When Does Exercise Become Unhealthy?

“Exercise can also become unhealthy if you’re not giving your body time to rest after a workout.”

Most of us exercise with the hope of improving our health. However, certain exercise mistakes could be having the opposite effect. Here are some of the most crucial exercise blunders to avoid when training so that you don’t cause injury to yourself.

Not wearing the correct gear

During some exercises, it can be beneficial to wear specialist clothing or equipment to protect yourself from injury. A classic example is wearing running shoes when running. Running shoes help to offer support to the ankles, while also cushioning the soles of the feet. If you don’t wear running shoes, you’re much more likely to suffer from sprains, as well as potentially doing permanent damage to your instep and foot arch.

It’s often worth investing in high-quality equipment to get the best protection – particularly if you’re focusing hard on a specific exercise. For instance, if you do a lot of boxing, having a decent pair of boxing sparring gloves could be important. A cheap pair will likely not prevent injuries to your wrists, while a premium pair of gloves will do.

Going too hard, too fast

Exercise can also become unhealthy if you push yourself too quickly without adjusting your body first. This has both a short-term and long-term application.

For instance, when doing a regular workout, it’s important to always stretch beforehand and do a warm-up. This gets the muscles oxygenated and supple in preparation for exercise. Without doing this, muscles won’t be as flexible and are more likely to get strained. You could also suffer cramps.

Going too hard too fast can also be very unhealthy when training towards a long-term goal. For instance, when training for a marathon, it’s important to build up your running ability gradually so that your body acclimatizes to such runs. This could include strengthening leg muscles, practicing breathing and getting the heart used to lengthy cardiovascular activity.

Refusing to take time to rest

Exercise can also become unhealthy if you’re not giving your body time to rest after a workout. Rest allows the body to recover and heal. If you’re exercising full-on every day, small aches could become long-term injuries. You certainly won’t build any muscle mass – muscles require rest in order to heal and grow.

As a result, try to only exercise every other day unless you’re exercising different muscle groups (some people will have a leg day where they focus only on legs and an upper-body day where they focus only on the upper body). Sleep is the most important aspect of rest as this is when the body does most of its healing. You need more than seven hours of sleep for your body to complete its full sleep cycle – this will ensure that muscles have adequate time to heal.

Training with an injury

If you suffer an injury when exercising, the worst thing you can do is try to soldier on and train with that injury. You’ll prevent the injury from healing and could even make it worse. In fact, it’s not uncommon for people to continue exercising with minor injuries, turning them into major chronic injuries that they never recover from.

Training may be possible in some cases if you can avoid unhealthy exercises that aggravate that injury. For instance, if you’ve got a shoulder injury, you may be able to continue exercises such as leg exercises and running. Low-impact exercises like swimming, yoga, and walking can be suitable for most injuries as they don’t require too much vigorous movement – which is the thing that will aggravate a sport injury.

Failing to keep up a suitable diet

Your diet is important when exercising. Certain nutrients could help you to perform as well as preventing injury.

The most common mistake that many people make is not consuming the right amount of calories. Calories are required for muscle repair and without them, muscles can start eating themselves. It’s not uncommon for bodybuilders to eat huge amounts of calories for this reason.

Energy is also important when training – especially when doing lengthy aerobic exercise. Sugar can often be important when walking or running for long periods. Without that energy boost, you’re likely to get light-headed and faint as the brain isn’t able to keep functioning.

Neglecting commitments to exercise

On top of your physical health, it’s important to realize when exercise might be having an impact on your social responsibilities. Some exercise addicts can end up neglecting friendships and jobs in order to train. While exercise is important, you shouldn’t prioritize it above everything else – keeping down a steady job and being there for friends and family are more important. This is likely to be more of a mental health problem and may require you to see a counselor that can help you with exercise addiction.