I've officially made exercise a problem

As I've said before in other posts, I am training for a figure competition, but I think I'm doing things too hard, but it's hard to stop. It's a little over 8 months away, and I'm dead serious about going to the gym everyday, taking a rest day once a week (if even that often, i pretty much force myself to take a day off). I go and work my hardest and have gone down 5 pounds on the scale in the past month, and have noticed new muscle gain. But, I HAVE to always go. I feel terrible if I don't, but now that I've been going so much I'm dead tired, I get DOMS all the time because I'm pushing myself really hard, and I can't even find the energy to smile anymore.

I know I'm making it a problem for myself, but I don't want to stop. I mean, I WANT to because I know it's mentally and physically draining me right now, but at the same time I don't want to take any more than a single day off or I feel like I've let my dreams go.

Does anyone else feel the same way? you get so into it that its hard to take a break? I have an all-or-nothing type of personality, I guess.

You know how some people think "no pain no gain", and really it's not true, you don't have to be sore the next morning to know you had a good workout. Even though I know that, I still feel disappointed if I don't feel it the next day. But I am usually feeling DOMS somewhere on my body from some previous workout from another day. I feel like I didn't push myself as hard as I could, when I know that I don't HAVE to feel pain to know I'm gaining.

If I just kept going without taking a day off...how bad is that? I do arms/shoulders/back on day one, cardio and core on day two, legs day three, and a full cardio day on day four.

Part of working out is taking a break. Think about it: if you're training and training and training without rest to a point that you hurt yourself, how good will you be in the competition? You need to rest your body and your mind.

I'm taking a huge guess here, but does DOMS mean down on myself? I have no clue. But from the sounds of it you're bordering on compulsive exercise and that's a terrible thing to get bogged down by. Really, any good athelete and otherwise will tell you you need rest days. Don't hurt yourself.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, right?

Don't push too hard. Respect your body and the need for rest. You'll get better results and feel better about yourself in the long run if you work with your body instead of against it. The "must-do-at-least-as-well-if-not-better-than- yesterday" attitude will bite you in the rear. Missing a workout should not make you feel bad, and an exercise routine should be invigorating - not "mentally and physically draining".

Ser: Oh! Thank you for that. Haha, I learn something new every day. I guessed at "down on myself" because it fit both uses of the acronym: "But I am usually feeling [down on myself] somewhere on my body..." "I get [down on myself] all the time because I'm pushing myself really hard..."

>> Durr.

Its very bad.

Your central nervous system also needs a break.  You need at least one full day of rest, as well as some deloading weeks (every 6-8 weeks lower the intensity of your workouts).  If you don't do this, your stress hormones go way up, you will burn out and stop seeing improvements.

It is very unhealthy to go full throttle for so long without a break.

You have 8 months til your comp.  You really don't need to be doing so much right now.  Most wait til the final 12-16 weeks before really working hard.  Starting so soon risks burn out, metabolic damage, and severe central nervous system fatigue.

Make long term goals...write a program that will get you through the next few months...start slowly and gradually increase the intensity.  No reason to start out so strong.

Exercise can be an addiction.  Be very very careful.  Comps are fun, and let it BE fun.

I just thought that this would comfort you to know: I am a division I athlete in college, and even we athletes take off every few weeks, and go easy on many of the days. This is so we can have the most effective and efficient workouts on the days that we do push really hard. With that in mind, try using this info to help convince yourself you need to take it easy or fully off to recover and make the other days more effective!

I'm a personal trainer, and I've definitely seen overtraining and it's effects...overtraining is counter-productive; eventually you will see your body start taking from muscle to build new muscle, which is obviously not what you want.

Frustrated is right, for best results you need to know exactly what you're doing and train just enough for optimal results.

See if you have a NASM certified personal trainer at your gym, and solicit their help, I'd reccomend!

i dont know was NASM is, edamame3. is that a US certification? all the trainers at the gym i am at are Can-Fit-Pro certified.

i took a day off and feel a lot better. i think ill schedule in those "off days" its just hard when every day im so excited to work out again. its like....having sex everyday and loving it, but then one day forcing yourself not to do it. lol. best analogy i could come up with right now.