When Ishan Choudhary, 38, first felt a stab of pain in his left shoulder a week after in-building diving-push-ups in his fitness routine, he ignored it. He figured he was supremely fit and could take a few aches and pains. A techie, Choudhary had been combining kickboxing sessions with intense workouts at the gym for over three years. From 30-minute sessions initially, his workouts now touched an alarming eight hours a day split over four hours each in the morning and evening.

However, the pain persisted for weeks and Choudhary continued to exercise. The pain became excruciating and stayed with him even when he wasn’t exercising. Not surprisingly, he was diagnosed as a case of over-exercise — a condition that is increasingly catching up with fitness freaks.

Or take Shwetank Bansal, 28, a long-distance runner and body-builder — a classic case of a person who over- exercises. He does a cardio workout for 70-80 minutes in the morning and muscle-building for nearly two hours in the evening. He even pops painkillers to stick to his exercise schedule.

With the benefit of hindsight, he reels off problems that accompany over-exercising: “Hair-fall, under-eye circles, muscle soreness and breakdown, backaches and tissue breakdown. And depression if you are unable to keep up the fitness routine.” The reason for his frenetic pace is obvious. Five years ago Bansal tipped the scales at 120kg. Today, he weighs 86 kg and is determined not to gain back the odious kilos.

Prateek Gupta, consultant orthopedic and sports surgeon and head of sports medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, says: “Since 2002, there’s been a 200 per cent rise in patients with over-exercise related injuries.”

Over-exercising can have disastrous results. As they pursue six-pack or eight-pack abs or a size zero figure in a specific time period, people are hitting the gym with a vengeance. And this coupled with hitting a plateau despite intense exercise is playing trouble-maker. Besides, ill- informed trainers also egg on their clients to overdo it.

Ajay Ahluwalia, fitness trainer at Gold’s Gym, Gurgaon, says that over- exercise is common with men who’ve been gymming for over three months. He adds: “The release of pheromones during exercise boosts the feel good factor and there’s the visible muscle beef up. They think adding 30 minutes more to the routine will fetch better results.”

WHAT IS OVER-EXERCISING?

Fitness trainer Aarti Kilpady Prasad: says: “If an activity is suggested thrice a week and you do it daily or rather than the recommended one hour you do it for two hours, you are over-training.”

While exercising, keep in mind the FIT (Frequency, Intensity and Time) principle. Kiran Sawhney of Fitnesolutions, Delhi says: “Increase either the frequency or intensity or time duration at a time. All three or even two at the same time mustn’t be increased.”

She says that there’s a threshold level for the body and people who lead sedentary lives must go slow when they start exercising. Conversely, for someone who exercises regularly, 45 minutes to an hour, five to six times a week is enough. A day’s rest in-between is essential.

WHEN THE ALARM BELLS GO OFF

The symptoms indicating over-exercise show up fast. To begin with, right after a workout muscles being exercised, begin to hurt. Watch out for exhaustion and being drenched in sweat. “You know you are overworked if you stumble when you walk after running on the treadmill or have difficulty lifting your arms when changing clothes,” says Mickey Mehta, India’s leading holistic fitness guru.

You can be sure that you’re over-training if your body craves for rest. There can be a loss or gain in appetite or even irritability, body aches, pains, and disturbed sleep.

Another indicator will be the resting heart rate that’ll be higher than the normal of 70-72 heartbeats per minute.

HEALTH RISKS

While keeping fit might be good for the heart over-exercise is certainly not. Rajiv Passey, consultant intervention cardiologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, says: “An exercise routine should not exceed beyond what’s prescribed for a person’s age and fitness level. It strains the heart and can lead to heart attacks. ”

Another fallout of exercising too much can be a drastic fall in blood sugar levels making a person hypoglycemic, leading to seizures, unconsciousness, permanent brain damage and even death. You can expect injuries too like shin split, tendon strain, frozen shoulder, ligament sprain, lower back or knee pain, tight muscles and, muscle rupture and tears. Weight lifting can lead to back, shoulder, wrist and ankle strain, and injuries caused by running on the treadmill can hit knees, the lower back and ankles. The intensity can range from acute to chronic.

Says Gupta: “The long-run implications are serious. For example, a backache can take the form of lumber spondylosis resulting in back numbness. There can also be a new bone formation that can be very painful. And the worst part is that these are irreversible.”

Injuries can be cured with complete rest. Says Gupta: “Normally complete rest is advised for three months coupled with medicines for three to six weeks. The exercise can be resumed but care should be taken not to push strained muscles.”

So, listen to your body and the advice of your trainer. It’s good to work on your fitness — but certainly not at the cost of your health.

RETIRED HURT

• Back: avoid excessive weight-lifting and excessive working out on the treadmill or too much of any exercise

• Wrist: avoid excessive weight-lifting, increasing the intensity of the workout or
the weights drastically

• Knee: avoid spending long hours on the treadmill and wrong posture while exercising, especially when lifting weights

(Some names have been changed)