"OVER-TRAINING" IS RISKY. - REST IS AS IMPORTANT AS WORKOUTS.

                                                                                                                                                                       TODAY , we will discuss why REST & SLEEP are equally important as workouts.

If we are serious about  losing body fat, getting strong  & building muscles after the age of 50, then we need to train hard with dedication , however we need to also make sure that we are not overtraining, where our workout routine actually starts to hurt us in a negative way.

Muscle growth does not happen while we are working out. Its true that our muscles do get pumped up after exercise, however that pump disappears in a few hours. The pump we get is just the blood gushing into our muscles to provide for the needs of our muscles for doing all the hard work. While workout with weights we destroy / break our muscles , it is during rest time and sleep our body begins to recover from all those torture. Assuming that we are providing our body with the essential nutrients , it overcompensates for the stresses we exposed it to & as a result we get stronger. The whole process of getting strong boils down to repeating this cycle over and over again through progressive increase in workout intensity.

As you can see in the process of strength & muscle gain, taking rest is a critical component. If we do not give our muscles enough time to recover, we cannot expect growth. To avoid over-training of  muscles one should follow a proper workout program, which should be designed so that our muscles get enough time to recover, specially for those who are in their 50's and above. At a minimum  we should never allow a muscle group to be target in a workout on two consecutive days. A rest of 48 hours to 72 hours should be given to the muscles for recovery. At our age we should (50 & above) target  one muscle group at the max twice a week, that too when using medium weights only, and at the max thrice a week with light weights only. A separate BLOG on "WEEKLY WORKOUT PROGRAM" will be published shortly.

Sleep is the most crucial part of our rest. It is during sleep that our body is most active in strengthening our muscles. We must therefore make sure that we are getting ample sleep. General recommendation is to sleep for 7-8 hours, however everybody is different. Better approach is to evaluate the quality of sleep and making sure that we feel refreshed after waking up. There are few BREATHING TECHNIQUES which if done before going to bed, improves the quality of our sleep, this we will discuss in a separate BLOG.    

Some of the clear signs of overtraining  are :

1) Persistent muscles Soreness.

2) Feeling fatigued even after ample rest.

3) Elevated heart rate.

4) Increased rate of injuries.

5) Increase susceptibility to infections.

6) Always feeling irritable.

7) Poor strength development.

8) Reduced cardiovascular performance. 

Many times overtraining results from our innate human desire for quick results, where we start performing more and more exercises thinking that more is better. Just like everything else in life, moderation is the key to success with exercising too. Overtraining can have really bad effects on our body not only physically but also mentally. Performing functional exercises need great deal of concentration & mental focus, performing them when our body is tired and mind distracted can result in serious accidents & injury.