Signs you are overexerting yourself.

To maintain good health and fitness you should get at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise approximately five times a week. However pushing yourself too far can become detrimental to having good long term health. Exercising is an important part towards keeping your body in good shape but overdoing the exercise can escalate into injuries or other health conditions. Your body will give warning signs that you are overexerting yourself during your workout and it is extremely important that you listen to these signs.

After a workout, muscle soreness is fine, but overt soreness can escalate into chronic pain, which leads to injuries. Overuse injuries consist of stress fractures and tendinitis. If you over work areas of the body, you can worsen the injury and pain. This pains can force you to slow down your workout or discontinue exercise temporarily.

A way you can immediately tell you are overexerting yourself during a workout is by trying to hold a conversation while exercising. The inability to talk during an exercise means you are breathing too heavily to speak. The point of inability to speak indicates your breathing rate is disproportionately high in relation to how hard you are working. If you are spending more than one minute at this state, you are at high risk for collapse or many other injuries. You should bring your intensity down in order to prevent injury or other problems associated with overexertion.

The number one rule of exercising is to stay hydrated. Your body depends on water to work correctly. Your body uses water to maintain temperature, remove waste and lubricate joints. Overexertion may lead to dehydration by squeezing out all of your body fluids. You can notice dehydration during a workout by experiencing dry mouth, dizziness, muscle cramps, and fatigue. To avoid dehydration during an intense workout it is recommended to drink water before during and after a workout. If you are exercising for an hour or more it is important to drink a sports drink every 15 minutes.

Just a few tips to remember in preventing overexertion during exercise is to stretch before exercise, keep your back straight, bend your knees, never bend or twist your back while lifting, never lift with your arms extended, keep solid feet positions by keeping your feet shoulder width apart, keep the lifting close to your body, lift with your legs, not your back and lastly, keep pathways clear to avoid tripping.

Exercise should be a very important part in your daily routine and it should help,rather than hurt you. Make sure to listen to your body when it is hurting to get the most out of your workout routine.

With four convenient locations in Suffolk County, New York, United Rehab Physical Therapy is available to help you. Contact us today!