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7 Possible Reasons Your Workouts Feel Difficult
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There’s nothing wrong with feeling a little fatigue when you exercise – it shows that you’re pushing yourself just enough to get the kind of results you want.
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However, when your normal exercise routine is really kicking your ass to the point that getting to the end of the routine is like wading through treacle, it could be that one or more exercise saboteurs are making your workouts feel like more of an ordeal than usual…
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1. Dehydration
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If you haven’t been drinking enough water, when the time comes to exercise, you might find that you have a lot less energy than usual.
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You might also find that your muscles feel achier for longer once your workout is complete because dehydration not only zaps the body of energy, but it makes it harder for muscles to recover effectively.
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So, before you hit the elliptical, make sure that you take a good swig of water, and step up your efforts to maintain optimum hydration throughout the day.
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2. Lack of Protein
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If you don’t eat enough protein, your body won’t be able to maintain its muscle mass, which means that you will get weaker, rather than stronger, even when you’re exercising regularly. Not only that, but a lack of protein can cause fatigue because the amino acids in proteins help to transport oxygen in the blood.
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If you struggle to eat enough protein, invest in some ehp oxyshred and make yourself shake for breakfast, and another one post workout. This will ensure you never feel hungry, or fatigued, especially during exercise, and your muscles will be able to recover more quickly too.
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3. Overtraining
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If you exercise too often or push yourself too hard without giving your body time to recover, then eventually it is going to feel the strain. And so will you when you try to exercise.
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Your body, just like everyone else’s body on the planet, needs time to recover from vigorous exercise. If you don’t give it the time it needs to repair muscles, you will end up hitting a wall, and even worse, you might injure yourself!
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4. Sugar Crashes
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If you eat some quick carbs before you head off to the gym, in a bid to boost your energy levels, you could be doing more harm than good. This is because a sugar crash might just hit you right in the middle of your aerobics class!
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You can prevent this from happening by choosing whole grains and eating them with a small amount of slow release protein before exercising. Give yourself at least 1-2 hours after eating before you get active.
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5. Periods
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If you notice that you can’t work out as hard when it’s your time of the month as you can the rest of the time, it’s pretty likely that your period is causing you to feel less energetic than usual.
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You can counteract this to some extent by avoiding sugary foods (hard, I know) and eating lots of small meals throughout the day instead of three large ones.
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You might also consider taking magnesium and B vitamin supplements to boost your energy. And if you have any other symptoms, have your doctor check you for anaemia. Of course, you could just opt to take it a bit easier too.
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6. Medication
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If taking your medication has made exercising feel more difficult to get through, you might want to look at the side effects. If you feel drowsy or tired, it could be as simple as the medication making you less energetic than you usually are.
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If your medications are over-the-counter drugs, you can ask your doctor or pharmacist to recommend an alternative medication which doesn’t have the same effect.
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However, at the end of the day, your health is more important. If that means you won’t be able to work out quite as hard for a while, well so be it.
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7. You’re Bored
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Another thing that could be making your workouts harder is simple boredom. If you don’t get the same kind of enjoyment out of your workouts as you used to, they’ll feel like much more of a slog to get through. In this case, simply trying something new could be all that’s needed to make exercise easier again.
If your workouts are regularly feeling more difficult than they used to, and none of the culprits above are to blame, it might be worth seeing your doctor. There could be numerous medical conditions which can cause fatigue and make exercise more difficult, even painful to get through.
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