What’s one of the biggest mistakes that people make when exercising? Your body is very good at letting you know when you’re doing something wrong. So what’s the biggest mistake? Not listening to your body. According personal trainer fitness expert Clifford Coetzer, your slogan during exercise should be ‘no pain, no injuries.’ “Pain,” says Coetzer, “should be treated as a red light.”
Exercise: The Goldilocks principle
The Goldilocks principle can be applied to almost anything. It’s the idea that there’s a happy medium that falls between margins and does not reach extremes in either direction. When applied to exercise, the Goldilocks principle refers to not overtraining and not slacking off.
According to Coetzer, there are a few basic guidelines to follow to make sure you’re getting the most out of your training. You should experience delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS, meaning that your muscles are sensitive or tender but not stiff, normally 24 to 48 hours after a workout and your joints shouldn’t be sore. You should also take at least one day off training entirely and if you work every day, you should work muscles that have not been exercised in the last 48 hours.
Listening to your body
There are several signs to look for during and after exercise that tell you if you’re working too hard or not working hard enough.
· Do you dread exercising?
· Do you find it difficult to catch your breath during exercise or does it take a long time for your heart rate to go back to normal afterwards?
· Do you feel drained and exhausted after exercise and unable to recover?
· Do you feel persistently fatigued despite getting enough sleep?
· Are you cranky, irritable, and short-tempered during the day?
· Do you battle to fall asleep or wake up often and battle to get back to sleep?
· Have you lost your appetite?
· Are you losing muscle definition?
· Is exercise becoming more difficult?
If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions you may be over training. This puts you at risk for persistent muscle soreness and fatigue, loss of fitness, persistent infection (like a sore throat), injury, weight gain, and loss of muscle definition. Psychological symptoms are often more noticeable than physical symptoms and include irritability, depression, insomnia, and loss of enthusiasm for exercise.
If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the following you may be under-training:
· Do you exercise for less than 30 minutes, 5 days a week?
· Do you fail to break a sweat?
· Are you able to sing during your workout?
· Do you never feel any muscle soreness after working out?
· Has your appetite remained the same?
· Do you feel apathetic towards exercise instead of excited?
· Do you feel as though working out is a waste of time?
Ideally, good exercise should leave you feeling happy and motivated. Coetzer says that you know that you’re working at the right intensity if you’re able to talk but not sing during your workout and you don’t experience dizziness, joint pain, or profuse sweating. You should also have more energy, be more awake, and concentrate better. You should also be sleeping better at night.
If this is not how you feel after exercise, you may be over- or under-training.
