Fitness Friday + Overtraining Quick Thoughts
Happy Friday!
This week has been a nice change from the rain we had last week - it was so great to be able to spend time outside soaking up the sun! I literally had lunch outside every day - it was glorious!
I also had the opportunity to plant the flowers I bought last week at the plant sale. Six Dollar Tree pots and some potting soil is all it took! I love having the plants and flowers on my patio to help brighten my apartment.
This weekend, I'm headed home for graduation. I don't have any family graduating, but we do have several family friends graduating from high school. Plus, it's Mother's Day, and I want to spend time with my family. I hope the weather holds out - it seems like every year on graduation it is raining or super cold...not cool.
This week for Fitness Fridays, I have a quick workout that you can do anywhere, as it uses only your body weight and has only three moves! And, it is travel and space friendly as well.
Of course, one of those moves is burpees - my favorite! Give this workout a try and aim for three rounds, but if you can only start with one or two, that is fine as well. We are all at different levels, getting stronger together!
Today, I also wanted to bring up one quick thought that has been on my mind lately - overtraining.
Overtraining is when we exercise to a degree that our body can no longer handle it. We may develop an injury, become extremely fatigued, notice sleep distrubances...the list goes on and on.
I've struggled (and still struggle with!) this myself, so this topic is near and dear to my heart. In a future post, I'll address overtraining more specifically, but today I just wanted to have a quick venting session about overexercising.
So, here it goes:
Our bodies are not meant to exercise for 6+ hours a day, every day of the week.
It is not normal, nor is it natural. After a certain amount of time, we succumb to the concept of diminishing returns, which basically means that after a certain amount of training, your body will stop responding like it did when you started. Therefore, you have to up the intensity or change up your routine in order to continue to see results.
So, when we spend all day long exercising, obsessing over it, it no longer becomes beneficial for our mental or physical health.
Unless you are a professional or Olympic athlete (and eating like one too!), there is no need for you to make working out your full time job. Plus, if you aren't nourishing yourself to support that level of training, your body will eventually not be able to continue.
I'm not going to go into more detail today - again look for a future post on overtraining. But, my takeaway point is this: make fitness fun and enjoyable. Aim for 30 minutes or more of activity that you enjoy most days of the week. Don't feel like you have to spend 6+ hours working out. Trust me - I've been there: it is not worth it.
xoxo Olivia
