When is Pushing Yourself in a Workout Harmful?
My good friend Rachel asked me the other day, "Hey, Kimmi, how do you know when to stop when you're working out? And how do you know how far you can push yourself before it's too much?" I thought that was a great question since a lot of people don't know this, and push themselves way past the limit till they get injured. (Which, by the way, is how physical therapy clinics get their customers.) So today I want to address this topic.
There's a common saying that I absolutely hate: "No pain, no gain." It's this mindset that leads people to getting injured and having to do physical therapy in the first place. My number one piece of advice to help you figure out when to push yourself in a workout and when to stop is to ask yourself, "With the exercise I'm doing, where should I be feeling it?"
This is why it's important to have some sort of expert like a fitness trainer or physical therapist who knows what they're doing to teach you where you should feel the exercise. And this is my beef with online YouTube fitness videos. I think it's cool for people who know how to work out and for people who understand where they should be feeling the exercise, but I really don't like people doing YouTube fitness videos if they've never been trained before. The reason is that they don't really know where they should be feeling the exercise, and they're just following the video without knowing how a normal workout burn should feel.
Okay, so let's dig in. First, you want to make sure you know where you should be feeling your workout. Let's say you're doing squats. Squats work out your butt, hamstrings, and quads - so, your legs overall. You should feel that exercise in those areas, but you should not feel it in your lower back. If you feel low back pain or a low back burn while you're doing a squat, that means you are compensating and not using the right muscles. Having the knowledge of where you should be feeling the exercise is powerful and very helpful. It's so important to make sure that you get trained in that area.
Secondly, you shouldn't feel any pain in your joints. A joint is the meeting point between two bones. The elbow is an example of a joint, as is the wrist, which is the meeting place of the wrist bones, the ulna and the radius. The bones meet together, almost like crossing roads.
When you exercise, you shouldn't feel any sort of pain in those areas - if you do, that means something's wrong. You also shouldn't feel the exercise where the muscles attach. Muscles either attach below the joint or sometimes muscles cross and attach above the joint. This is where the tendons are and you should not feel a burning sensation in your joint line. You should feel the exercise in the muscle belly, which is the biggest part of the muscle, the center of the muscle. Usually that's the only place you should feel the exercise. So, again, if you're feeling it deep inside the joint, then something's not quite right. You need to stop and don't push yourself any more.
A third thing you want to check is your form. Do you find that your form is getting a bit sloppy? Do you find that your balance is off? Do you find that you look a little more wiggly than when you started? If you do, you need to stop and not push yourself, because that's when injuries happen.
Here's a good example. Most people who go on ski trips only go once or twice a year and don't really work out to prepare. Because of that, they're not conditioned and their form can get sloppy throughout the day or throughout the vacation. I heard a story of a girl who went skiing three days in a row. The third day, she was so tired, but she still went out, and as a result, she pulled her ACL, a ligament in her knee.
So if you're feeling tired and feeling like your form is falling apart, you need to stop what you are doing and take a break. It's just not worth it. It's not worth losing four to six weeks more of movement and exercise just because you wanted to push yourself so you can get in that one workout, that one adventure, or that one hike. If you can just listen to your body, it's way better for you in the long run.
Tip number four is you want to assess what kind of pain you are feeling. I hesitate to use the word burn here because a burn can also be a bad thing. A good workout burn should feel like a dull burn in the muscle belly. A better word might be fatigue. Muscle fatigue is normal and means that you are working the muscle. As long as you're not feeling any pain, that's fine. But if you're feeling any kind of sharp or stabbing pain, or a deep burn that feels like a neurological pain, or like the nerve is on fire, that is not good. If you've ever experienced nerve pain, you know it is much different from the dull ache of muscle fatigue. You have to be able to distinguish what you are feeling. Is it a normal workout burn or is it a sharp and deep neurological burn?
Lastly, you know your body really well. There are times when you can just feel in your gut that something's wrong. Maybe part of your body doesn't feel the same as it did five minutes ago or even a day or two weeks ago. You're not screaming in pain, but you know something's wrong. Listen to your body and just take a break that day.
Additionally, if something doesn't feel right, go ahead and get checked out by your local physical therapist or your physician. I recommend seeing a physical therapist since they tend to be more knowledgeable about musculoskeletal injuries. Nowadays, if you live in California, you can easily go to your physical therapist and get checked paying out of pocket. You don't need a referral and can just go straight there. This is a great resource and I highly recommend it.
Remember, it's better to be safe than sorry. It's not worth it to get in that last rep or that last set or last fifteen minutes of your workout if it's going to cause a sprain. It's not worth injuring yourself to the point where it will take a longer time to recover.
Now you know when to push yourself and when to stop. I hope this was helpful! If you are looking to learn more and want help and advice in your fitness journey, feel free to reach out for private one on one nutrition. Check out my website at www.verticalmovementwellness.com or find me on Instagram to learn more.
Peace and blessings!