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The
International Conference on Overreaching & Overtraining in Sport:
Physiological, Psychological & Biomedical Considerations, held July
14-17 in Memphis, featured noted scholars from around the world speaking
about overreaching and overtraining. They presented their views and
research in the traditional academic fashion, and much of what was aid was
covered in my last article on overtraining.
But
the symposium presented by Jackie Berning, RD, Ph.D. (University of
Colorado), on energy intake, diet and muscle wasting took me by surprise.
The Conference announcement read, "Dr. Berning's discussion will focus on
the dietary needs and energy intake of athletes. She will address the
issues of appetite suppression, muscle wasting, and the female athlete
triad in her presentation." But, the main point of her discussion was --
well -- "logical." If you "underfuel" while training hard, you’ll
experience muscle wasting, and more easily overtrain. Now, I’ll admit that
she was on topic, but I had expected at least that there’d be some
information on how one would be able to avoid overtraining through
manipulating and controlling balances of various hormones in the body with
food. Macronutrients and micronutrients. You know, Dr. Mauro DiPasquale’s
"Anabolic Diet," Dr. Barry Sears’ "Zone Diet," and other such techniques.
I had expected to hear at least a little something on important
nutritional supplements such as BCAAs, L-glutamine, essential fatty acids,
creatine monohydrate and various other substances which are able to reduce
stress-related catabolic agents such as cortisol. But, alas,
nada.
I say alas, because I believe strongly that your ability to
change hormone balances through diet and supplementation is not only
possible but ubiquitous. It goes hand-in-glove with careful periodization
of one’s training. Together, they are the absolute KEY to avoiding
overtraining while still being able to tolerate (and maximally benefit
from) training stress at levels of frequency, duration, volume and
intensity far beyond the norm.
But let me back up for one moment,
and refresh your memories on how the conference scientists defined
overtraining and overreaching. Then I’ll look at some easy ways you can
maximize your training effectiveness -- WITHOUT overtraining in the
process -- through natural hormonal manipulation techniques of dieting and
supplementing.
"Overreaching: An accumulation of training and/or
non-training stress resulting in a short-term decrement in performance
capacity with or without related physiological and psychological signs and
symptoms of overtraining in which restoration of performance capacity may
take from several days to several weeks.
"Overtraining: An
accumulation of training and/or non-training stress resulting in a
long-term decrement in performance capacity with or without related
physiological and psychological signs and symptoms of overtraining in
which restoration of performance capacity may take from several weeks to
several months."
These two definitions are clearly identical except
for the time periods involved. So we can put these definitions into
clearer perspective, the conference organizers also pointed out:
"In
order to perform optimally, athletes must be adequately trained. However,
if athletes train too intensely and/or too often, they may be susceptible
to short-term and/or long-term decrements in performance capacity as well
as myriad reported physiological, medical, and/or psychological symptoms
of overreaching and overtraining. While the etiology of overreaching and
overtraining is completely understood, understanding the theorized
pathophysiology, physiological and psychological markers, and possible
ways to reduce the incidence of overreaching and overtraining may serve to
decrease the prevalence of overreaching and/or overtraining in
athletes."
OK, let’s look at whether improper eating habits or
supplementation can contribute to overtraining and overreaching for a
moment. Since both are caused by stress, can we assume that the stresses
of improper diet and lack of appropriate supplementation can also cause
overtraining? Absolutely! In fact, probably faster than training can! And
what are the markers associatied with poor diet and supplementation? I
mean, besides the earth-shattering observation made by Dr. Berning that
undereating causes muscle wasting and thus overtraining?
Let me
repeat a point I made in the first article of this series on overtraining.
By the time you’ve observed such markers, interesting though they may be
to inquiring academic minds, it’s too late for we who live in the trench.
Consider these common examples. Is it better to treat obesity (the marker
being excess storage of adipose tissue) or to prevent it? Is it better to
allow your insulin levels to fluctuate wildly by disregarding sound
dietary and supplementation techniques (therby predisposing you to
increased catabolic activity and thus overreaching / overtraining), or to
eat and supplement carefully to prevent catabolism and overreaching /
overtraining?
No, fellow iron freaks, the best approach lies in
avoiding the appearance of such markers in the first place. But it isn’t
just about insulin and catabolism. Overtraining and overreaching have
several markers (symptoms) that even non-scientists are able to discern.
The table below describes some of the more common markers and
identification methods that bodybuilders can easily employ.
First,
you should be aware that most scientists are in agreement that
overtraining and overreaching markers are generally different for
anaerobic and aerobic athletes. Bodybuilding is an anaerobic activity
because you remain in the ATP/CP and Glycolytic pathways of musclualr
energetics, rarely (if ever) venturing into the aerobic pathway. Of
course, this may not apply to those of you who ill-advisedly spend endless
hours on the treadmill or exercise bike. There is ample evidence that some
of these markers are powerfully affected by both the composition and the
frequency of your diet, and also by the use of various nutritional
supplements.
Anaerobic athletes (including bodybuilders), then,
usually experience "sympathetic" overtraining symptoms (called "basedowian
overtraining"), whereas aerobic athletes are more susceptible to
parasympathetic overtraining (called "addisonoid overtraining"). Briefly,
the sympathetic nervous system speeds up bodily functions thereby
increasing energy needs, and the parasympathetic system slows down bodily
functions thereby conserving energy. Together they comprise the automomic
nervous system, which acts on blood vessels, glands and internal organs.
The somatic nervous system, on the other hand, primarily innervates your
sleletal muscles. Here are a few of the markers that are common to
bodybuilders, how to detect them, and how to prevent them:
|
Marker (Symptom) |
Detection |
Avoided By |
|
Psychological
Profile Changes |
Mood changes
such as irritability and inability to concentrate are among the
easiest to detect. |
Simply be
objective with yourself, and don’t shrug off such psychological
markers as merely fleeting or unimportant. Often, your diet is
responsible. Controlling blood sugar has the net effect of altering
hormonal balances in your body, particularly insulin, glucagon and
the adrenal hormones. |
|
Cardiovascular
and Hematological Manifestations |
Altered Heart
Rate And Blood Pressure, as well as hematological alterations
including iron status, protein status, electrolyte balance,
phosphorus / calcium balance, elevated blood urea nitrogen, elevated
uric acid, and a skewed lipoprotein balance (including cholesterol,
triglycerides and phospholipids) |
Keep tabs on
your resting heart rate and blood pressure (mornings, before getting
out of bed). Radical changes can signal overtraining. An occasional
blood test is certainly in order for anyone in hard training in
order to detect fluctuations in these markers which are frequently
dietary in nature. |
|
Changes In
Endocrine (Hormone) Profiles |
|
An occasional
blood test is certainly in order for anyone in hard training in
order to detect fluctuations in these markers
|
|
Musculoskeletal
Problems |
Abnormal aches
and pains, nagging injuries that seem not to heal, or other related
symptoms are usually brought on by "cumulative microtrauma," the
most frequent cause of most symptoms and markers of
overtraining. |
When this
happens, it’s frequently the result of improper periodization in
your training. However, if you feel that your training protocol is
adequate, look to your diet and supplement protocol. You will
probably find that you are not controlling catabolic responses to
exercise. |
|
Immune
Suppression Accompanying Illness Rates
|
Succumb easily
to cold or flu bugs or other pathogens in our environment.
|
Resolve to begin
periodizing your training, and follow some simple guidelines for
dieting and supplementing such as those mentioned immediately
below. |
|
Appetite
Suppression. |
Muscle wasting
or easily put on fat despite low calorie dieting.
|
Blood sugar
levels that are both too high (hypo-glycemia) and too low
(hyperglycemia) can cause this to occur. Clearly, this is a dietary
problem that can easily be solved by eating frequent (small) meals
with adequate protein, carbohydrates (preferably low glycemic index
carbs) and fat (preferably unsaturated fats such as canola or olive
oil). |
Your Hormones
and Overtraining:
Let's set the
record straight right now on the importance of controlling your hormones.
How you eat, sleep, train and supplement has an effect on hormone
balances. In turn, hormones will determine your rate of muscle growth and
repair, and also whether you’re getting rid of fat or avoiding putting it
on in the first place.
Steroidal hormones
are produced from cholesterol in the gonads and the cerebral cortex, while
polypeptide hormones are manufactured in the many other glands from
various amino acid combinations. Hormones regulate almost all your bodily
functions. They regulate growth and development, help you cope with both
physical and mental stress, and they regulate all forms of training
responses including protein metabolism, fat mobilization and energy
production. In a nutshell, they do it all.
The hormones will
act in three different ways, basically. They can alter the rate of
synthesis of your cellular protein, change the rate of enzyme activity, or
change the rate of transport of nutrients through the cell wall. Careful
dieting and supplementing can help you become far less likely to succumb
to the ill effects of overtraining simply because many of your hormones
are controlled by how you eat and supplement. Let’s look at some of them
and how eating and supplementing can aid in avoiding overtraining.
Insulin: Insulin increases cellular uptake of glucose,
which in turn causes increased synthesis of muscle glycogen. This leads to
a decrease in blood-borne glucose, which causes a decrease in insulin
production. During prolonged workouts, this reduction in blood glucose and
the attendant decrease in insulin production causes an increase in
the
mobilization of stored fat. Beware, however! Insulin levels
skyrocket with too much carbohydrate in your diet, which in turn causes
the glucose to be stored as fat. Wild fluctuations in your insulin level
-- hypo- and hyperglycemia -- are easily avoided by careful control of
your carbo-to-protein ratio at each of 5 or more meals daily.
Glucagon: Lowered blood glucose (from prolonged exercise or
not enough carbohydrates in your diet) stimulates the release of glucagon,
which performs the opposite function of insulin. It raises the level of
glucose in your blood by stimulating both glycogenolysis and
gluconeogenesis in the liver. The glucose generated in this fashion is
released into the bloodstream, thereby once again raising the insulin
levels. The process of gluconeogenesis -- the conversion of liver glycogen
into glucose -- activates yet another process. Blood-borne amino acids are
taken up by the liver which can adversely affect your ability to grow
because of the reduced availability of the amino acids during protein
turnover promoted by exercise. Again, controlling the ratio of
protein-to-carbohydrates meal per meal keeps glucagon at optimal levels
for greater protein synthesis and avoiding fat deposition.
Cortisol:
Cortisol is pretty nasty stuff. It's catabolic, which means it causes a
breakdown of protein in your muscles. Increased cortisol secretion also
acts as an insulin antagonist by inhibiting glucose uptake and
utilization. High cortisol levels causes your liver to split the fat
molecules that are mobilized via cortisol activity into ketoacids. High
levels of these ketoacids in the extracellular fluid can cause a dangerous
situation to persist called ketosis. This is a common occurrence among
those who have been on a carbohydrate-restricted diet (such as before a
bodybuilding contest or to make weight). This is also a good reason to do
your dieting well in advance of your competition.
The above-noted
chain of events is quite controllable, as it happens, and doing so will
improve your chances of avoiding overreaching or overtraining
by:
1. keeping your workouts short and intense,
2. regulating
the amount of fat, protein and carbohydrates in each meal, and
3. The
prudent use of nutritional supplements.
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