The Right Balance for Training – Without Overtraining

“Donnieeee, what’s up my dude?”

Like clockwork, same time different day, checking in for my daily helping of the iron paradise. Other than the fact that my fellow “sweat enthusiasts” and I preformed a slightly different workout and – to everyone’s pleasure – arrive in a fresh set of cloths, the mornings are pretty consistent. Same time, same people, each uniquely motivated by some deep desire, warranting a pre-5am wake-up.

Getting your Sweat On is a good thing, but so is resting, being social, your career, as well as pursuing other interests (this list can go on and on…).  So you may be asking yourself the same questions that I’ve been pondering as I’ve watched the hours of weekly exercise mount over the years:

Where’s the trade-off?
What’s the optimal balance?
How can we get the best of all worlds?

Why You Should Workout….

Right up there with diet and sleep, exercise rounds out the core list of interventions we can leverage to optimize health. One of the biggest risk factors we face with age is the loss of lean muscle mass (or Sarcopenia), research has shown that physically inactive people can lose as much as 3-5% of their muscle mass each decade after age 30. This effect gains some serious steam when you approach the 50 year marker and beyond (1).  Resistance exercise –of some shape or form –  is your fix to combat this natural deterioration. Finding a way to progressively challenge your muscles will put you in a position to be dancing at your grandkids (or great grandkids) weddings, rather than being rolled in via chair (assuming we dont have robotic legs at that point). So in this case it’s true, if Ya don’t use it, Ya Lose It! Oh, and if you think your to old to start, take a look here.

If becoming weak and feeble as you age isn’t a good enough reason to give the muscles a pump, why not do it for your brain. At this point, there has been a clear correlation between exercise and brain activity, specifically neurogenesis- or the creation of new neurons (2). Studies have shown that physical activity endues the release of “feel good” endorphins – most notably Serotonin and Dopamine – giving participants that euphoric “runners high”.

Anything Else?

Well, if your dying to know, resistance training effectively increases muscle mass, which in turn increase your metabolic rate, fights obesity & depression, increases longevity and staves off metabolic disease (3). All from a weekly dose of 150 minutes, or five 30-minute sessions.  Pretty good deal, but just as you may become bored with the same workout routine week-in and week-out, so does your body…

Don’t Shy Away from “Changing it Up”

When you initially task a muscle with a new movement the brain does brainy things and begins to neurologically figure out how to complete these tasks in the most efficient way possible. In other words, the brain hashes out how to preform the movement(s) expending the least amount of energy possible. The more you repeat them the more efficient you become.

In order to continue to see (and feel) progression after the first few months of a new routine, you’ll need to “switch it up”. Depending on your goals, you can look into altering the Load (resistance), Velocity (speed) and Complexity (movements that engage more muscle fibers) to continue seeing – and feeling – improvements(4).  You want to literally keep your body guessing!

You may already be intuitively challenging yourself, such as increasing the weight (or resistance) for a movement.   Simple adjustments to the three factors above are a great way to alter a workout and reap the physical and physiological rewards. It’s preforming the same exercise, with no variations, over an extended period of time that will bring you to that evil “Gains Plateau”.  Keep in mind, your body is striving for efficiency, what was once a great calorie-burning workout may become no better than the average walk.  A study that compared energy expenditure (calories burnt) between participants who exercised frequently to those who exercised moderately found:

“Total energy expenditure increases with physical activity at low activity levels but plateaus at higher activity levels as the body adapts to maintain total energy expenditure within a narrow range.”

In other words, the highly active subjects were not seeing any major calorie burning advantage over the course of 24-hours compared to subjects who were just moderately active. They may have been burning more calories during the actual exercise but their bodies efficient use of energy the rest of the day made up for it.

So, exercise is pretty damn important, and brings forth many physiological and psychological  benefits. But is it possible to push a good position and, how do I say this…. Make it Bad?

But Don’t Workout Too Much…

Here’s the deal, most people do not partake in sufficient, consistent exercise. For the larger population it’s intermittent at best, but what about those on the other end of the spectrum, could this minority actually be pushing it a bit to far?

An “Exercise Addict” is a term you may jokingly call your friend as they get up 7am Sunday morning to get their sweat on, but this is a real problem for a small subset of the population. Research has estimated about 3% of the general population may have a relationship with exercise that could be detrimental to their overall health (5). What is the criteria that may place one in this category…

• Tolerance: increasing the amount of exercise in order to feel the desired effect, be it a” buzz” or sense of accomplishment;
• Withdrawal: in the absence of exercise the person experiences negative effects such as anxiety, irritability, restlessness, and sleep problems
• Lack of control: unsuccessful at attempts to reduce exercise level or cease exercising for a certain period of time;
• Intention effects: unable to stick to one’s intended routine as evidenced by exceeding the amount of time devoted to exercise or consistently going beyond the intended amount;
• Time: a great deal of time is spent preparing for, engaging in, and recovering from exercise;
• Reduction in other activities: as a direct result of exercise social, occupational, and/or recreational activities occur less often or are stopped;
• Continuance: continuing to exercise despite knowing that this activity is creating or exacerbating physical, psychological, and/or interpersonal problems.

If your checking a-lot of those boxes above, take some time to re-assess. There’s no good in being so obsessed with #fitspo that your actually risking your overall health.

Habit, Routine, Lifestyle

From start to finish, Life is an ongoing game of balance and re-balance. The factors that bring you to this steady-state vary from person-to-person and shift throughout ones life. So much so, I’d say Finding Balance is a Daily Practice. One of the best ways to put yourself in striking distance of this daily goal is by the formation of healthy habits. Adequate sleep, proper nutrition and sufficient physical activity are three boxes you should strive to check-off each day. Daily habits morph into routine, and routine to Lifestyle. It’s about putting yourself in a position to Win Each Day.

What Winning means, is up to You…