Training Mistakes

     Accidents happen. Haven’t we all heard that too many times? Anyone who has been involved in competitive athletics or sports long enough has firsthand experience with training mistakes.

Mistakes in training and in the gym carry a range of repercussions. These can range from possibly being featured on a Gym Fails video an injury that lays you up for a few days to weeks to a crippling injury that dead ends your training. If you’re lucky, the worst injury will have you out of the gym for a few days.

     I am looking at this topic through my own history. I have been a competitive power lifter, led fitness training in the military, been a competitive runner and swimmer. Fitness is, obviously, a large portion of my life and has been for decades. During my life in training I have had a staggeringly large number of injuries. These injuries have happened in different events and through a surprisingly large number of different ways, but generally were due to one or more of the following three reasons.

     Overtraining 

     This is a term some of you may not know or be familiar with. Overtraining, sometimes also called overlifting, happens when your training cycle is so intense that your body cannot recover completely between each session. Each session is breaking your body down more than you have time to recover from.

     While our bodies are, in fact, surprisingly resilient and can adapt to arduous conditions in a rapid manner, there is a point of overload at which you go too far. This begins to sap your strength and endurance. In essence, you are getting weaker rather than stronger. Your bulk is bailing on you. Your strength is strutting away.

     Some of the symptoms that you may be experiencing are likely:

•      Persistent fatigue
•      Deep mental fog
•      Notably higher resting heart rate
•      Increasing/ed injuries
•      Burnout
•      Depression
•      Irritability
•      Loss of strength and endurance

     

     This can be, as said above, from not getting enough recovery between workouts. Another culprit is insufficient nutrition. If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms you should start by taking a few days off from training. Increase your protein and amino acid intake. Take a close look at how and what you eat on a regular basis. Are you actually getting enough protein and calories? Are you getting enough carbohydrates? Is your diet adequate to fuel your training?

     Under-eating

     When physically active, under-eating can be a hazard. You wouldn’t run a high-performance motorcycle or sports car on low grade cheap fuel, would you? Why would you not fuel your body and brain with the best fuel available? What about cutting fat for that upcoming competition or the bathing suit season? Really?

     Keep in mind is that the human brain is comprised mostly of fat. The brain is 60% fat. What do you suppose happens to people who starve themselves of fat? Their brain physically shrinks. The brain loses both size and functionality. But, this is a last resort act of desperation done by the brain to preserve itself. When you initially drop calories and fat from your diet, you will go through a period of brain fog. This is given as a direct warning in the information for all the ketone diets I have read about, too.

     Carbohydrates, the complex carbs not the simple ones, play an important role. If you are diabetic, go talk to your doctor right now! Complex carbs are metabolized into glycogen and stored mostly in the liver. There is a small amount of glycogen in the blood stream, too. Glycogen is what actively fuels the muscles when moving. What is stored in the lover is gone after approximately 25 minutes of intense activity. At which point, the body begins to burn fat or muscle tissue for energy. It all comes down to what the body has become accustomed to using.

     Proteins and carbohydrates are most needed. By eating or drinking protein and carbos after yoru workout, you are

•      Decreasing muscle catabolism
•      Increasing muscle growth
•      Restoring glycogen stores
•      Aiding your own recovery
•      Promote muscle growth

     It is recommended that your protein to carb ratio is 3:1, three grams of carbs for every one gram of protein.

     Bad Form

Compound movements are those that involve more than one set of joints to complete. This includes bench press, squat, bent row, and deadlift as examples. These lifts are very technical in nature. That is, you are best off to study the form prior to stacking the bar with weights. The mantra has always been, “Form first, strength will follow.”

     Proper form ensures proper and complete muscular development and strength throughout the entire range of movement. Proper form is also going to minimize the risk of injury. For instance, in deadlift, I and many others, have gotten over-enthusiastic. In this, we start to perform the lift too fast in each rep. By not taking the few moments necessary to ensure that feet, knees, and hips are properly aligned and that the back is in its proper alignment, a lower back injury is inevitable. Even in my 20’s, I lost far too much time to that injury by not checking my form and technique. Squat and bench press are two other lifts that are considered technical lifts in their execution. I have detailed the specifics about those two competitive lifts in You Don’t Know Squat and Pressing Matters.

     Take the time to study proper form for each lift you are using in your routine even if you are not necessarily a newbie. Even the simple biceps curl, if done with poor form and enough weight, can result in injuries. Bad form with curls can put your rotator cuff at risk.

     Make the necessary adjustments. Starving your system while pushing it to levels beyond what it can already handle is just asking for injuries. Injuries that will keep you away from what you love most, training. It does not matter of that sport is martial arts, cross country, swimming, powerlifting, or what.

     If you are an older athlete, like me, do not shortcut the recovery time or nutrition. At this point in our lives shortcutting on these will bite us in the end faster than we care to admit.

     Train hard.

     Train smart.