upset stomachs
Disruption of the menstrual cycle
Overtraining doesn’t just affect your body, it can also affect your emotional health. Signs include:
Depression and/or anxiety
A feeling of apathy
Difficulty concentrating
High emotional sensitivity
Irritability
Feelings of guilt or anxiety if you accidentally miss a workout
IMPORTANT: Symptoms of overtraining could also be due to other underlying health conditions. Further, some overtraining symptoms themselves can be serious. If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, see your doctor as soon as possible!
What IS overtraining?
Overtraining means working too hard without giving your body time to recover before your next workout.
This means that your body is still weakened and unable to perform to its highest ability next time.
The human body is designed to be far more active than it usually is in today's sedentary world! However, it was also not designed to endure high-intensity cardio for extended periods.
Your body produces and releases cortisol, the stress hormone, during long, intense aerobic workouts.
Cortisol is an evolutionary survival relic of our caveman ancestors (we can blame ‘em for a lot). It's produced by the body when it perceives danger.
It thinks that you’re on the run from a great big saber-tooth tiger who is ruthlessly tracking you down in the woods.
So, your body spares available glucose from the brain, which generates new energy from reserves. Additionally, it diverts energy away from things perceived as low immediate priority, like your immune system.
This is so you can survive "imminent threats" or prepare for intense physical activity i.e. "fight or flight".
Unfortunately, too much cortisol in your bloodstream becomes toxic over time. It starts to detrimentally affect your health.
Thinking you may not eat or drink for a while because that saber tooth tiger’s catching up, cortisol tells your body to hang on to fat and water, both of which are essential for energy and hydration.
It especially holds onto the fat around your stomach and your butt. But that’s not all.
Too much cortisol can cause high blood pressure, loss of bone density, and depletion of lean muscle mass, and can even affect fertility in some cases.
How much aerobics should I do?
The answer depends on your current activity and fitness levels.
If you are new or just starting physical activity, the worst thing you can do is start too much too soon.
It may be tempting to go all out, from 0 workouts a week to 7 full hour-long aerobic activity sessions. However, this only excessively stresses your body, leading to injury and burnout.
Start gradually with 0-2 sessions of 20-30 minutes a week. From there, gradually build up the duration of each workout, then the number of sessions per week.
The Physical Guidelines 2nd Edition recommends 150 minutes of moderate activity a week for the average adult.
150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week could look like this:
3 sessions of 50 minutes of aerobic activity
4 sessions of 38 minutes of aerobic activity
5 sessions of 30 minutes of aerobic activity
Moderate physical activity means exercising within 50-75% of your maximum heart rate. A good way to gauge whether you’re working out at the right intensity is whether you can talk during your workout.
Ideally, you should be able to talk in short sentences to someone next to you, but you shouldn’t be able to shout or sing. If you can’t talk at all, scale back the intensity.
But I need to build my habit of exercising every day!
I hear you! Taking a break from cardio will HELP you stay consistent because you won’t burn out!
Did you know that it only takes 21 days to build a habit you’ll stick to long term?
Just remember you don’t have to go balls to the wall for all 21 of those days!
At least once or twice a week, schedule a day of “active rest”. On these days, swap the intense workout for enjoyable recreational or restorative movement.
This way you’ll build the habit of consistent fitness without overtraining. Some ideas for your “active rest days” include:
Going for a walk in the park with a friend
Going for a leisurely swim
Taking a yin yoga class
Doing some deep stretching
Playing a game of football or backyard cricket with your family
Going out dancing with your girls (just mind the cocktails)
Work on improving your technique for your favorite active hobby (drills, technique training)
Conclusion
For much of the Western world, we should worry about doing too little activity than too much! However, when it comes to aerobics there IS too much of a good thing.
Doing too much aerobic activity can do more damage than good when it comes to your fitness goals. It’s great to throw everything at your fitness journey – just remember you can’t pour from an empty cup.
Slow it down, breathe deep, stretch, and prioritize replenishing your energy and repairing your body.
A rest day or two along the way won’t hurt your fitness journey! Instead, it will maximize your results and ensure a healthier, happier you!
♥ Comment Below ♥
What's your favourite way to enjoy an active rest day?
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P.S. Our Low N Slow Workout is a fantastic option for an active rest day - it’s light, it’s stretchy, and it’s utterly delicious when you need a break but still want to move. It’s available now inside our Video Store together with 12+ titles for less than the cost of a cup of coffee per week. Our video store is like the Netflix of aerobics - an ever-growing collection of retro 1980s aesthetic workouts that you can do from the comfort of your own living room. And we’ll even give you a 3-day FREE trial so you can try it risk-free. It’s win-win! CLICK HERE to learn more.
Rhiannon Day
Aerobics Instructor, Host & Founder
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