Exercise
Burnout: Taking Fitness Too Far
Experts
Advise Moderation
Health
advocates spend much of their time exhorting sedentary Americans to
move, move, move.
Sound advice, when
you consider that about 30 percent of the adult population is inactive,
health experts say, despite a constant bombardment of public health
messages about the value of physical activity.
But
occasionally some individuals take the physical fitness message too
far. They are the committed exercisers who over train to the point of
burnout - even injury. Or they may well-intentioned couch potatoes who
begin to embrace a workout program too aggressively, only to fall victim
to injury.
While burnout is
difficult to describe, experts know it when they see it, says Cedric
X. Bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the American Council
on Exercise (ACE), a San Diego-based organization that certifies
instructors nationwide and educates the public about the value of exercise.
Overtraining
Versus Rest
Overtraining is
"exercise beyond the body's ability," Bryant says. "It's
when training intensity, duration, or volume really surpasses the recuperation
time being offered to the body."
For instance, a
long-distance runner who goes out and runs hard every day, perhaps for
several hours, and allows no recuperation time is probably overtraining,
Bryant says.
"Recuperation
doesn't mean total rest, but active rest," he says. That might
mean following a hard day of running with an easy jog the next.
If you do not allow
recovery time, Bryant says, you will soon see a decrease in performance
and diminishing returns.
This can be hard
for many people to grasp, as they believe that if some exercise is good,
more must be better.
In addition to a
decline in physical performance, Bryant says common signs and symptoms
of overtraining include:
- dwindling
enthusiasm for working out
-
increases in resting heart rate and resting blood pressure
- muscle
or joint soreness that will not go away
- increased
incidence of colds and infection
- decrease
in appetite and weight
- disturbed
sleep, and increased irritability, anxiety, or depression
"Most people
aren't adept at recognizing it in themselves," he says. Often a
physician, a coach, or a spouse might point it out.
Listen
to Your Body
Bryant estimates
that about 10 percent of the American adult population falls into the
overtraining trap.
"You tend to
see overtraining occurring in certain sports," says Dr. P.Z. Pearce,
a sports medicine physician in Spokane, Wash.
These sports include
gymnastics, figure skating, marathon running, and body building, says
Dr. Pearce, who also serves as team physician for pro football's Seattle
Seahawks and medical director of the Iron Man triathlon in Coeur d'Alene,
Idaho.
While athletes and
dedicated exercisers are most vulnerable to overtraining, health experts
say weekend warriors or those kicking off an exercise program frequently
run into problems.
Both groups need
help, the experts say.
Escaping the overtraining
trap can be as hard as giving up cigarettes or alcohol, Dr. Pearce says.
"It seriously
is like any other addiction," he says. "Usually it takes an
injury to convince them they have to slow down."
Dr. Pearce remembers
a marathon runner who was forced by an injury to throttle back on her
training schedule right before a race. The result: She ran her best
marathon ever. The healing that took place during her slack period was
the secret, Dr. Pearce says, and this convinced her that more is not
always better.
Experts say the
key is for a person to listen to his or her body. If someone feels more
exhausted than energized despite applying their best exercise efforts,
it is probably time to scale back the regimen.
And finally, practice
moderation. According to ACE, an individual should
not expect to exercise an hour every day simply because a fit friend
does. The body needs time to adjust, adapt and recuperate. Exercising
to the point of overtraining is simply taking one step forward, two
steps back.
Always consult your
physician for more information.
Online
Resources
American
Council on Exercise
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Healthfinder,
US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Men's
Health Network
National
Institutes of Health (NIH)
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