What is considered "over-exercising?"

[Ilana]

I average about 15,000 steps per day and consider myself very active grad student and mom (as in, I walk to/from school, walk my son to/from school, sometimes use the treadmill desk at school to get an hour of homework in, and do a bit of elliptical/weight training per day).... but I see other people who are getting 20/30+k a day and pretty much--in my opinion-- spend their lives exercising! At what point do you consider a number of steps to be "over-exercising," especially for people who have high averages 7 days per week... Here I was, already thinking I was on the verge of being "too active" .....?

I mean, at what point do you consider exercise "obsessive?!" With these stories I hear about people exercising for hours on end, you have to wonder about their social life (unless they exercise with buddies)?

[trainer]

Over exercising takes into consideration things like age, gender, long term activity level, etc. Walking as much as you do wouldn't be over exercising unless it is causing you problems. One of the key factors of over training is that you feel that you are doing too much. You might feel tired all the time, you might be gaining weight, or feel over tired or... there are many symptoms.

[Heybales]

Over-exercising and over-training are similar.

Your body can only recovery from so much - so unless you want the exercise to just be spinning the wheels for some calorie burn, and not getting as much out of it as would be possible with a more reasonable program, you do have to think about that.

And when you are in a diet, your recovery is impaired even more.

Lack of sleep, dealing with sickness or disease, food sensitivities perhaps or allergies, ect. All would add to the stress level your body deals with making recovery slower.

So it's an individual thing, both genetic, and what your program is. You could walk every day for 6 hrs, and as long as you ate correctly for that effort and slept well, you could be recovered enough to do it again the next day.

Which doesn't mean just being able to do it of course.

Some aspects of non-recovery proving over-exercising could show up months later as you develop tendonitis or injury or such that require stopping. So you could be what appears to be on the edge of good recovery, but the wrong side.

At least walking is easy enough and not that stressful - most have likely been doing it since a kid and very efficient at it. Backpackers with 40 extra lbs on their body can go 3-4 months almost daily 6-8 hrs of walking. Blisters and mental breaks are biggest need for rest days. And clothes that kill ya with smell.

There is the older neighborhood guy that is constantly running. I'm betting he's younger than he looks though. During the summer with no shirt is body is very emaciated, terribly frail looking. But everyday, and for long periods of time if every run is equal to when I see him out for 2-3 hrs still running on many days. Winter cold and summer heat. But he was noticably missing for about 6 weeks in the fall, great running weather. I'm betting he got very sick or ill. That much running looking like that has negative effects on bone density, opposite what you'd normally benefit from. At least he is going slow, but I'm sure with his body there is no option anymore.

[Dominique]

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@Ilana wrote:

I mean, at what point do you consider exercise "obsessive?!" With these stories I hear about people exercising for hours on end, you have to wonder about their social life (unless they exercise with buddies)?

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I think the chart in the following post is quite accurate for 20-30k and 30k+ 

[slysam]

I believe I have overexercised in the past. I was starting to show signs of overtraining--lack of sleep, tired and achy, my resting pulse increased, starting to dread workouts but felt compelled to do them, catching colds easily and having a hard time getting rid of them, etc. I did have a high step count (but didn't average 20,000+), but I don't think it is about step count at all. Someone could overtrain with a low step count if they are say, swimming, lifting weights, cycling a lot, etc. I think it is more about doing too much for one's fitness level at too high a frequency so there isn't enough time for the body to recover. And in my case, it also came from a slightly compulsive attitude that I must exercise or will lose fitness results. Someone with a physical job, say a mail carrier, might walk 20,000 steps no problem, then go to the gym after work and be perfectly fine. I don't think a high step count means overtraining unless someone is pushing themselves to do more steps than their body is ready for. For the most part, the body is happy moving and a lot of lighter activity can be fine if one is listening to their body's responses. I tend to run into issues if I try to do too much higher intensity exercise without enough rest or recovery days. This is also counterproductive for fitness gains since it is more the recovery than the work where our fitness improves. I am sure people can also overtrain from too much moderate cardio for their fitness level. I think taking "rest days" and varying activities types of exercise can help.

[Mary]

I think that overtraining is one thing and just overdoing steps is another.  I don't think overdoing steps is always bad for us, though for me it might be bad for my touchy feet.  But I think it is often a sign of a lot of our 'all or nothing' personalities.  Hey, I'm tracking this now so I MUST meet my goals and my goals must get more and more aggressive!  I think Fitbit attracts us because part of the 'all or nothing' mentality loves to quantify things.  

For me, when I made myself hit 10k steps a day for like a year, I hit the wall.  I then detested walking.  I put the Fitbit in a drawer and left it there for like a year.  I did do other things for fitness but it never occurred to me to just ratchet my goals down or take breaks from the Fitbit or even to use it some days and go to the gym some days.  All or nothing.  I feel like the people who put on a Fitbit and start doing 20,000 steps a day might be headed toward that wall where they walk so much they grow to detest it and resent being a slave to their tracker and their goals.  Or maybe it's just me.  

[loveabull]

I would say as long as it doesn't interfere with your work, social life or health then you're fine. If you can't relax too that's a problem. If you start losing too much weight that's a problem. If you want to skip work or time with family or friends because you HAVE to exercise...yep you have a problem.

Some of us are just naturally more active. If you saw the numbers when I did the trainer trial I look manic. But really it's just a job that keeps me on my feet, errands, kids, two hyper doggies...more stuff than say a thirty year old with a desk job has to deal with. Whatever level works for you is fine.

[gerrymcd]

There is a fine line between 'obsessive' and 'highly committed'.   For a number of years now I've worked out on a Sunday morning, Monday and Wed evening and a Thurs morning.  Without fail.  If I miss one of these workouts - because I've got the cold or something - I'm dissapointed somehow.  But, on the whole I would call myself committed rather than obsessive.  I think obsessive is when it gets to a point that your activity impinges on your social/family/work life.  Similar to the distinction between social drinker and alcoholic. When someone turns down the offer of a night with friends because they 'HAVE' to go to the gym to meet their exercise target, or miss their kid play ball.....I'd say that is when its becoming an obsession.  

[gerrymcd]

@loveabull  I never read your reply before I posted mine!  Scary similar!