Powering through your pain is not always the right thing to do when it comes to working out. Doing so can affect your health in a negative way. Pushing yourself too hard while working out can lead to you hurting yourself. You have to know your personal limits, so that you do not get an injury that can make reaching your physical goals much harder.
It is important to give your body the rest it needs. Resting allows your muscles to heal between workout days. Every time you work out you are putting more stress on your muscles and your body whether you can feel it or not. You have to let your muscles build themselves. If you do not rest, you will not improve.
You can always alternate your workouts so that you do not keep working the same exact muscles every time you work out. Powering through when you should be resting will not only lead to more injuries, but it will make you more tired, which is also bad for your body and overall health. Not allowing your body the time it needs to recover, especially if you have been doing more intense workouts, can lower your motivation. You have probably heard people say, “No pain, no gain”, but that is not always the case. Giving your body the opportunity to rest can build your strength and endurance.
Here are six signs you should rest instead of powering through your pain:
- Muscles are sore for more than two days at a time: Being sore from a workout is typical when you are starting a new exercise or changing something in your workout such as amount of weight used or repetitions. When you are sore following a workout, it should not last for more than two days. If the soreness does last, then your muscles are most likely not recovering as they should be, and you need to rest instead of powering through because you are damaging your body.
- You feel like you cannot get enough to drink: Unquenchable thirst can be a sign that it is time to rest because you are overworking your body. Not resting will also lead to dehydration. It is important that you pay attention to what your body is telling you.
- You are having trouble sleeping at night: Difficulty sleeping can mean that you are overtired and that you need to rest instead of powering through. In order for your body to grow and for your muscles to heal from a workout, your body needs sleep. After a workout you should be feeling more energized than exhausted, so if you are having trouble sleeping you are probably working your body too hard.
- You are getting injured more often: Powering through workouts when you should be resting instead will make you more prone to injuries. You need to take the time to rest and recuperate between workouts. You should never work the same muscles two days in a row because your muscles need rest to grow.
- If you have lost your motivation: Feeling like you are completely losing any and all motivation to workout could be a sign that you need to give your body more rest. Fatigue is not only a physical phenomenon; it affects your mental fortitude. Good rest breeds good ethics and makes motivation less of a challenge.
- You are hitting a plateau: Overtraining and powering through your workouts instead of resting will not give your body the time it needs to repair itself. You will stop seeing results that you might have seen before. Everyone wants to get where they are going quickly. To get there quickest, you need to give your muscles the time necessary for them to heal. The healing process is what gives your muscles the ability to do more work.