ENOUGH OR TOO MUCH EXERCISE?

by Steve Dunne - ACE personal trainer, founder of Physical Evolution Fitness

This article is to address the amount of exercise that is required to stay fit & healthy and to then become stronger & fitter. There is no doubt that exercise is a good thing, however like a lot of good things too much can potential be harmful for you. A lot of people make the mistake of overtraining when they decide to start regular exercise, particularly when they first join a health club or gymnasium. Exercise is actually a form of stress on the body. Give it a certain amount of stress and then the body adapts during rest to become stronger & better able to deal with the type of stress in future. Therefore, the stress caused through physical exercise causes the body to become fitter and stronger so as to be able to deal with physical exercise better the next time. If the gap between exercise sessions is too long the body will start to become less accustomed to physical exercise. This starts to become very noticible after 2-3 weeks of not performing physical exercise. It is very important to note that the body only strengthens itself when it gets sufficient rest.

Too much exercise and not enough rest overstress the body. This actually impairs the immune system and makes you feel irritable, tired, lethargic, susceptible to illnesses and leaves you with a lack of motivation.

Initially, someone new to training should keep their training routine to 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise done 3-5 days per week. This could be 2-3 days in the gym and 2 days of a brisk walk. The days in the gym should be a mixture of cardio, resistance and flexibility training. This way the body is given a chance to get used to physical exercise and workout consistency is developed. Consistency is the key to achieving your fitness goals. Over time as the body gets fitter and stronger, exercise time can be increased to an hour. However I generally advise clients to get their workouts done in an hour, or slightly longer. Flexibility training can be done after this workout period as it does not greatly drain the body's resources.

Training for longer then an hour - particularly when training very hard - actually has the effect of tiring out the immune system. So try and get your workout done in an hour. If you feel that an hour's workout is not long enough then, unless you are training longer for a sport-specific reason, I doubt that you are training hard enough!

With regards to the amount of days per week to train, I recommend 3-5 exercise sessions per week for most clients. 1 or 2 exercise sessions per week will still yield results, but to maximise results 3-5 days of 40-60 minute training sessions is required. Try to stick to 3 exercise sessions per week minimum to keep your consistency up. As I say time and again - consistency is the key. If a client can make 4-5 exercise sessions per week I highly recommend some variety to the training plan. I suggest 4 days of resistance training max, usually 3 for most clients. This gives the body time to recover and build strength. Some form of cardiovascular training can be done most or every training session. Fitness classes such as step, core or cardio kickboxing can add more varietyto the weekly training regime.

If you are concerned about overtraining their are many signs that will indicate you are doing so. It is easy to tell if you are overtraining the body as it will tell you through various symptoms. Some of the main symptons of overtraining are constant tiredness, aches and pains in the muscles and joints, a feeling of lethargy, lack of motivation, easy annoyance to things, a disrupted sleep pattern & a lack of appetite. Simply cut back on the amount of time you are training and enter a maintainance mode of working out. You will begin to feel so much better and your motivation to work out will greatly increase. It is very important to note that when working out, always put the effort in and you will achieve results in next to no time.

- Steve

Articles

Time to Get Fit & Healthy - Now! - by Steve Dunne

7 Seconds to a Flat Stomach - by Paul J. O'Brien

Fats Are Good! - by Steve Dunne

Gym Attendance Motivation - by Ger Dowling

Ultimate Abs Exercises - by Paul J.O'Brien

How to Get Your Training Heart-Rate (THR) - by Steve Dunne