3 Keys To Beating Exercise Fatigue And Maximizing Your Workouts
By Ross Titza :: More posts in Training and Exercise
While you feel you are often the hardest working person in the gym, you never seem to progress or, for that matter, feel good after a workout. While your workouts are intense you know you could practice better nutrition and improve your overall recovery from each workout. While exercise fatigue is not a clinical syndrome, many people suffer from it for many reasons. Your exercise should leave you feeling stronger, invigorated and mentally focused. Understanding the key points to creating an optimal internal environment in your body for physical exercise and recovery is essential. Understanding that it has little to do with the exercise and much to do with your daily routine is priceless.
HYDRATION…
If you are not hydrated your body cannot properly function on the most primal level. Cell activity takes place in the presence of H2O, if you are not hydrating you are not creating an optimal environment for even the most basic metabolic activity. This includes muscle contraction, digestion, and detoxification. Even being dehydrated 1% can weaken your brainpower, physical strength, and recovery after a workout.
Start by drinking ½ your bodyweight in ounces. Add a little extra water to your body after hot yoga, spin class or anything that induces a heavy sweat. Choose high quality artesian water or use a multi-stage filter to purify your tap water. In addition, add a pinch of a Celtic or Himalayan sea salt to every liter of filtered tap water as this adds a trace amount of mineral content, which will help with electrolyte balancing. Avoid distilled water as this will actually drain your body of electrolytes.
Hydration in relation to your diet can also affect your energy that is needed for digestion and recovery. If you are on a high protein diet (~40% of total calories) your body will require more water to digest than a lower protein diet. Be sure to drink a tall glass of water of few minutes before and after your meal, limit drinking during a meal. A high protein post-workout shake will require at least 10 ounces of water for every 20 grams of whey protein concentrate.
Staying hydrated will set the table for an internal environment conducive to a strong recovery. So drink to that.
ADRENAL FUNCTION OR LACK THERE OF…
Your adrenal glands release hormones associated with the fight or flight response. This is handy when a tiger is about to attack you. Well it was in ancient times anyway, a shot of epinephrine (aka adrenaline) into the blood stream and you are off and running the Olympic 100 meters in record time. While useful in modern day during emergency situations, everyday living can overburden this system of reaction and leave the body stressed, tired and fat!
With sleep…
Cortisol is tightly tuned to your circadian rhythm. Cortisol is a hormone that is released in the early morning to get your blood sugars up so you can function on an empty stomach until you have breakfast; it is a major factor in waking you up in the morning. Now what happens when we take a stimulant to do the job?
Unfortunately, coffee is as American as hard work. Over time it will delay the release of Cortisol, which tricks the body into thinking you are waking up later, so it delays the release. You know, “that 2:30 feeling” as one add for a stimulant product put it. However, this will also lead to waking up around 6pm and many sleepless nights. Ultimately, this can greatly affect the recovery from challenging workouts.
Fix the problem by getting to sleep no later than 10:30pm and wake up at 6am or later. Work schedules can conflict with circadian rhythm, so if they do, be as consistent with your sleep as possible. Be sure to get 7-8 hours of quality REM sleep every night. If possible take a 20-minute nap mid-day. Napping can help reset your circadian rhythm but only in short intervals.
Cut the caffeine down in the morning to allow the natural release of Cortisol first thing in the morning. Avoid any additional stimulants after 4pm. If you are on track with your bedtime you will need at least 6 hours to process caffeine so that it does not effect sleep. Practice shutting down one hour before you hit the hay. Dim the lights, turn off all electronics, and put that damn smart phone in the kitchen. Your brain needs some time to wind down. While reading is okay at night, avoid it the last 30 minutes before you go to bed, as it will stimulate your brain. The goal at night is to de-stress, make this an opportunity to teach yourself how to meditate. And finally, avoid alcohol at night. Though a depressant, alcohol prevents the brain from shutting down and will cause intermittent breaks in sleep throughout the night. Your goal is to sleep so the body can repair all the activity that you have performed during the course of the day. It will also help you to reset your adrenals for improved function.
With body fat…
Cortisol also has a strong effect on how we store body fat. You see Cortisol is also released when we are over-stressed. So if you are constantly fighting at home, burdened by financial issues, experience road rage (or even just long commutes) or have a high-stress job: Cortisol release can be in overdrive. This can lead to excess storage of body fat. Remember Cortisol releases glycogen stores to raise blood sugar. When that sugar is not needed for exercise (running from that Paleolithic tiger previously mentioned) it is stored as good old visceral fat. Guess which fat is linked most to heart disease? You got is, the good old gut busting visceral fat. That is how stress can make you fat.
Try exercise disciplines like yoga, qi gong and light resistance training. Avoid heavy endurance work like spinning and running as these can suppress your immune system. Hold back from high volume/intensity weight-lifting as the normal injury response that follows will be challenging for the body to recover from. In the state of adrenal exhaustion this will only risk you getting injured and lead to more fatigue.
With fatigue and dysfunction…
Remember, anytime your body is in a state of dysfunction it is struggling to reach a homeostasis. It will have trouble doing anything in addition to fixing the issue at hand. Distress and stimulants over work the adrenal gland. Your adrenals don’t have a middle finger, but if they did they would stick them up when you ask them to deal with the additional stress of exercise and the recovery. A positive stressor like exercise becomes a negative stress when the body is in a state of adrenal exhaustion. Now I cannot tell you in one article if you definitely have Adrenal Exhaustion or Adrenal Fatigue as it is more commonly known. If you think you have it see your Osteopath or GP for a true diagnosis. But if this sound like you, it is definitely time for a change.
As brutal as the first 48 hours can be, eliminating caffeine will significantly help reset the adrenals and lead to significant increases in energy. Granted you are getting enough sleep, cutting the stimulants down will lead to lasting success in health. And ultimately better results in the gym.
Poor Nutrition
Good nutrition in relation to exercise relates more to how you eat before and after a workout. We all know eating chips and ice cream are not good, but what about oatmeal and whey protein? Conventional wisdom states carbohydrates before exercise and protein after. This can be true, but are there better guidelines depending on your type of workout and specific nutritional needs?
First off, always eat breakfast even if you workout in the morning. Getting the fire started so to speak will wake your metabolism. You should be hungry in the morning. If you are not hungry, eat anyway and be sure this is not a result of eating late the night before. If you workout in the morning, a meals as small as an apple and almond butter may be an ideal breakfast to meet your energy demands. Just make sure you eat something, a low calorie combination of whole food sourced protein, carbohydrate and fat is best. Remember, processed foods are more stressful on the body to breakdown so avoid snack packs and pre-packaged breakfasts. Keep it real.
If you are lifting to build muscle and/or lose weight you need to fuel lightly before a workout with a normal to small sized meal of protein, carbohydrate or fats about 45-90 minutes before lifting. If you are really serious about putting on muscle try having a whey protein and fruit shake 20 minutes before your lift. After a workout it is absolutely necessary to stop the flow of Cortisol, which is released after a hard workout, it is a stress hormone and it must be stopped. The best way to do this is to increase blood sugars with a glucose dominant fruit like grapes, bananas and other tropical fruits. In addition, help to repair damaged muscle with the fastest digesting protein source, whey. A quality whey protein concentrate sourced from grass-fed cows milk can go a long way. It will feed the muscle cells for optimal recovery better than any other animal or plant source. Research does show, that 15-30 grams of protein within about 30 minutes post-lifting does make a significant difference in recovery.
High quality protein helps to build muscle. More muscle, more metabolic activity, the more calories your body expends at rest; always a good thing for ideal weight management and fat loss. Nourishing your body pre and post workout with high quality whey protein concentrate (and additional animal proteins during meals throughout the day) is a must for anaerobic training like lifting weights as well as high-intensity intervals. Protein helps you to repair the damage the hard work has left behind. Carbohydrates and fat fuel the body for exercise, carbohydrates during short bursts of exercise like resistance training, and fat during endurance based steady state exercise.
If you are undernourished or exercising for extended periods of time you will end up eating away at bodily stores of protein. In other words, you will eat your own muscle. This is detrimental to the success of your exercise program and should be avoided at all cost. When performing long duration sports or endurance sessions like running and cycling be sure to sip on a low sugar and mineral based drink. This will spare the use of body stores of muscle and aid in the recovery. As with resistance training, use whey protein and simple sugars in your recovery.
Keep in mind your post workout meal (not shake) should be a high carbohydrate meal consisting of low and high starch vegetables. Grains can be added to this meal as well (gluten-free are best). This will help to replenish the muscle glycogen stores and create an optimal environment for recovery. Exercise more, eat more! Its not about calories in, calories out, it is about supporting muscle and aiding recovery. If you are not eating appropriately this could be the root problem of exercise fatigue.
“YOUR BODY BECOMES STRONGER NOT FROM THE WORKOUT BUT INSTEAD FROM THE RECOVERY THAT FOLLOWS.”
We already know if you do not sleep and drink too much coffee you’ll blow out your adrenals, making it impossible to adequately deal with the heavy stress of exercise. So get to sleep and cut down on the coffee.
Learn to eat for your metabolism, some of us feel better on a high-carb diet (good carbs that is), some with high-protein and most will fall somewhere in the middle. Only you can determine which diet leaves you feeling the best.
Whether you lift, do endurance or any kind or cross-training be sure to fuel your body with a fast absorbing protein and a glucose dominant post workout shake. Grass-Fed Whey Protein Concentrate has the ideal amino acid profile, is the most bio-available protein, has been shown to help anabolic hormones thrive, and even provides beneficial antioxidants, which also play a big role in recovery. Choose a concentrate for the additional benefits the fats have on the immune system and be sure it is sourced from cold-processed grass-fed cows milk. This is truly a secret weapon in exercise recovery.
If your energy doesn’t get a little kick form the advise above consider going to your doctor for more clinical analysis of vitamin deficiencies and/or chronic diseases. I would also consider looking further into the types of exercises you are practicing. Trendy cross-training gyms can easily over train you. In a cult-like atmosphere where you are looked at as out of shape, fault could actually be on excessive and inappropriate program design. As much fun as it can be, training for endurance events have a host of negative effects on the body. Like medicine, exercise can have a drug like effect and if you are taking in too much it can be detrimental to your health.
Finding the proper amounts of exercise can energize your life. It is an experience that shouldn’t be taken lightly. In an all or nothing world, learning to master your diet, exercise, and stress is liberating. It will help you see the light of health and keep you far from the dark side of exercise-induced fatigue.
