Athletes’ fitness is essential to their careers. However, in some cases, they may be pushing their bodies harder than they should, and the result of that is exercise burnout. That fatigue can do more damage than good, and it’s essential for you, as an athlete, to identify the signs before you hurt yourself. This exhaustion can exist both physically and mentally, and you may not realize it in its initial stages. Thus, this article provides 5 signs on how to know you’re suffering from exercise burnout.
1. Physical and Mental Fatigue
Perhaps the first sign of burnout is that you feel a high level of mental and physical exhaustion even when you’re getting enough sleep. Mental fatigue includes an inability to concentrate on your work, a lack of motivation or enjoyment when working out, and feeling emotionally drained. Physical fatigue can also result in central nervous system (CNS) fatigue, which can restrict some muscles movements.
2. Decreased Performance
If you’ve started to feel like you’re unable to lift as heavy or run as fast as before, then you’re likely going through exercise burnout. With any form of exercise, your body needs enough rest to be able to return to the gym with maximum output. You’re compromising yourself by putting into too many hours of exercise in the day. Moreover, make sure to wear appropriate fitness apparel to perform at your best and avoid injury when in the gym.
3. Unable to Get Good Sleep
Uninterrupted sleep for eight hours is essential to staying fit and healthy. However, often exercise burnout can push your sympathetic nervous system into overdrive, causing problems with your sleeping pattern. Thus, it will continuously try to provide your body with the energy it needs during a strenuous workout. In turn, you’ll have trouble falling asleep.
4. Long Recovery Times
Muscle soreness is common when you go to the gym regularly. However, you should feel the soreness in a muscle group you worked out four to five days ago. If you consistently experience longer recovery times, that’s a sign that your body is working more than it can, and it’s time to reduce the number of times you work out a muscle group or the total number of exercises. If you’re working out at full intensity, you must remember that you should not keep your workout sessions very long. Also, it’s best to keep your body warm with a hoodie after working out. It helps promote good circulation, which can aid muscle recovery.
5. A Loss of Appetite
Typically, exercising can work up an appetite because you’re burning calories. However, exercise burnout can result in digestive problems, such as diarrhea, constipation, or increased thirst, causing you to experience a loss of appetite.
Last Few Words
Exercise burnout can lead to severe injury if you don’t address the problem as soon as possible. That is why it’s imperative that you know the signs that point to that problem. Also, make sure you wear the right fitness apparel to help avoid injury and get the most out of each session.
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