Tara Fuller got hooked when she joined a gym in her early 20s.
“People were always giving me compliments and telling me how fit I looked.”
For the self-described bang out A, who thrived on control, her new hobby was intoxicating.
She also started training for half marathons, sprint triathlonsalways pushing, pushing, pushing.
“My friends started calling me a hermit.”
Stories like Fuller’s are surprisingly common.
This gung-ho movement is healthy in many respects.
“I work out every day, and I encourage my patients to do so as well.
If they have the time and money to go twice a day, I’m all for it.
But,” he warns, “it is possible to take exercise too far.”
At some exercise studios it’s practically the norm.
Why this rise in over-the-top exercising?
Some women get into a competitive mind-set where they’ll do almost anything to achieve that goal.
Intensity is in, spurred by everything from fitspo photos to super-toned women competing on shows likeAmerican Ninja Warrior.
And social media fuels it, too.
Witness the #2aday hashtag on Twitter.
As Vanessa Hudgens, who’s been known to take back-to-back SoulCycle classes, raved to E!
Online last year: “There’s no such thing as too much exercise!”
Recognizing Destructive Behavior Before It’s Too Late.
But in some women, double-dipping is the socially acceptable precursor to (and cover for) exercise addiction.
As with other addictions, there are psychological and biological components."
Even if you’re not an exercise addict, there can be financial repercussions.
“It’s a substantial part of my income,” she says.
“So I have to make sacrifices, like skipping nice dinners and evenings out.
But I’m spending the money for a reason.
Classes motivate me.”
You don’t have to be a hard-core athlete to have experienced the postworkout buzz.
That rings true for Janae Jacobs, 28, a blogger in Orem, Utah.
But X-rays didn’t reveal any problems, so she continued to train and even completed the 13.1-mile race.
“It was agony, but I pushed myself through,” she says.
Afterward, she hobbled to another doctor, who diagnosed her with stress fractures in both femurs.
“I was horrified,” she says.
“I’d been competitive about my running for a while, but this went beyond competitiveness.
I wasn’t paying attention to my body or eating enough to fuel that many miles.
I was abusing exercise.”
She took three months off, gaining some weight and a lot of perspective.
“I still exercise for the high, because it helps me keep a positive perspective.
I put on 20 pounds, and I’ve never felt healthier.”
Drink or smoke too much, and friends start to worry.
“But for me it was driven by this feeling of inadequacy.
I felt like I could never do enough or be fit enough.
“After a few weeks, I had this huge realization,” she says.
By working out less, I had more energy and started feeling emotionally healthier.
It was a huge relief.
Now, exercise is fun again.”
“Some women exercise to purge calories.
It’s fine to use fitness as part of a weight loss or maintenance effort, she explains.
But that shouldn’t be the only reason you go to the gym.
Any woman who’s letting exercise take over her life, no matter why, may need some help.
That set off an excruciating bout of sciatica that forced her to take a few months off.
Then the floodgates opened.
“I realized I had feelings I’d never been able to talk about.
I work out four or five days a week and do yoga instead of hard-core aerobics and strength training.
And I rarely push myself to the limit.
Slowly but surely, I’m learning the wisdom of moderation.”
Consider these questions, too: Are you excited to go to class?
Do you leave with a smile, feeling strong, healthy, fit and accomplished?
Doing two similar workouts back-to-back can put too much stress on your body.
“Exercise wears down the body, and it needs time to recover.”
Eat enough for fuel.
“The more you exercise, the more calories you need,” Dr. Goolsby says.
Stop when you’re tired or in pain.Listen to your body, Dr. Goolsby says.
“Pain is an indication something is wrong.
Also, when you’re tired, your form falls apart, increasing the risk for injury.”
Photo Credit: Andrew Myers
