Why You Shouldn’t Be Working Out Every Day
Regular exercise has many positive effects on health, figure, and general well-being. But does that also mean that “Too much helps much?”
As a beginner, I asked myself particular questions over and over again:
- How often to exercise?
- How often should I torture my muscles and strain my lungs?
- Should I really exercise every day, or will it do more harm to my health than good?
I can remember it like it was yesterday: back when I started running, the motivation for training was great — very great, in fact.
”I’m going to give it my all for the next few weeks.
I’m going to rock the training and stick to my plan and not stop again.”
The plan was to train for two days and then take a day off. Then two days of training again and a day off. It went perfectly — with each run, I got further and got faster!
Then something came up the day after the break:
“Oh, then I’ll train tomorrow and the day after, no problem.”
But then the two-day break turned into a week until I was running again. I felt like the first day, not 200 meters, and I was knocked out — frustrating.
The problem was clear: I was overdoing it and training irregularly, even though regular and continuous training is crucial in endurance training.
If you overdo it with exercise, you’re harming the body. This is what happens when you exercise too much and not often.
If you push yourself beyond your limits every time you decide to do strength or cardio training, the body starts overtaxing itself and releases less testosterone and thyroxine.
At the same time, the stress hormone cortisol increases. What happens? The body needs energy very quickly, and it draws it from the existing muscle tissue. The result: muscles are broken down.
The body breaks down the muscle mass, so you don’t see results after irregular but exhausting exercise.
The more intensively and irregularly you train, the more strain is placed on muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints.
They quickly sustain minor injuries, even if you don’t feel them directly, for example, in the form of muscle soreness.
Still, if you don’t take a break — at least a day — after a hard workout, your body has little time to repair the damage. The risk increases that a minor injury quickly turns into a major one — and you even have to abstain from sports for a more extended period of time.
Your body needs energy if it’s up to perform during training.
You have to supply it with the right nutrition.
If you decide to put yourself on a diet during intensive and irregular training phases or eat an unbalanced diet, your body will break down muscles, and you will easily get cravings.
The result is less muscle and more fat tissue.
In other words, exactly the opposite of what you’re working on.
And the greater the athletic load, the more stress this means for metabolism. This means that more and more antioxidant enzymes are lost.
Antioxidant enzymes would actually be responsible for protecting the cells from aggressive oxygen compounds that are formed as intermediate products of metabolism (the so-called “free radicals”).
If free radicals are not captured, the risk of various diseases increases. Likewise, skin changes such as blemishes or hair loss can be a consequence.
That’s why it’s crucial for health and well-being to plan the right training, exercise regularly, follow a healthy diet, and include breaks: because muscles build up during the recovery phases.
For example, after endurance training such as jogging or cycling, you need 24–36 hours of rest before the next training session. After strength training, beginners should allow themselves at least two days of rest — so going to the gym 2–3 times a week is enough.
By learning completely new movements, the body needs even up to 3 days of rest until the next training session.
Only in the case of light sports, you can train every day — for example, if you do 30–40 minutes of walking or jogging in the evening without getting out of breath.
In other words, if you get side stitches, keep going slowly instead of stopping. Therefore, scientists advise beginners to do interval training, where:
You first jog for 15 minutes, then walk slowly for 5 minutes, then jog again for 15 minutes, and so on.
These changes serve to prepare the body for longer distances. Over time, you should then manage to jog for at least 45 minutes at a time. On the other hand, interval training, in which you always take a break between shorter distances, makes sense if you want to become faster.
At the end of the workout, you should refrain from a final spurt.
After all, if you demand too much of yourself, you risk losing your training success: overtaxing the body leads to uric acid formation, which can interfere with muscle building.
Tip: Instead of stressing yourself out, come down and let the workout wind down slowly in the last 2–3 minutes.
As mentioned above, it’s entirely wrong to take a break for weeks or months because you can no longer manage your previous training workload.
So don’t stop training at all, but do less.
The best way to do this is to exercise just as often as before but shorten the individual training units.
For example, jogging for 30 minutes instead of 60, but 3 times a week as usual. After all, it usually takes twice as long to get back to your regular fitness level as it did to take a break.
Work out should challenge, but not overtax.
Accordingly, your own body is the best indicator of how much (daily) training is right for you individually.
Do you feel tired and listless?
Then it’s better to take a day’s break from sports.
It’s undisputed that beginners should not overdo it!
Even at the beginning of your regular workout routine, daily sessions should be sufficient, but they should not last too long.
Those who want to increase their workout should follow the following rule of thumb: first train more often, then longer. Those who have already built up strength and fitness can slowly increase the intensity.
Disclaimer: The article isn’t medical advice. The author is not a medical doctor. The information is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose or treat any medical conditions.
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