You might have noticed that you start feeling tired after you work out. It is important to know that this is the way our body adapts to our new fitness regimen and also, it’s a way to tell that you that your limit has been reached.

Also, it is true that you won’t be able to completely avoid getting this fatigue, but there are ways to help you feel a little bit better when you are working out. It is also important to know what causes it and what you can do to improve it.

Understand the Causes

One of the first causes is dehydration. As you are working out, you sweat and you lose electrolytes and water. When their levels are less than optimum, it will lead to exhaustion and affect your cognitive and physical performance.

Your diet can also be a cause of fitness fatigue. As your body needs fuel to complete its daily tasks it takes it from your food. Your food will become glucose and the extra glucose into glycogen. When you work out, your body will use your glucose first, and then when it is out of it, the extra glycogen will become glucose again to give you energy. But when you use all of your glycogen you get exhausted after your workouts.

Another cause can be overheating. When you work out, the temperature of your body can rise, as the blood is directed to the skin to help cool down your body. Sometimes, the circulatory system gets overwhelmed and will make the temperature rise even higher, lowering performance and causing fatigue.

Not having muscular endurance is another reason why you can get fitness fatigue. If you start a strenuous routine without warming up, this can cause fatigue too. You will need to learn to build your muscle endurance with a tailored routine.

Having a poor training technique can cause not only exhaustion but also can cause many other problems. One of the things you could be doing wrong is breather or excessively swaying your arms.

And finally, overexertion, which is common for athletes that practice endurance exercises. This leads the muscle fibers to break down and stresses the kidneys. Some of the signs can be vomiting, nausea, fever, and decreased urine output.

Find Effective Solutions

Now that we know the causes of fitness fatigue, we want to share some of the solutions. One of the first and most important ones is having a balanced diet. Your daily intake should contain carbohydrates, proteins, vegetables, and fruits. Which will help maintain the glycogen levels in the muscles. The consumption of proteins should be around 20-30% of your intake of calories, and the intake of healthy fats should be the remaining 10-15%.

It is also important to time the intake of food to your exercising. Always try and eat a snack or light meal around two hours before your workout. Also, it is important to avoid doing so on a full or empty stomach. Make sure this snack or meal is high in protein as it will help your muscles to recover and the workout stress.

Another way to avoid fitness fatigue is by drinking more water. This is crucial to do not only during the day but especially during your workouts to prevent muscle fatigue and dehydration. If possible, drink around 12 8-oz glasses of water a day and around 10 ounces 20 minutes before your workout.

You’ll need to improve your aerobic capacity. One way you could have to improve your endurance is by gradually increasing your aerobic capacity through interval training. You can also do this by changing things every once in a while, and incorporating other types of workouts.

Another option is cross-training or mixing strength base workouts with aerobic ones. Whatever method you choose, will give a boost of oxygen in the blood to keep the muscles working longer and prevent the buildup of lactic acid.

It is important that you pay attention to your movements to see if you are doing incorrect movement patterns or muscle imbalances. You’ll need not only to have the right flexibility and strength to finally get the correct form during your workout. If this is something you can’t achieve, then the solution will be to modify your exercise or decrease the weight you are lifting.

When you are not doing your workout in the correct form, your efficiency will be decreased and you’ll burn more energy. If you can, use a mirror to get the proper feedback, allowing you to see if you are using the correct form and highlighting what techniques and adjustments need to be made.

And finally, it is always important to recover and rest. You should complete not only warm-ups but also cool-downs for around 10 or 5 minutes every time you work out. Always start slowly and then increase the intensity, which will help your muscles to be gradually challenged and can be built over time.  

Dynamic warm-ups like dynamic stretching, foam rolling, or mobility exercises are a great way to get your body ready to move and primed.  Every time you do strength repetitions or have workout sessions, it is important to have adequate rest. You should be able to catch your breath between any exercise sets.

Always make sure you are listening to your body. Fatigue means your body hasn’t recovered yet. If this hasn’t happened yet, you can perform active recovery, which can be doing low-intensity and low-impact workouts, like yoga, light swimming, or walking. And don’t go back to perform higher intensity workouts until you know you are fully recharged and recovered.

And finally, remember that sleep is one of the most important things you can do for recovery. You need to allow your body to repair by getting plenty of rest.

Conclusion

Now that you know what causes fitness fatigue and what can you do as a solution, it is important that you follow these steps and tips, so you can enjoy your workouts and prevent major fatigue to happen.

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