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How to Avoid Fitness Burnout and Overtraining

Starting a new fitness journey can be nothing if not exciting. Here you’ve decided to implement a healthier lifestyle that not only helps you moderate your weight, but improve your cardiovascular capabilities, regulate your mood, get better sleep, and all manner of benefits that are vital to a life well lived. Of course, you should be proud of yourself for the effort.

Yet it’s also important to note that if you’re not careful, this overenthusiasm can lead to difficulty. For example, heading to the gym every single day is not necessary unless you’re training for a particular athletic program. It’s also important to make sure you’re training effectively as opposed to just training. For example, running shorter distances but with perfect running form is always better than forcing yourself to run longer but with a slouching posture.

For this reason, we think it’s important to discuss how to avoid fitness burnout and overtraining.  So, let’s make sure to offer some advice for that in the following article:

Don’t Ignore Physical Difficulties

If you notice a sharp pain, a difficult restraint in your movement, or perhaps soreness that doesn’t subside, it’s essential to take a rest and visit medical professionals if you need to. Sometimes, burnout and overtraining can take the form of injuries, even on a micro scale, and this can cause real problems if you continue to exercise. Moreover, if you notice a weakness, don’t just train over it. For instance, if your right shoulder is very weak in a bench press, then using sports physio services to properly isolate and strengthen your rotator cuff could be ideal.

Warmup & Stretch

Warming up and stretching will help you avoid the most injuries while in the gym. Never do static stretches before you start to train, instead use dynamic stretches like lunches, controlled arm swings and even weightlifting with just the barbell to replicate the movements you need to partake in. If you’re doing cardio, like spin bike training, then you can simply ride a little more gently to get started before the main event. Don’t forget that a cooldown is also required, a few minutes of low-intensity aerobics can be ideal, as can static stretching as mentioned above. Without this, you’re unnecessarily increasing your chance of an injury.

Ensure Rest Days

Rest days are paramount no matter what you train for. Without it, your body cannot recover and heal as it needs to. Even powerlifters take “deload weeks” where they might stay away from the gym entirely and only commit to light movements and stretching. That doesn’t mean you have to be sedentary if you prefer to go outside for a nice calm walk, or to do some basic (but not intensive) yoga moves. The more you can rest when needed, the better your body can build the resilience you’re aksing of it.

With this advice, you’re sure to avoid fitness burnout and overtraining in the best possible way. We wish you the best in your new training effort.