Fitness and Fatigue

Some days you smash your workout feeling strong and powerful. You leave the gym or studio with a sense of pride and enjoy the achy tiredness in your muscles. Other days you crawl into your workout, dreading having to move your sleeping muscles.

Having a rough night sleep is a kick start to a rough day, right?

Tiredness is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome and can easily push you off track, both with fitness and diet. The last thing on your mind is getting through a workout and prepping your meals for the day.

Tiredness can be due to many things, physical illness, lack of nutrition, lack of sleep, over training and hormones which is hugely overlooked. Overall, fatigue is part of life and we all experience it at some point.

When tiredness strikes, you have two options:

Push through, do your workout which often results in increased energy levels and that beautiful euphoric feeling we get from exercise. OR this can sometimes mean a crappy workout and feeling even more deflated that you struggled.
Don't do your workout and give your body a rest.

Ultimately it is only you that can recognise what your body needs to combat how you are feeling. Sometimes, tiredness is just our bodies way of telling us it needs to rest and refuel the batteries. It’s not a sign of weakness and not something to be ashamed of. Our muscles get bashed and tired when we exercise and eventually, if we do not rest, it takes a physical and mental toll on our little bodies!

TOP TIPS TO HELP WITH TIREDNESS DURING TRAINING:

REST DAYS:

Rest days during your training week help immensely with tiredness, motivation and also helps prevent injuries from over training. Resting helps your muscles to recover and repair themselves ensuring they are refuelled and ready to start again.

NUTRITION

Balanced nutrition is the best way to fuel your body correctly. Making sure you have enough carbs, fats and proteins to feed your muscles and energy stores. Having a pre-workout snack 2-3hours before your workout gives you a boost of energy. Protein and carbs post-workout refuel and repair the body.

HYRDRATION

Drink 2-3 litres of water per day and you will definitely notice a difference in energy levels!

REDUCE STRESS

Cortisol is released to mobilise the body’s response to stress, overtime increased levels of cortisol can lead to adrenal fatigue, weight gain and a weakened immune system. Try to incorporate some relaxing activities into your day such as taking a hot bath or doing something calming for you. Sticking to 6-8hours sleep per night is the optimal amount for an adult and also helps to reduce stress.

In short – eat right, sleep well, hydrate and listen to your body!