Signs You May Have an Exercise Obsession!

We all know the importance of exercise. Working out helps us maintain a fitter and leaner body as we develop more muscles while burning the fats. While more people are having a hard time exercising, there are some people who’ve grown to love working out.

They became addicted to the feel of warm soreness in their body as they had an intense workout. However, the experts warn you may have developed an unhealthy obsession with exercise if you have these signs.

Increased Tolerance

Did you remember the days where you can hardly run a lap or two, and you start panting like crazy to catch your breath? A month or two later, you’ve realized you can now run a few laps without breathing hard?

Exercise helps you build your stamina and endurance as you increase your tolerance while exercising. It helps build your muscles to be stronger and firmer as you perform these workouts. While an increased tolerance is a good sign of exercising, the health experts warn it can also be a bag thing if it goes overboard.

One sign of an unhealthy obsession in exercise is having the intense need to exercise intensely.

If you started increasing your workout drastically because you feel as if you’re strong enough to undergo an intense training, then it’s a sign of exercise obsession. According to health experts, you should make gradual progress as your body adapts to a higher load and more intense workouts. You shouldn’t shock your body by changing your routine drastically. Otherwise, your body will suffer and may even become injured.

Exercise Withdrawal

When we take a break from exercising for a few days, we start feeling our body is sore, as if our body is seeking the feel of being stretched from working out. While this is a normal reaction to exercise withdrawal, it becomes abnormal once you develop an anxiety towards it.

According to health experts, most people who are obsessed with exercising develop an increased agitation, fatigue, tension, and even anxiety when they’re not exercising. They couldn’t get their minds off exercising and wish they’re exercising every day. The anxiety they feel disrupts their routine as they lost their appetite or have disruptive sleeping patterns.

You Prolong Your Exercise

Staying longer in the gym until it gets closed is a sign of exercise obsession.

We usually have a schedule when we go to the gym depending on our availability. You may be going to the gym once, twice, or thrice a week. Aside from that, we also commit to a specific duration (e.g. 30 minutes, an hour, etc) to work out as we try squeezing it in our tight schedule. However, those who become obsessed with exercising tend to stay longer in the gym than they originally intended. Oftentimes, you’ll see them staying late at the gym until it’s closed.

If not, you’ll notice them doing more workouts like increasing their dumbbell weight by 10 pounds successively or doing 100 reps without any rest. They’ve become obsessed with reaching numbers instead of the quality of their workout.

Ignoring Your Physical Injuries

Some people became upset when they suffer an injury when exercising. Not only is it nasty to deal with pain, but they think it halts their exercise or workout progress. This causes them to ignore their injuries and continue exercising as if they still have a perfect body condition. Unfortunately, the health experts say most people obsessed with exercise also tend to project this sign.

It’s important to have some rest between intense exercise to allow your body to recover from physical pain and exhaustion.

If you’re injured, the health experts recommend you hold back from exercising and rest. They reiterate how rest is important and vital to your overall exercise success. Resting is important to help your muscles heal from physical pain and exhaustion as it repairs to become stronger and firmer. Ignoring your injuries will only exacerbate your condition until you can no longer get any physical activity done due to paralysis or severe medical conditions.

Exercising Is Controlling Your Life

Some people tend to cancel some of their appointments to make way for exercising, and this is okay. According to health experts, this means you’re prioritizing your health and fitness by allowing your body to be active.

However, it becomes unhealthy if you start avoiding every kind of social engagement or are canceling plans in favor of exercising. You start feeling as if catching up and bonding with your family and friends is useless if you’re unengaged in any physical activity like exercising, camping, or running. You may even tend to show up late at work to exercise longer.