Fitness and moving your body is so incredibly good for you.

But did you know like anything else in your life, it can be an addiction? Most people would say being addicted to fitness is a good thing, better than being addicted to food, substances and even unhealthy relationships. However, anything done in excess can counteract its positive benefits when it’s done excessively. Research has proven that over exercising can actually stress the body which counteracts the de-stressing effect a healthy portion of fitness has on your body.

I personally just experienced over working out. My most recent workout routine was 1 1/2 to 2 hours of strength training six days a week. I did this not because I am obsessive with fitness, but because I wanted to see how my body responded to strength training six days a week. Fortunately, it was such a short period of time that no harm was done. However, at the end of those three weeks I noticed my muscles were tired and their performance was decreasing instead of increasing. The other thing I noticed was that I was often exhausted and a bit unmotivated after my workouts which is unusual for me. As a matter of fact, you should be energized and inspired after a balanced workout because your body releases endorphins during your workout and they are like little motivated energizer bunnies. So my fitness coach and SupawesomeLife co-founder/fitness expert, Edj Fish, decided to change up my workout to be 1 to 1 1/2 hours, only five days a week. Wow! Did this make a difference? My muscles are performing way better and I leave my workouts energized and inspired. What a difference!

Now let’s look at fitness addiction from the mental perspective. How do you know if you’re over doing your fitness? Here are a couple of indicators:

  • You can’t skip a day or workout without feeling guilty or having anxiety
  • You’re workout is never good enough—never enough calories burned, never enough weight lifted, etc.
  • You miss out on healthy interactions with others because you always have to get your workout in
  • You use your workouts as your only solution to deal with emotional stress

If you think your passion for fitness might be more of an addiction, then give yourself permission to explore what is driving your need to workout all of the time:

  • Is it body image?
  • Is it because you haven’t developed other stress coping skills?
  • Is it an avoidance tactic to prevent you having to deal with important relationships in your life?

Whatever it is, be honest with yourself about it, don’t judge yourself, but ask yourself if you want to make some changes. No one says you have to, but if you want to have a life full of peace, contentment and joy (aka the SupawesomeLife) replacing unhealthy behaviors with healthy behaviors is the best way to go.

If you’re ready to face your fitness addiction and develop some healthy habits to help you cope with stress and past pain, you might want to check out the following blog posts here on our web site:

And of course, I am always here for you to help you take steps to finding balance with your workouts and the rest of your SupawesomeLife. Just leave me a comment below if you want a wingman on this one.