The last two weeks we discussed consistency and intensity. Exercise and working out is a two-edged sword; it’s good to a point, but after that it can cut down your gains. More is not always better with training. In fact, you can even lose gains if you’re not careful with how much you work out. This is called “detraining” and it is a real phenomenon. You need to find your balance. Each person is different. Some of you who follow my blogs may be thinking, “Wait a minute! You just contradicted yourself. You said show up no matter what!” Yes you must form a relative pattern of consistency if you want anything to happen but when is it too much?
Well it can be a number of things. Too much volume in the workout. Meaning you are doing too many sets and reps in your workouts. Too many days in a row, or too many days a week total. If you’re going to the gym to train the same muscle that is still sore from the last workout – stop! Let yourself recover. Too much overload on the central nervous system or muscle with inadequate food and rest is the main cause of overtraining. Other ways to overload are adding too much weight to the bar too soon. This does not mean I do not want you to increase the intensity, I do, but you must be smart about it how you do it. Too much too fast can spin you out. You see, the winning equation is different for everyone. What you must learn to master if you want that lean sexy body is LISTENING to that soon-to-be lean sexy body! Find the balance between consistency, intensity, over training, and laziness. Once you find the balance between overtraining and laziness while maintaining consistency, and slowly increasing intensity, you create the perfect environment for positive physique change. Finally, an often-overlooked problem that causes overtraining is what you’re doing outside the gym. As a trainer nothing drives me more crazy than when I design the perfect environment for physique change and my client comes and tells me that aside from our workouts, “I am highly motivated to speed up my fat loss! So I decided to add another activity to our workouts yay!” Ug. When I design a program for a client it’s all inclusive. That means I designed it so that if the client follows it exactly as prescribed, they will reach their goal. Without adding anything else. If however they add activities or change other variables, at best they won’t reach their goals and, at worst, they will get injured. It is a chronic problem in the gym that will shut down your gains faster than a supermodel would shut down Al Bundy. Sorry if you Millennials don’t get the joke, check out Married with Children. Anyway by activities I mean any high-intensity sport: CrossFit, yoga, Pilates, dancing, hiking, running, biking, swimming, martial arts, ect… Now hear me when I say this, I have nothing against any of these activities. These activities are specific to their outcome, meaning: If you want good flexibility, body control, balance – do yoga. If you want to learn how to defend yourself, do martial arts. If you want mental toughness, competition and endurance, do CrossFit. But if you want to build muscle, burn fat, or gain strength, do strength training and diet. Now I’m not saying that martial arts won’t help you burn fat cuz it will. What I’m saying is that fat loss is not martial arts’ primary objective. It’s a positive side-effect of martial arts. Just like CrossFit will build strength but not be as effectively as strength training. I’ve never seen a crossfitter bench press 1201 pounds like my good buddy, Scott Mendelson, who is a six-time world record-holding champion strength trainer.
The other problem with other activities when trying to strength train, build muscle, or burn fat is joint overuse. I give you an awesome leg workout and you’re very sore for the next 3 days. Instead of resting so the muscle can rebuild and your metabolism can increase your fat burning, you go out and do a tennis game. All that side to side shuffle over-stresses the IT band. That in turn tightens the area. Once the area is tightened, it starts to pull on the knee joint. As it continues to pull it destabilizes the joint. This destabilization eventually leads to injury. Then you are injured because of overuse or overtraining. As a trainer I design my program with symmetry. Meaning all muscles surrounding the joint are built to support that joint and in fact strengthen it. Most of the other activities I’ve listed either can’t or don’t do that. Just like rotating the tires on your car, if the tread is different it will pull one way or the other, leading to misalignment and causing eventual wheel problems. Same thing with your suspension. When your wheel falls off you’re done. When your knee goes out your fat loss becomes a lot more challenging. If you want lean muscle gains, fat loss and strength without injury, then look no further. A properly designed strength training program is the most effective means to your goal, and everything you need to get that sexy lean body safely and effectively. Now if you just like running because you like to brag to your friends that you ran a marathon, then go for it and enjoy the marathon. You see folks more is not always better. You can’t speed things up, aside from doing drugs or fad dieting (all of which are a topic for another blog). Which btw I don’t suggest that you do. It takes as long as it takes. However, each day you work towards it, puts you one step closer to it.
As a trainer all too often a client or gym member will come in and start coughing and hacking up a lung. As they are standing there proud they made it in they say,”(cough cough) I’m ready to go (cough cough) let’s do cardio (cough cough) come on let’s go lift (cough cough!)” No my friend you are not ready to lift or do cardio, you are ready for rest! Being the blunt/truthful type of guy I am, I send them home. Don’t come to the gym sick, especially coughing and hacking up little green and yellow mucus nuggets and thinking you’re just going to “work it out” cuz I got news for you it ain’t going to happen. All you’re going to do is add ER to sick and make yourself sick… ER rather than waiting up to a week then coming in. You run the risk of making yourself have to take weeks or months off from the gym and possibly bed rest.
Don’t be this type of gym personality, you sell your gains short by doing so. Please, listen to your body. Be consistent, but if you’re sick, truly sick, not the lazy sick Ferris Bueller’s Day off kind of sick, but the I have body aches, cough, fever, mucus, sick kind of sick, then stay at home or go somewhere else. Do yourself and others around you a favor and don’t come in. You make it worse. Your muscle will not recover, your metabolism will not increase, and in return you’re fat burning furnace will be closed for the day. Your immune system is struggling to fight the virus/bacteria. Besides, your trainer doesn’t want your sickness and everyone else at the gym who understands this concept will hate you too! (Okay, sorry for the rant, we still love you, please come back. Just wait until you’re not sick.)
Thank you for reading my blog. Please leave comments/questions below. Donovan
