How often are you exhausted for the rest of your day after a good workout? Perhaps you simply have trouble trying to keep your energy levels up. It’s quite common, actually.
Post-workout fatigue can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Everything from the types of food you eat after exercising to how much sleep you get at night can play a role in energy depletion.
It’s very possible that you could just be pushing yourself too hard.
Common Causes of Being Exhausted After a Workout
I’m not going to add DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) to this list. DOMS occurs easily by simply using muscles that you don’t use often. Depending on the intensity of the workout, DOMS could last anywhere from one to four days.
Instead, I’m focusing more on feeling tired and exhausted throughout the rest of the day after a good workout. For me, it’s akin to feeling like I haven’t slept and am lethargic hours after coming home from the gym.
On some days, I find it extremely difficult to focus on my job or write. Well, that was until I started paying more attention to what I ate.
Pushing too Hard
A lot of people don’t know their limitations. It’s common for trainers and influencers to say you should go all-in and grind yourself into a sticky paste. Unfortunately, not everyone can adapt to intense workouts as easily. Everything from physiology to diet can intervene when it comes to pushing yourself to the limit.
If you’ve never lifted weights before, doing a 500-pound deadlift is probably not a good idea.
Now, I’m not saying that you should take the easy road with your workouts. If you’re not pushing your body in some fashion, you’re not going to do much good. However, you need to know where that line is and not push yourself too far beyond what you can physically handle.
Start with lower weights or reps to figure out your baseline. Then, consistently add more with each workout until you find your upper limit of what you can handle. Proper health and fitness is all about the long game. Don’t try to do too much too soon.
Not Enough Sleep
A lack of sleep can do a lot of things to your body both physically and mentally. It can affect everything from focus and concentration to muscle control. And it’s among the most common issues of why people are exhausted after a workout.
Being too tired can also lead to injuries. Think about this, being awake for 20 hours is the equivalent of having a 0.08% blood alcohol level. That means your body and mind are not in the right place to be lifting weights or performing grueling physical movements.
Something else to consider is that our bodies repair and recover while we sleep. Without proper resting, you’re not giving yourself a chance to repair muscle tears and revitalize for the next day. However, it can take longer than overnight rest to fully recover, which I’ll talk about here in a moment.
Most adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night. It’s imperative that you get as close to that as possible. And I can say that it makes a profound difference in motivation and focus if I hit anywhere over seven hours of sleep. To do this, I like to drink Sleepytime Tea to help put me down.
Inadequate Diet Regimen
A poor diet regimen can easily hold you back whether you’re walking on the treadmill or pressing 150 pounds on the fly machine. Proper nutrition is how we fuel our bodies while delivering nutrients to grow and maintain muscle. Without it, you’ll find it difficult to sustain any intense workout.
Also, your diet will depend on what your end-game goals are for fitness. If you plan on becoming a bodybuilder, then you’ll want more proteins, complex carbs, and healthy fats. This is why you’ll see a lot of weight lifters eat plenty of chicken, eggs, avocados, brown rice, potatoes, etc.
Don’t assume you can continue to eat junk and have optimum results at the gym. Losing weight and becoming fit for the long term often requires lifestyle changes, this includes how and what you eat at home.
Always look up the best practices for dieting depending on the types of workouts you want to do. Some routines will center around specific types of foods for the best results. Without the proper nutrition for your workout, you may easily find yourself tired and lethargic throughout the day.
Glycogen Depletion
Depending on the type of workout you do, you could be depleting glycogen. This is the standard form of energy your body uses. Once it’s gone, you can start to feel lethargic and tired after physical activity.
Glycogen is derived from carbohydrates that your body stores for later use. These carbs can come in a variety of forms ranging from sugars to pasta. Of course, there is a degree of different types of carbs. But, generally speaking, carbohydrates are essentially the beginning building blocks of energy.
This is one of the reasons why Keto and other low-carb diets are so effective for many. When the glycogen is depleted, your body begins using fat for energy. The way a person feels during the transition from carbs to fats is often referred to as “keto flu,” as it can take a few days for you to adjust to the change.
If you’re moving from a carb-rich diet, do so gradually. Give your body enough time to adapt to using fat for energy instead of going all-in. In my case, if I have a total of 120g of carbs throughout the day, I don’t get exhausted after an intense workout. Make a few adjustments to your diet and test the waters, so to speak.
Not Enough Water
Dehydration is often a culprit of exhaustion. A lot of people will experience this without exercising, and not getting enough water in your diet can do a lot of harm overall.
How much water you need depends on a variety of factors. However, experts say that men should drink about 15+ cups and women should drink around 11+ cups per day of various fluids. Of course, this also depends on your physical activity. Situations where you sweat more may require additional cups of water.
Between water and coffee, I probably drink closer to 18 to 20 cups per day.
Water is probably one of the easiest parts to manage in any diet plan. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who still don’t get enough. Have a couple of cups with each meal or keep a 32oz water bottle near you at all times. I have one that I fill three to four times per day.
Not Enough Rest Day
When I talk about rest days, I’m not referring to getting enough sleep. In this case, I’m talking about not giving your muscles enough time to recuperate. Sure, they’ll do some healing overnight. But continued strain from daily workouts can deplete energy levels wicked fast.
By working the same muscle groups continuously, you put yourself at risk. That’s because you’re not giving your muscles time to recover. This is one of the biggest reasons why people will rotate their workouts throughout the week. One day, they might work on the chest and arms and the next will be leg day.
Continued strain on muscles can make you feel exhausted after a good workout, especially if you’re training with weights.
Alternate exercises throughout the week. Don’t focus too much on a single muscle group without giving it enough time to recover. How long this takes depends on the individual, but usually, it could take up to 72 hours to recover, especially from moderate to intense workouts.
Various Medical Conditions
Lastly, there are a lot of medical conditions that can lead you to feel exhausted after a workout. For example, those who struggle with hypoglycemia can have a difficult time keeping alert after an intense round of weight lifting at the gym.
There are simply too many medical conditions to list in this post that can cause you to feel tired. Not to mention that everyone is different, and your specific situation may be completely unique from someone else’s. But, for the love of Pete, don’t self-diagnose by watching videos on TikTok.
If you’re feeling lethargic and none of the above has helped, it may be time to see your physician. There could be something major going on inside you that could cause severe problems later. Never underestimate the value of a proper medical professional’s opinion.
We’re All Unique
At the end of the day, it’s difficult to narrow down what could be causing you to feel exhausted after a workout because we all have unique physiology. Sure, there are some things that will affect the majority of humans across the board. However, not everyone will be affected by the same thing in the same way.
Google is exceptionally helpful, but it’s not a diagnostic tool for your health. It’s always better to see your physician to address any problems you might have while working out.