Overtraining
Overtraining can be an issue when you go exercising at high intensity for hours every day without having the core strength that helps you keep up strenuous training. Even though stress in small amounts can be beneficial for ourselves, keeping us focused, energetic and alert, too much physical stress is potentially harmful for our bodies. As if this wasn’t good enough, there is also psychological stress in our daily lives. Who hasn’t ever worried about their body image, about their food intake, about their social interactions, or about money might not be sharing same planet with us, therefore they are not of interest in our discussion.
“When working properly, the stress response helps you stay focused, energetic and alert. The stress response also helps you rise to meet challenges.”*
Getting the technique right is another essential element which keeps you away from injury while intensely exercising. Also, don’t forget to balance stress with recovery so your skeletal muscles get the chance to regenerate properly.
Training vs straining is a concept that concerned many fitness professionals for years and it is right to be so. We all have seen too often that crazy guy at the gym doing hundreds of repetitions of single joint exercise till exhaustion and beyond. Where do you think that imbalanced posture is coming from? A too tight chest, too loose back muscles, or nearly inexistent biceps femoris have to have an explanation, after all.
While reducing our body fat levels or keeping them at a minimum might be our all-time resolution as humans, along with toning and building nice lean muscle, it is important to know how we can do that through the maximisation of our catabolic and anabolic systems, where catabolism provides the chemical energy necessary for the maintenance and growth of cells, and anabolism (powered by catabolism) means large molecules broken down into smaller parts and used up in respiration. Many anabolic processes are powered by the hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Anabolic processes tend toward building up organs and tissues. They produce growth of cells and increase in body size – a process involving synthesis of complex molecules. Examples of anabolic processes include the growth and mineralization of bone and increases in muscle mass.
And this is where having a good personal trainer makes a huge difference, helping you manage your stress at a foundation level. It is a matter of health and respect for your own body & mind!
- http://www.precisionnutrition.com/good-stress-bad-stress*
- Anatomy of the Abdomen and Pelvis; a journey from basis to clinic. Universiteit Leiden & Leiden University – Coursera
- Synapses, Neurons and Brains Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Coursera