We were made to move – however some people are overtraining, here’s why:
Movement – risks of overtraining.
In the fitness industry today, the word ‘movement’ is used more, to help make people aware it’s all about movement, and not about hard core training.
Hard core training is not for everyone, and for those that we (fitness professionals) are trying to do is to get people to move, not to kill them on their first training workout.
Fitness professionals such as personal trainers have a preconceived reputation – that they are going to push and push you, yell at you, until you spew!
Well not on my watch!
Go back 5-10 years ago, I would have been likely to give some a fair nudge to get them into gear, however now learning more about longevity and overall holistic health, the word ‘movement’ sits nicely in my vocabulary!
The focus in my business is to help those who do not move to mov, and those that are moving to move more efficiently so that they prevent injuries and feel absolutely amazing.
Some sessions may be a bit challenging in their flexibility and mind, but all workouts are designed to help improve mobility, strength, bone density, blood circulation, and mind flow, whilst working with hormones – not against them.
What the hard part is – is to teach those that overtrain! They are instilled with a preconception that the more they train, the more weight they will lose and the faster they will become!
All of this is far from the truth.
Like the ‘health’ industry and the marketing of foods, consumers are of the opinion; the foods that they buy are good for them, which in most cases is not true, (margarine instead of butter, low fat dairy, salt reduced sauces etc),unfortunately they are being mislead, just so that the companies make money, whilst the consumer becomes internally starved by poor nutrients and high amounts of sugar).
Read in these links about sugar and vegetable oils.
Sick from sweets and Sheer Poison! The facts on vegetable, canola, sunflower and rice bran oils.
For decades we have been advised to eat less and exercise more to gain a perfect body. In the exercise world we have evolved from aerobic classes to gyms, to crossfit to F45 to many other fads which require the client to just push harder and harder each time, and go for longer and longer.
Like the huge increase of interest in the running scene, from the popular 5km runs, turns to 10kms, then half marathons to marathons, now the new vibes are trail runs to ultra trail runs. Whilst this may give you satisfaction to complete, you really have to stop and think what it has done to your body – internally, how can your hormones cope with this overload?
With the access to instant gratification on social media before, during and after the event, people are more focused on the engagement of highlighting their achievements, then instantly looking for the next ‘high’ before even stopping and enjoying the moment of completion, and again rewarding their body with some rest and recovery, soaking in the endorphins of what they have just completed. For many it’s ignored and the next item on the bucket list is in sight.
So back to those sedate people that just want to start moving, this onset of ‘ultra trail runs’ etc has just made them freak out even more! They feel that they have to get a ‘little’ bit fit before they even get to a group class, because they feel they will not be able to handle it. This makes me sad, that there is even more of a wedge between movement and sedentary!
What I would like to help explain to those that don’t move much is that we were born to move, NOT RUN, but to move. Back in the days we were to move, walk from cave to cave, camp to camp, village to village. We would move each day to forage for food, be it hunting down a wooly mammoth, fish out of a stream or pick berries, we were always moving. Yes at times we were made to run, but that was to get away from a tiger or to chase an animal for our dinner – it was short, sharp and fast, not an hour in a ‘gym’ environment.
We were made to bend, sit, stand, reach and twist on a regular bases.
However today we sit more than we stand, we don’t even have to get up to change the TV station, some may have reach for the remote, andl in some cases we just use hand signals on the ‘smart TV’s’, so it’s easy to see why movement doesn’t appeal to many of us anymore.
Then when some people try to start to move, they carry more weight than they should and movement feels awkward, hard on the body, the joints, the heart and lungs. This certainly would turn anyone off from moving.
I work with new clients to the ‘movement’ sector by going through simple functional exercises, relating them to our everyday jobs of today, reaching for the clothesline, bending to pick up children, lifting heavy bags, boxes, laundry baskets (sorry for all the domestic examples, but it’s what we have to do each day). Once clients understand how this relates to their ‘everyday’ the sessions don’t seems so unnecessary, then each time they complete these chores/duties at home or work, they can get more done, they feel stronger and less fatigued.
Moderation is the key, once they accomplish one level, we can move to the next.
Now for those that overtrain!
Before you get your back up, I was in this category for a very long time, until I trusted the process and actually wanted to reward my body for all it did for me. To live a healthier life for longer. To repair those broken hormones that prevented me from losing weight and learning to stop, reduce and listen. This is where your ego and ignorance needs to leave the room…………
For many women, when they get that middle spread around their stomach,
– the first thing they say to me is that they want to get rid of it and want to do more ab work – first mistake.
– They want to exercise more to get rid of the tummy – second mistake
– They want to run longer distances because the belly won’t budge (not shift) – third mistake
Let me run you through all of these mistakes, and clarify why these myths you’ve heard are not helping you and they are making your ‘belly’ situation worse!
First mistake – doing more ab specific work such as ‘sit ups’.
All exercises you do will incorporate your core (middle section of your body). This obviously connects the lower part of your body to the upper part of your body, so when you lift, reach, twist, bend (like mentioned before on how we were made) involves using your core.
When you work on lifting heavier weight or placing your body in an uneven situation you’ll use more of your core, when you complete push ups from your toes, the amount of strength through your back will ask your stomach for help, so instead of trying to do sit ups at the end of your session (when you’re fatigued and not holding correct technique) work on perfecting push ups on your toes, then once you can do that – try plates on your back or a weight vest, there are so many more beneficial ways to strengthen your core.
This will incorporate more muscle groups and you’ll get more out of your workout.
Also when you focus on just push ups, you can increase your stomach muscles for sure, however if you do not eat the correct diet to shed the outer layers of fat, what you end up doing is making your stomach look bigger with stronger muscles underneath the fat layers (this applies to working your butt more, you may do more squats per say, but if you’re not shedding fat, you’re enhancing the butt more).
Working just on your stomach with sit ups can weaken the back, due to ignoring this group of muscles and then when you have a weak back, lifting and twisting may harm the back and cause injuries.
Second mistake – train/exercise more.
You need to be aware that exercise is a stress to the body. When you create stress and keep your body in a stressed state (by not allowing recovery) your cortisol levels stay elevated, when your cortisol levels are constantly elevated cortisol ‘home base’ as you could call it, is in the belly!!! So what do you think will happen? – yep your belly will become enlarged and the fat sits in your belly even more.
We were made to ‘spike’ our cortisol occasionally, to keep us alert of prey, to keep us alive and it’s apart of our adrenaline, but what we all seem to do in today’s world, is keep our cortisol level high, by overtraining, eating foods that stress our bodies (again revert back to the Deep Nutrition) and not giving our bodies enough rest, sleep and recovery.
There are two concerns with this ‘exercise more’ – some people will eat more because they are exhausting their bodies, their bodies require more food, but it’s what they eat that can be the problem as well – some people think they should eat less to help lose the weight, but you are stressing your body with no fuel yet wanting your body to do more. You’re body can only work so much without adequate fuel.
If you train correctly you do not have to refuel straight away like you are led to believe (protein shake immediately after training), if you fuel your body with the correct nutrients (good fats and protein), your body will be able to still exercise, but it’s the combination of too much exercise, then either;
- 1. thinking you have the ability to eat whatever you like, and eat too much of the wrong foods; or
- 2. you are starving your body of good nourishment.
Unfortunately people do not execute this method very well, and their end goal of losing the belly fat is far beyond reach due to adding more stress to your body by too much exercise and wrong nutrition or not enough nutrition.
Third mistake – running more/running longer.
Many people think to ‘get fit’ or ‘lose weight’ they need to run 5km, then once accomplished, the snowball effect of the next distance enters their mind, up until they are chasing ultra marathons – this seriously also leads to overtraining.
Our bodies need 4 weeks rest at least, focusing on rest and recovery only after a marathon, but it’s quite distressing how many people ignore this and after two weeks are out running some sort of distance, it may be only 5km etc, but it’s still a strain on the body – causing stress.
Weekend warriors may not realise but the organs in your body, bowels, kidneys, heart, adrenals and lungs along with respective organs have had a huge amount of strain on them and therefore kidneys for examples can start to shut down in such grueling events.
Your nervous system is totally spent with the amount of inflammation within your body, but because this is not visual to your eye, people ignore this and place more strain on them by not fully resting.
Your adrenals that are your ‘back up generator’, will be asked to be used because your kidneys will have run out of steam, then if the adrenals are always backing up for the kidneys they too run out of steam.
When you deplete your adrenals, you run the risk, very highly, of slowing down your metabolism – your metabolism is your main motor and is reliant on your liver and then your liver is in danger.
If you’re more worried about training more, and not replenishing your body with correct supplements and nutrition to nourish these organs, you place more stress on them (cortisol is now locked on full time).
So with cortisol stuck on, adrenals flattened to baseline and your metabolism broken – I’m letting you know you have no chance of reducing that belly fat!
Another factor is that when you run long distances, this does not build muscle, if anything it can deplete muscle mass. For your metabolism to be firing on all cylinders the more lean muscle mass you have the better your motor. This is where some runners may find that they become ‘skinny fat’ or not very ‘toned’ at all. Your body will sacrifice your muscle before it will sacrifice belly fat.
My call to action to you is
– to have a sensible plan to support your goal, if you want to lose belly fat then short sharp training times or distances is what will help you.
– to have a diet that is nourishing your body
– to supplement when needed
– to rest and recovery more than the actual training time itself.
– get a coach to help you, support you and look after you.
To those that are wanting to start an exercise regime – then start with the thought of ‘movement’. Just moving more each day and enjoying what you do is going to be more achievable.
If you are a weekend warrior and love to exercise – you to remember hormones come first, move your body in the way we were made to: some days may include harder training sessions, whilst many other days are just about MOVEMENT.
Lastly – always be kind to yourselves.
Kerrie
Professional health, fitness and wellbeing coach.
