Too much exercise can shrink the heart and lungs. Lot of doctors these days are warning against long distant running. They say that are bodies are meant for quick bursts but not long endurance running.

The best advice that I can give you is to listen to your body. If you get any unusual pain then stop. A headache that comes on quickly is a big warning sign. Dizziness and fatigue are also warning signs. Be sure that you are exercising correctly or you can have dizziness from holding your breath or from letting your head hang down as you are lifting as I found out years back. Back pains and other joint and muscle pains are your warning signals.

Look for signs of over-training. I was over-training and was experiencing insomnia when exercise should help with sleep. There are many signs for over training such as agitation and so on.

But the best advice is to listen to your body. My 45 minute workout might be too much for you or maybe too little. I do not believe in jogging but I do believe in interval training that might have jogging as part of it. You will find many in here that swear by jogging so I am not knocking those that do but it is something that I do not prefer doing.

I guess that you can look at over training the same way you look at over eating. Your stomach will tell you that you had enough and you know the results if you were to ignore it. The same is true with exercise. When your body says "enough" then give it the rest it needs. I workout 6 days a week but there are some days that my body tells me that it could use two days of rest and I give it. Actually, my body tells me everyday that it doesn't want to workout but would rather watch TV but that is not the type of body talk that I am speaking of.

That's the best advice I can give.

www.exrx.net/ExInfo/Overtraining.html

I've been doing endurance riding/cycling for a long time now and have not experienced any problems other than being hit by a car about 2 years ago. Whenever I have a doctor visit they say that my resting pulse is really low, that my heart and lungs sound good and that my heart is as stronger than most younger people (I'm 38). I don't know if I believe that it is bad for you. However, there are people that should do certain types of exercise.

A lot of it involves just listening to your body. When I overtrain, I feel old injuries start to open up. When something feels out-of-the-ordinary, like a sore hip or knee, then your body is telling you it's time to rest. When you can't sleep, then it's also time to take a few days off.

Sore muscles mean about a day off; sore joints/tendons mean a good week off from your usual routine, at least. Bite the bullet and do some yoga for a while.

I am afraid to miss any exercise. I have worked so hard to lose some weight (not enough, but I seem to be stuck). I am terrified of gaining any back.

I think I am going to use my stretch into yoga video tomorrow. Today I did cardio toning and abs in a group. I have minor chest pains, and I know I overtrained a tiny bit, but for me, that's major because I have mitral valve prolapse, and my resting heart rate would probably be lower anyway; because I have an irrhythmic beat as it is.

I had muscle spasms today...