She used to get up at 3am to run 26.2 miles, but Personal Trainer Rebecca Cox found that overcoming a brief period of exercise addiction in her early twenties made her a much better trainer.
When our mate Rebecca Cox asked a fellow personal trainer (a high-profile fitness celebrity at that) what he does if he feels clients are working out too much or becoming obsessed with training, his response was ‘F** it, I tell them to do as much as they can. I want them to go for it.’
Hmmm. Responsible. As someone who used to regularly run a marathon before work, Coxy found that overcoming a brief period of exercise addiction in her early twenties made her a much better trainer.
I’ve always tackled sport pretty aggressively and when I started running in my early twenties, the mileage soon started creeping up. I’d add a few miles here, a few miles there, until one day I woke up at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep so I ran a marathon (the London marathon route).
I’d change out of my running gear in pub toilets so my boyfriend wouldn’t know I’d run home from work.
I know it sounds pretty crazy but that became the norm. Once a week I’d get up 3am and run 26.2 miles before work. I stopped walking or taking the bus and ran everywhere. People started commenting on the amount of exercise I was doing so I’d lie about it. I’d even change out of my running gear in pub toilets so my boyfriend wouldn’t know I’d run home from work.
It wasn’t my intention to lose weight but all the mileage meant I was very small, my periods stopped for almost two years and I was pretty cranky through sheer exhaustion. I also lost all fitness. I didn’t have much strength as my muscles had pretty much wasted away and my cardiovascular system wasn’t up for doing anything of any intensity. I could only plod.
My hardcore exercising lasted for around a year until we moved overseas and I trained as a personal trainer. Becoming a PT, learning about science and the biology of the body, helped me really understand the damage I was doing to myself and how ‘unhealthy’ all this exercising actually was. I reduced the amount I was doing and started to feel much better for it.
I didn’t have much strength as my muscles had pretty much wasted away and my cardiovascular system wasn’t up for doing anything of any intensity
I signed up for races and committed to getting fast times, which meant that I had to train healthily. I needed to build strength and speed so I gave myself short but punishing circuit sessions that meant I couldn’t run for hours, even if I wanted to. Rest days became essential. I saw how much fitter and healthier I was from switching to just four quality hours a week instead of 25.
I was lucky. My exercise addiction was a dalliance and I got out pretty unscathed. I lost a boyfriend but that was it. Now as a personal trainer I have a responsibility to show a healthy attitude to exercise.
I saw how much fitter and healthier I was from switching to just four quality hours a week instead of 25.
I encourage a moderate and sustainable approach to training. Life is too short to be clocking hours up in the gym, I want clients to work hard in the sessions but keep them short and intense – that’s where you get those endorphins – and realise that rest days are as important a part of training as the exercise itself.
Read more about exercise addiction and take the exercise addiction test here.
Visit Rebecca’s website lifeafterdeskpt.com
