Burnout & Overtraining Among Bodybuilders:

[geesler]

TweetBurnout & Overtraining Among Bodybuilders:
Frederick C. Hatfield, Ph.D.

There are two ways to cope with cumulative microtrauma. You can avoid it, or you can treat it. You avoid it NOT by avoiding lifting or by avoiding a small amount of (normal) cellular destruction, but instead by not letting microtrauma accumulate! You do this the same way you treat cumulative microtrauma:

- Sensible, scientific weight training which always employs "periodicity" or "cycling" of intensity

- Sensible, scientific application of the many therapeutic modalities at your disposal (especially whirlpool, heat, ice, massage and neuromuscular re-education)

- Sensible, scientific nutritional practice (especially maintaining an adequate amino acid pool which must be high in the BCAAs, to effect protein turnover, adequate energy foods to replace those depleted during intense training, and a minimum of 5 meals daily)

- Sensible, scientific nutritional supplementation (especially the branched chain aminos, glutamine, adequate protein intake multiple times daily, vitamin and mineral intake, and other state-of-the-art supplements and herbs designed to aid tissue recovery and healing)

- Using good technique in your lifting and skills (especially avoiding excessive eccentric contractions ("negatives") and uncontrolled ballistic movements (controlled ballistics are reserved for special training during various periods of your training cycle for maximum stimulation of the fast-twitch muscles, but not excessively)

- Getting plenty of rest both between workouts and at night (try to get at least 7 hours per night, plus at least one or two short 20 minute "cat naps" during the day)

- Taking advantage of various psychological techniques that promote restoration (especially meditation, visualization training, hypnotherapy or self-hypnosis techniques).

So, it all boils down to a simple plan. The plan is to do things the best way that science can provide! The above list ought to at least get you thinking along some reasonable pathway in that regard.

Remember that there is no decidedly "wrong" way to train. If you are a raw beginner just getting into powerlifting in a serious way, anything you do, provided it doesn't kill you, will probably help.
But only for a while.

If you get the power bug, and begin training at least daily, you're bound to overtrain eventually. And, if you're an inveterate lifter, you've probably been operating at least a minimal state of overtraining for your entire career (that is, unless the points outlined above have been adhered to religiously).

So, "good, better, best" is how things go in the gym. Which do you prefer? If you're committed (there's that word again!), there's only one way to go.

'Nuff said!

[geesler]

TweetFIGURE ONE: POSSIBLE FATIGUE MECHANISMS

Adapted from Gibson, H. and Edwards, R.T.H., Muscular Exercise and Fatigue, Sports Medicine, March/April, 1985, quoting Edwards, R.T.H. Biochemical bases of fatigue in exercise performance: Catastrophe theory of muscular fatigue: In Knuttgen, et. al., (Eds.) Biochemistry of Exercise, pp. 3-28 (Human Kinetics, 1983).

[geesler]

TweetFIGURE TWO
Illustration of how a muscle cell is constructed. The t-tubules which go deep into the muscle cell are extensions of the outside surface -- the sarcolemma -- of the cell.

[geesler]

TweetFIGURE THREE
Comparison Between Force Output and Twitches Per Second Between High Frequency Fatigue and Low Frequency Fatigue
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Note the fact that in high frequency fatigue, there's a direct relationship between force output and the number of twitches per second. In low frequency fatigue, however, there's a shift to the right in the curve, indicating a fall in the ratio of force generated by low frequency stimulation as compared to high frequency fatigue.
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Adapted from Gibson, H. and Edwards, R.T.H., Muscular Exercise and Fatigue, Sports Medicine, March/April, 1985, quoting Chapman, et. al. Practical application of the twitch interpolation technique for the study of voluntary contraction of the quadriceps muscle in man. J.Physiology 353: 3P (1984).

[geesler]

TweetFIGURE FOUR:

The difference in low frequency fatigue between concentrically and eccentrically contracted muscles.