The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends anywhere from 75 to 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a week for adults, combined with strength training.
Exercise is essential for a healthy, balanced lifestyle, but sometimes people push that idea to the extreme: compulsive exercise.
Compulsive exercisers find comfort in physical activity, similar to the way binge eaters feel about food. They become obsessed with exercise to an unhealthy degree.
Compulsive exercisers are willing to sacrifice their health and social lives to burn calories, setting them apart from people who simply enjoy fitness. They have even been known to work out when sick or injured.
“Too much of a good thing can still be a bad thing in this case,” said Chantelle Russell, assistant director for fitness at the Student Recreation Center. “I think compulsive exercise happens a lot more than we can tell. There are different degrees of compulsive exercise.”
Determining when someone is addicted to exercise can be difficult, according to rec center literature. Rec center employees can tell when a student enters and leaves the building by how often his or her ID card is scanned, but simply too many people pass through for employees to notice individuals’ excessive exercise trends.   
The rise of American obesity often overshadows the issue of compulsive exercise or is grouped under the umbrella of eating disorders. Although compulsive exercisers may also suffer from eating disorders, they often exist independently.
Much like eating disorders, body image problems are often the root of compulsive exercise.
According to “The Athletic Woman’s Survival Guide,” by Carol L. Otis and Roger Goldingay, women generally feel pressure to be thin, and men feel pressure to gain muscle mass.
“For women, getting in shape often means getting thinner rather than developing cardiovascular fitness, muscles strength, flexibility and endurance,” Otis and Goldingay wrote. “This is much different from the ‘get fit’ message many men hear, which emphasizes getting bigger and stronger.”
Russell said many people come to the rec center and focus on only one area of fitness, such as cardio or strength.
“Some people will just come in here and do half an hour of just strength training,” she said. “Balance and moderation are incredibly important when exercising.”
The rec center recommends the same workout guidelines as the American College of Sports Medicine, which is a combination of cardiovascular exercise, strength training and
flexibility work.
Many students already get a variety of exercise, such as University junior Jeannette Kranick. When Kranick works out, she typically runs two miles and lifts weights.
“I just really love working out; it’s like a challenge,” Kranick said. “I feel accomplished afterward.”
Other students, such as University sophomore Maris Thompson, combine cardio, ab work and stretching in their fitness routines.
“I exercise to feel better about myself and hopefully look better one day,” Thompson said. “It also really helps me relieve stress.”
The rec center is using new techniques to educate students about healthy fitness and nutrition habits. In the second week of winter term, rec center employee and University senior McKenzie Schmidt began taping informational slips of paper to exercise machines. Schmidt chose to do this as her practicum project to promote health awareness as part of her work with the Health Center’s Peer Health Education Program.
“I was thinking that people read magazines when they exercise, so I wanted people to read accurate and relevant health information, too,” Schmidt said.
Compulsive exercisers have several campus resources through the University Counseling & Testing Center and the rec center, such as counseling and personal trainers.
“Sometimes it’s more than something you can just deal with on your own,” Russell said.

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