COACH’S CORNER, continued
vomit, you’re definitely overdoing it. You have absolutely nothing
to gain by going through such a grueling training session. On the
contrary, you actually have a lot to lose. The more fatigued you
are, the easier injuries happen.
Even if you aren’t injured, the additional stress you place on
your body won’t lead to faster overall progress in the end. So why
do it? Ego, that’s why. Check your ego at the door if you want to
stay injury-free.
5
Symptom #5: Your body fat percentage increases.
Are you getting flabby in spite of training hard?
If you exceed your body’s ability to recover repeatedly, your
hormonal balance will tip towards a higher amount of stress hormones (cortisol, among others). These stress hormones lead to an
increased breakdown of muscle, meaning you actually lose lean
body mass in spite your hard training efforts. As if that weren’t
enough, elevated stress hormones make it very easy for you to
gain more body fat. The net result is that you’ll lose muscle while
gaining fat.
How You Can Prevent Overtraining
You can use a number of procedures to identify when you’ve
been training too hard. These include measuring resting heart rate
in the morning, tracking grip strength by using a dynamometer or
special tools that measure heart rate variability. Depending on
how serious you take your training, you might want to look into
these advanced techniques. A simpler approach requires you to
optimize recovery in combination with training smart.
The three factors with the biggest influence on recovery are
your sleep quality, your nutrition, and the compounded amount of
other stressors in your life. Let’s take a brief look at each of these
areas.
Good Sleep Quality
The most important requirement for athletic progress. During
your sleep, your body switches into an anabolic state. This is
when most of the recovery from training takes place and your
body adapts to the demands you placed on it. New tissues are
formed and muscles get stronger. Tendons become more durable
and bones denser. There’s also a lot of activity in your brain. Low
sleep quality prevents all these recovery processes. Sleep deprivation lowers your ability to learn just as much as your chance of
making progress in the gym.
To optimize your sleep you should be in bed and sleeping before
10 PM every night. Make sure your bedroom is as dark and silent
as possible and avoid any bright lights after 7 PM to allow your
body to wind down (e.g., cellphones, computer screens, TVs).
Bright lights will keep you awake, as they are nature’s indicator of
daytime. Additionally, don’t drink any coffee after lunch, as caffeine will stay in your bloodstream for a very long time and lower
16
your sleep quality through increased secretion of stress hormones.
Try these sleep optimizations for a month and you’ll surprised
how much more energy you’ll have in the morning.
Good Nutrition
Another important cornerstone of recovery from training. Your
best bet for long-term success through good nutrition is to follow
Jack LaLanne’s advice: “If man made it, don’t eat it.” Limit your
diet to meat, veggies, nuts, and fruit to maximize the nutrients
you put at your body’s disposal.
Make sure that your breakfast includes a complete source of
protein like eggs or meat. Avoid sources of refined carbohydrates
(e.g., soda, pasta, bread, sweets) like the plague. These empty
calories actually stress your body instead of providing nutrients
for healthy growth (they do grow some things in your body
though, like the bacteria that cause tooth decay and fungi in your
intestine).
Lower The Stress You Have In Your Life.
You can do this by avoiding stressful situations, training yourself to react calmly, practicing meditation and taking up a relaxing hobby. However, don’t just limit your efforts to reducing emotional and psychological stress. Your body is also stressed by toxic
substances in your food and water for example. Buy organic grocontinued on page 18
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