Too Much?
I love to work out. I crave that out of breath, can’t do another rep, total physical exhaustion feeling, there really is truth to the endorphin rush we so often hear about! However, as a former college athlete, I can kind of take workouts to the extreme, I live the bigger (more) is better mantra, if I find a new workout I love, I’ll do it every day for as long as I can until my body physically burns out or I just stop finding it fun. It’s this kind of balls to the wall mentality that has gotten me into a cycle of over training, resting for a while, jumping with two feet in and then over training again….it used to go around and around until this past year, at the age of 23 I finally got it!!
Everybody is different, I would look at the crossfit games competitors and think “well they are doing two metcons a day, why can’t I? I’m a whimp if I don’t crossfit at least 5 days this week etc” However, for my body, crossfit more than a few days a week was just TOO MUCH. I was consistently exhausted, sore and under recovered. My threshold for workouts was so much lower, I was getting out of breath and fatigued in half the time I was when I first started. To say I was frustrated would be an understatement. I just could not understand what was going on, I was taking care of myself, eating well and working out a ton. Why was I getting weaker and less able than I was when I first started and was out of shape? I felt as though my body was betraying me or I was some sort of genetic freak that exercise had the opposite effect on and instead of making me better it made me worse. As a former super competitive athlete, I just DIDN”T GET IT! Normally I would have a coach on my back yelling at me to suck it up so that’s what I did, I mean it makes perfect sense, who wouldn’t push through recurring injuries, exhaustaion, total crankiness and just a general lack of fun at the gym? Um this dummy right here.
Sounds pretty stupid right? Well that’s exactly what I did and I ended up sidelined with a nasty hamstring tear due to it. It’s easy to get caught up in the competitive atmohsphere of the gym (or crossfit box) but you gotta do you! If something isn’t fun anymore of you’re just not feeling well, take a few days off and reevaluate. Why would you want to waste time on something that isn’t fun? There are enough stressors and fun sponges in life that when we have time for ourselves, do something active that you find fun! Exercise doesn’t have to be an all or nothing approach, if you don’t feel like going for a run one day but feel like going for a walk then DO IT!
You do you boo!
One Happy Nurse 