Exercise is meant to lift your mood, give you a sense of vitality and pump you up afterwards, so why is it that you may feel dreadful after a workout, leaving you regretting the decision to exercise and even dreading the next session?
Here are some common causes:
1. Overtraining
This can be a much-overlooked area of your plan and plays a massive part in your overall momentum with exercise.
When you overtrain, your body might respond with many physical symptoms such as extreme fatigue, persistent soreness, pains in the joints and flu-like symptoms. Mental warnings range from low moods to sleep disturbances and cravings.
2. Dehydration
Without adequate fluid levels, you’re more likely to feel extremely tired, nauseous or very sore following your sessions. These symptoms can last for extended periods too, so it’s important to ensure that your water intake is sufficient to prevent this from happening.
Drinking excessive amounts can have an adverse effect and actually induce a ‘sickly’ feeling too, so be smart with your approach and top up nicely.
3. Nutrition/blood sugar
There is a strong link between the types of food that you eat, the times that you consume food and how you feel both during and post workout.
Not eating enough is a common cause of dizziness and nausea and this can last for hours after your workout.
Sticking to a good routine with your pre-workout nutrition and in the right amounts is an excellent way to streamline your effectiveness during exercise and keep those nasty drops in effort at bay.
4. Hormones
When we train, our bodies go through a thorough and detailed process of hormonal release and while there are many benefits to the release of endorphins ( which makes us feel WOWEE! ) and other hormones to assist with growth/repair and stress management etc, with all of this going on, our adrenal glands are beavering away and can lead to feeling a little queasy.
5. Exercise induced nausea
HGH ( human growth hormone ) can be responsible at times for the onset of nausea during a workout and can even lead to flu-like symptoms. Mixing up the intensity of your workouts between high and moderate to monitor your levels is a good way to track your symptoms and work with your own rhythms.
Working way past your current fitness level:
Pushing yourself way out of your comfort zone despite feeling unwell during some sessions may indicate that you should take your foot off the pedal with intensity.
By being consistent with your exercise and working at a sensible, yet challenging level, you’re far more likely to increase your fitness level and push past any struggles with post workout remorse.
6. Medical
There are of course medical reasons for workout regret and feeling awful post workout that can be connected to some conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome and disruptions to many levels in the body. These are extreme cases and not to be confused with getting the basics right with appropriate nutrition, hydration and a balanced approach to your exercise routine.
Key takeaway
Using an honest system to give yourself the best opportunity for success during exercise indicates to a few checkpoints. Beyond these simple factors, always check with your Doctor if symptoms persist.
- Hydration
- Sleep
- Nutrition
- Correct intensity/frequency
- Adequate rest days
