Who Is High Intensity Exercise For (And Who It Is Not For!)

WHO IS INTENSE EXERCISE GOOD FOR?

You may have the impression that I'm anti high intensity exercise… Which is not true. I'm not against it, in fact, I teach quite high intensity bootcamp classes once in a while. I don't think that they're bad but we have to know who is the high intensity exercise good for, and who it isn't.

High Intensity Exercise Can Be Great for Some People

For a person who…
💪 Is generally healthy.
💪 Sleeps well.
💪 Manages her stress well.
💪 Eats enough.
💪Takes time off.
💪Takes rest and recovery as seriously as exercise

… HIT training can offer great results.

For this person, exercise can help
🙌🏻Lose fat.
🙌🏻Increase power.
🙌🏻Improve athletic performance.
🙌🏻Lean out.

If these are her goals and she works out intensely, still taking enough rest days too, high intensity training can be totally fine.

But High Intensity Exercise Isn't for Everyone…

Other people though, when doing HIT training, will start feeling worse and getting more and more fatigued.

Intense exercise ISN'T for someone who…
⚠️ Whose metabolism isn't working properly (constipation, low body temperature, fatigue, hair loss, no libido).
⚠️Is sleep deprived.
⚠️Is under eating.
⚠️Have digestive issues (mostly bloating and constipation, sometimes constipation alternating with diarrhea).
⚠️Is constantly sore or injured.
⚠️Never, or rarely takes time off.
⚠️Never rests, is always on the go.

If the latter is you, I really recommend that you cut back on intensity to let your body heal! Ideally, we all want to be super healthy and be able to do whatever workouts we want (high intensity or not) but we can only get there after we've recovered from burnout and metabolic damage.

Healing Is Impossible As Long As We Keep Going Hard

If we don't rest and keep training hard, we push our bodies more and more into deeper and deeper burnout. It's impossible to recover from burnout if we keep doing the same thing over and over. Our thyroid remains suppressed, our adrenals keep working at higher intensity than they really should, and the whole system will get exhausted.

I know that slowing down may not be the thing you want to do, but it's necessary to start feeling better.

If you're looking for a low intensity, low impact strength training program, please check out Simple Strength for Women. It's designed for women who are recovered from hypothalamic amenorrhea, to help them get back to training safely without losing their periods again. But this program works great for also those who feel tired and burned out from too much and too intense exercise.

You can find out more about the program HERE.