How much is too much? How little is too little?

Having been told severally that I exercise "too much" and "zealously" by a lot of people, I thought today I should tackle what I think the definition  of too much exercise - according to my body - is.

I have posted before about balancing the amount that you eat with what energy you use during your day. I have taken to wearing a pedometer to measure exactly how far I walk any given day, and I can use this, plus an approximation on energy expended during exercise and non walking activities to determine (approximately!) how much energy I use and need on a daily basis. I have to be honest with myself. I have known people to say....I took a walk this morning so I can have this chocolate cake....without realising that the amount of energy in that piece of chocolate cake would have taken an hour of RUNNING to burn. I'm veering off topic, let me get back on it...How much is too much?

I consider exercise to be too much when I cannot function after a workout session. Over exertion to a point that one sits infront of the telly the rest of the day because of exhaustion doesn't make sense. Exercise is supposed to help us remain active not inactivate us. Of course, the initial pain that comes along with starting an exercise program doesn't count, and will power is needed to move through this.

I consider exercise to be too little and therefore ineffective if I do not strain my body, if I do not feel the burn, if my breathing does not get a bit laboured and if my heart rate does not go up. I would rather exercise for thirty minutes, sweat like a pig, grunt in exertion, and almost sigh with relief when the half hour is over than exercise for a leisurely one hour and not break a sweat. The body will only change if we challenge it.

Too much is when we end up making ourselves sick or injure ourselves because of straining too much. When we over exert ourselves, our immune system actually becomes weaker - which is the opposite of what exercise usually does. So we get a flu or symptoms of flu, we tear a muscle, we sprain a joint, we become infirm because of trying to become fit and healthy. This has happened to me when I have tried to do too much too fast. Slow progression is the key to avoid this. Accelerating an exercise program because of impatience could have dire effects and keep you invalid and therefore not exercising for a long period.

I consider it important to exercise most days of the week. If I can help it, I exercise everyday in one form of another in order to keep my fitness levels up. It doesn't have to be a one hour workout, sometimes, only twenty minutes is enough. Pre planning workouts and being more organised about it helps one determine what should be done when (targeting different muscle groups, cardio, tabata style workouts, keeping the body guessing).

Unfortunately, we tend to over estimate the amount of exercise we are doing versus how much we actually take in.

Have an active day!