7 Signs of Burnout (and how to recover)

Feel like you’re spinning your wheels? Exercising hard, but getting nowhere?

In a previous blog post we discussed the signs of a good workout, and we also talked about what is “enough” when it comes to workouts.

Let’s dive into the other end of the spectrum:

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠?

This post is for you if you already have an established fitness routine and you’ve seen progress. You’ve developed discipline and consistency. But are you on the way to burnout?

Before we get into the signs of burnout, let’s look at a few different things to help us determine if we just need a break or if we are experiencing burnout.

We want to look at our routine.

How often are we working out? Are we allowing ourselves a day or two of rest each week? Are we working the same muscles multiple days in a row? Are we lifting light or are we working on progressive overload? Are we doing a mixture of light weights and high rep along with heavier weights and lower reps? Are we doing mostly cardio?

We want to look at the workouts themselves.

Are the workouts themselves effective? Are the workouts leaving you feeling energetic, strong, and confident? Are you finding your muscles reaching failure during your workouts and experiencing inroading (temporary muscle weakness, possibly shakiness!) after the workout is complete? Are you feeling specifically fatigued in the targeted muscles? Are you maintaining that mind-body connection during your workouts and working with your nervous system? (More on the nervous system in another post! Keep your eyes peeled!)

Are the workouts leaving you feeling depleted, systemically fatigued, achy in the joints, and possibly dreading the next session? Is your body hurting? Are you unsure of which muscles you are working during the workout? Do you feel like it’s just a full-body effort the entire time rather than targeting and knowing what you’re working? Are you losing that mind-body connection? Are you tuning out? Are you bypassing the nervous system? (Again, more on that later!)

Okay, lots of questions. You may have nodded in response to some and shook your head at others. And that is okay. We just really want to start analyzing the workouts we’re doing, or the classes we’re taking, and see if they could be contributing to that feeling of “burnout.”

Okay, let’s get into it! What exactly is burnout?

𝙎𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙩

Some signs of fitness burnout can include:

Systemic fatigue. You’re just exhausted. Maybe all the time, maybe just certain times of the day. Doing simple tasks feels like a tough job.
You’re sore all the time. You know that delayed soreness (DOMS) you get after a workout? That is okay. But, we want to determine if that soreness is present for long periods of time … and frequently. Maybe your quads or shoulders feel sore all week, and you just don’t have the physical capacity to do your next workout. Or maybe you struggle through the pain. Let’s go off on a little tangent here, because this subject is actually super important. When we experience constant soreness, this is a sign of chronic inflammation in the body. We do want some inflammation after workouts so that the muscles can rebuild even stronger; however, we do not want constant soreness. And, in fact, soreness is not a requirement and it is not a good indicator of an effective workout. Occasional soreness may happen, and that’s okay! But is it all the time? Why do we even get sore? Again, soreness is an indicator of increased inflammation and blood flow to the affected muscles. Commonly, soreness follows new exercises or eccentrically loaded exercises (this means the work is harder as the muscle is lengthening). Just because you are not sore after your workout doesn’t mean you didn’t tear the muscles down effectively. You can still have an amazingly effective workout without soreness. In fact, our goal over here at BarreAmped® is that you leave class feeling STRONG, invigorated, worked, fatigued in the muscles (you know, that shaky jelly-leg feeling? We love it!) and are ready for MORE!
You’re not sleeping well. Maybe you’re over-working in that fight-or-flight nervous system response in longer periods than you think, and it’s actually super hard for your body (and your mind) to rest at night! Maybe the quantity of sleep is there, but not the quality.
You’re dreading your next workout. Not everyone is motivated every single day to workout, but are you noticing you’re literally dreading that next workout? It just sounds so cumbersome and stressful? Dragging yourself to the gym (or wherever you find your workouts) is just weighing heavily on you.
Decreased performance. You’re noticing your lifts are less efficient, or weights that may have been light for you before are now feeling extra heavy. Maybe you’re breathing heavier and you’re finding yourself feeling dizzy or light-headed during the workout. You may even notice an increased heart rate; more than usual.
You’ve hit a plateau. You feel like you’re stuck. You may be thinking: “I haven’t changed anything! Why am I not seeing any more results?” Some days, you may feel like you are going “backwards!”
You’re irritable or have constant mood swings. This could be due to a number of things, but stress can mess with our appetites, our hormones, and our cellular metabolism. We might feel like we have less capacity to deal with situations, and we’ve noticed we are not tolerating things as well as we are used to. We may feel nervy and edgy, and we may be chronically and reflexively clenching our jaw or squeezing our glutes as a response.

Even if you only said “yes” to a few of these, it’s important to look at what we can do when we are experiencing signs of burnout.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤?

The number one thing we can do if experiencing any level of burnout is:

Take a break. This doesn’t mean you have to stop working out forever or even for a while. This doesn’t mean you need to stop doing the workouts you love. All it means is it might be time for a few recovery days. These could be active recovery days. You could walk, or swim, or do some active stretching. These recovery days could also be lazier days where you just focus on different things you love doing and give your body a physical rest. How long should the rest be? That depends on you. Maybe it’s a day. Maybe it’s two days. Maybe it’s a week! (You won’t lose your fitness results, I promise. In fact, you may come back stronger and with more muscle mass because you’ve allowed your muscles to actually heal.)

We can also:

Adjust the workout routine. Did the break help you feel better overall? It might be a good time to add in a few permanent rest days each week. These can change week to week if needed, but it’s important to allow a day or two for your body to recover. Maybe you’ve been working the same muscle groups multiple days in a row. Can you adjust your routine to make sure you’re not working the quads Monday and Tuesday, for instance? An example here is: Monday is upper body and cardio, Tuesday is lower body, Wednesday is core day, Thursday is upper, Friday is lower, Saturday and Sunday are rest days. This is just an example but it allows for two rest days and it splits up muscle groups.

Another thing we can do:

Prioritize sleep and nutrition. We talk a lot about the quantity of sleep – but how is the quality of your sleep? How is your nutrition? Are you fueling your body to support the workouts that you’re doing?