Yes, it really does exist: overexercise. How do you know when you’ve reached it? How do you know how much exercise is enough and how much is too much?

Original source: here.

            The appropriate amount of exercise depends on a lot of factors, like:

  • Your goals
  • Your experience
  • The type of training that you’re doing (strength vs. endurance vs. flexibility)
  • Other stresses in your life, whether physical or otherwise
  • Your inherent ability to recover
  • Your nutrition

And all that is just scratching the surface.

See, what may be too much for you as a beginner may become just right for you as you become more advanced. Likewise, something that might have been fine for you when you were in peak condition might be way too much for you after a layoff.

With exercise, it’s a very fine balance between doing just the right amount of training to cause your body to adapt to it, but not stepping over the line to the point where your body starts breaking down. It’s a balancing act, and the absolute best quantity of training is constantly fluctuating, so unfortunately, as with most things, the answer to the question “how much exercise is too much?” is “it depends.”

Nonetheless, there are some clues that will tell you if you’re exercising too much:

  • Loss of motivation for exercise
  • Soreness from which you don’t recover
  • Poor sleep
  • Easily fatigued
  • Loss of concentration
  • Achy joints

There are also a couple of more objective tests you can use. One of those tests is reaction time. Reaction time is a strong indicator of how fresh your nervous system is. So first take a reaction time test when you feel fresh and well rested. There’s a free test you can do online, here. Then take the same test whenever you feel like you may be overtraining. If you reaction time is 10% slower than when you’re fresh, it’s best to scale back your planned workout, and make it an easier one, or skip it altogether.

Another test is the resting heart rate test. What you would do is measure your heart rate first thing in the morning, for 60 seconds, before even getting out of bed. This must be done on a day that you feel well-rested. This will be your baseline. Repeat the test on a workout day. If it’s either 10% higher or lower than usual (and it’s not because of particularly “exciting” dreams), it’s another clue that you should probably take it easier that day.

Then there’s my favourite method. The one I personally use with clients. It’s the 3-workout rule. If for 3 consecutive workouts, either me or my clients don’t show any improvement in performance, or performance actually starts to decline, it’s time for a change in the program. When I say “improvement”, it can mean:

  • More weight
  • More repetitions
  • Better quality/ technique
  • Sensation of greater ease compared to last workout (yes, we quantify and track that)
  • Better range of motion

If at least one of those doesn’t improve in the span of 3 workouts, it’s time for a new program. The reason that I favour this approach is because feelings and sensations can lie. Often, you feel like you’re dragging your feet, but you have a terrific workout. Other times, you feel like a million bucks, but have a lackluster workout. With my 3-workout rule, you let performance dictate when it’s time to change.

Also, many exercise programs arbitrarily assign a duration to their programs. Either 3 weeks or 4 weeks or 6 weeks or 12 weeks, or any amount. The truth is that each person is so different that for some people, that amount of time may be too long, for others too short, and yet for others, just right (and those will be in the minority). Using my 3-workout rule, your program lasts only as long as you make progress on it.

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 Quick Summary

  • The right amount of exercise constantly fluctuates based on a lot of factors
  • Signs that you’re overexercising include loss of motivation, achy joints, loss of concentration, poor sleep, soreness from which you don’t recover, and others.
  • Reaction time is a good measure of the freshness of your nervous system.
  • Resting heart rate is another indicator of how hard you should be exercising that day.
  • If you don’t make progress for 3 consecutive workouts, it’s time to change the program.