Are You Making These Exercise Mistakes?

Exercise offers many health benefits. For instance, it helps combat diseases like stroke, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. Moreover, it improves your mood and promotes cognitive functions while reducing your risks of developing anxiety and depression. It’s no wonder that 58% of people worldwide want to exercise or engage in sports. Despite its perks, exercise can impact you negatively if not practiced correctly. That said, here are various mistakes to avoid when exercising. 

Overtraining

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While it is prudent to prioritize exercise, you may be harming your health by going overboard. Overtraining occurs when you work out too much without giving your body time to recover between sessions. Overtraining syndrome can give you the opposite results of what you desire while causing other health conditions, so it’s best to avoid it at all costs. Fortunately, it comes with symptoms to prompt you to rest your body. For instance, soreness, pain, and strain could be signals that your body is taking more than it can handle at that point. Likewise, you risk obtaining overuse injuries like broken bones, soft tissue injuries, and joint pains. Fatigue, irritability, appetite loss, disturbed sleep, low performance, and loss of motivation are signs of overtraining. 

Fortunately, you can treat overtraining with the right strategies. For starters, it helps to leverage a deep tissue or sports massage for your sore muscles to receive muscle tension. Also, a heating pad or a cold shower are options you can utilize, so keep this in mind. You can also take at least two weeks off rigorous workout routines for a faster recovery, although you can engage in gentle exercises to keep you active. To prevent overtraining, put aside regular rest days after intense workouts. You can also consume a balanced diet to provide your body with the essential calories to support your workouts. 

Failing to warm up and cool down 

If you’re avoiding warm-ups and cool-downs during your workout sessions, you should start doing them. Warming up sets your body up for aerobic activity by boosting your cardiovascular system. Likewise, cooling down helps your body and heart rate to gradually recover. However, skipping warm-ups can place undue stress on your cardiovascular system, leading to decreased oxygen flow to your heart. Avoiding cool-downs can also cause your blood to pool at your body’s lower extremities, reducing the pressure needed to pump it back to your heart and brain, leading to dizziness. You can start your usual exercise slower and more relaxed to initiate warm-ups. For instance, you can take a brisk walk if you aim to run. Likewise, switch back to a brisk walk after your run to initiate a cool-down. 

Sticking to the same workout routine 

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Indeed, it is relatively easier to do the same workout routine repeatedly. However, focusing on one routine without switching it up can give you less than the desired effect. For example, your body may not burn many calories as expected, stalling your weight loss progress. Besides, you’d become more prone to injuries, as you end up stressing the same muscles repeatedly. Boredom may also set in, leading to motivation loss and eventually giving up. Therefore, it’s best to try out new workout routines for the best results. Fortunately, you can utilize these helpful hints to make your workout sessions fun and productive.