Is Your Workout Making You Sick

Bodybuilding - Is Your Workout Making You Sick

What is overtraining? Quite plainly, overtraining occurs when the amount of exercise we do goes beyond our capacity to recover from it. Pushing yourself too hard is way more common than most people realize. 

There is a drive in many of us when we're just starting out to want to move beyond the "beginner" level. We want to push ourselves into the "advanced" category as quickly as possible, and get fitter and better and we want it now, now, now! But it isn't just newcomers to fitness who push themselves too far. 

I've often seen seasoned athletes overtrain. Bodybuilders are often guilty of overtraining when they are preparing for a contest. They feel they need to work as hard as possible to be as ripped as possible, when in reality they need to tone down their exertion levels because they're taking in fewer calories during their pre-contest diet. Anyone can get caught up in doing too much, athletes and average folk alike. 

So how do you know if you may be overtraining? Here are a few of the most common symptoms: 

Fatigue 
General Aches And Pains 
Muscle Soreness 
Joint Pain 
Increased Resting Heart Rate 
Trouble Sleeping 
Loss Of Enthusiasm For Working Out 
Headaches 
Decreased Immunity 
Fever 
Decreased Athletic Performance 

Any of this sound familiar? Never fear. It's easy to counteract the effects of overtraining. Rest! A common mistake people make is to keep pushing through the pain and fatigue, thinking they will lose all the progress they've made if they were to take a break.

Lactic Acid for Growth

Bodybuilding - Lactic Acid for Growth

 We’ve all come to know the excruciatingly painful few seconds at the end of a set that relentlessly burn until you’re forced to drop the weight. As painful as those seconds are, you’ve got to live through them if you want to pack on monster-like muscle. An increasing amount of evidence supports the theory that lactic acid production triggers the release of powerful anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone. The presence of lactic acid in the blood after a gut-wrenching set may signal your body to crank up production of these crucial musclebuilding hormones. The best way to maximize your body’s production of lactic acid is to keep your sets in the 30-90 second range. This will tap into the glycolytic energy system, which produces lactic acid as a metabolic by-product during a set. If the average bodybuilder takes about two seconds to complete the concentric and two seconds to complete the eccentric phase of the rep, a twelve-rep set would take about 50 seconds to complete – an ideal time period for lactic acid production! If you can live through the agonizing pain of high-rep training, you’ll have all the lactic acid you need to send your body into anabolic overdrive

Hypertrhophy

Bodybuilding - Explosive Growth with Glycogen Supercompensation

Bodybuilders know that muscles get bigger mostly from hypertrophy (an increase in muscle fiber diameter) and, to a lesser extent, hyperplasia (an increase in muscle fiber number). One of the most overlooked pathways to increasing muscle mass is to increase your muscle glycogen content. The average person stores about 400 grams of glycogen in muscle and about 100 grams in the liver. Factor in a well-designed training program and a diet rich in complex carbohydrates, and the average bodybuilder could accumulate up to 500 grams of muscle glycogen or more, depending on the amount of muscle mass and level of training experience.

Glycogen supercompensation occurs when muscle glycogen stores are emptied through a period of high-rep concentric training and a reduced carbohydrate diet, immediately followed by a period of increased carbohydrate intake and reduced training. During the glycogen depletion phase, insulin sensitivity is dramatically cranked up and your muscles are primed to receive a rapid influx of carbohydrates. When carbohydrates are cycled back into the diet, muscle glycogen tanks can be "supercompensated," or filled beyond the level they were at prior to the depletion. Accompanying every gram of glycogen that fills out your muscles is three grams of water. This super-hydrated intracellular environment means massive new gains in size and strength, all without changing the size or number of your muscle fibers!

Our liver, the body's main detoxification organ

Spring Cleansing from the Inside, Out Dear Michel,

By Dr. Joey Shulman D.C., RNCP It's finally here! After a cold, long winter, spring has finally arrived. In addition to sweeping off the front porch stairs and emptying out your closet, spring is one of the best times to cleanse your body from the inside, out. Our liver, the body's main detoxification organ, is often under more stress during winter months due to lack of sunshine, overindulging in the wrong foods and a lack of fresh foods in the diet. Doing a five to seven day internal cleanse will leave you feeling lighter and more energetic and will help you shed any excess weight from your system. I am not an advocate of engaging in a strict fasting cleanse-it is not necessary for most people. If you are interested in doing a stricter cleanse, please consult a healthcare practitioner prior to beginning. In addition, do not cleanse if you are currently suffering from an illness or infection. Ten steps to spring cleaning your body 1. Fresh lemon juice is excellent at promoting smooth flow of bile through the gallbladder and at boosting metabolic function. Squeeze a piece of fresh lemon into room temperature distilled water three times per day. 2. Think green! Vegetables such as kale, parsley, watercress, unpeeled cucumbers and celery are terrific for encouraging liver function when eaten or juiced. 3. Begin your day with 30 to 45 minutes of exercise. This can include walking, stretching, weight bearing exercises or yoga. In addition to increasing energy levels, exercise also promotes healthy digestive function. To design the perfect exercise plan specifically for you, visit the Truestar Exercise Section. 4. Do not consume any caffeine (coffee, pop or tea). Herbal tea or steam distilled water is the beverage of choice. For added benefit, pick up liquid chlorophyll from your local health food store and add some to your water twice daily. 5. Eliminate dairy products for the entire cleanse. Dairy products are mucus-producing and can make liver function sluggish. 6. Eliminate all refined sugar from the diet such as that found in candy, cookies and pop. In addition to stressing the liver, white sugar has also been shown to suppress immune system function. If you are craving something sweet, which often occurs while cleansing, try having some fruit and yogurt or make a delicious Truestar smoothie. Try TrueStrength, our awesome tasting protein powder! 7. Most of your diet should be from lean protein, healthy fats and low glycemic index carbohydrates. It is best to eliminate grains completely during the cleanse-stick to a low-carbohydrate diet. Complete the Truestar Nutrition Profile to design a low-carb meal plan to fit your needs. 8. When re-introducing grains, only include whole grain products such as quinoa, millet, spelt and kamut. 9. Go to sleep when the sun sets and awaken when the sun rises. This natural cycle will help to regulate your normal bio-rhythm and ensure you receive enough restful zzz's. Try TrueSleep today to help you get back on track. 10. Do not eat a large meal late in the evening. Try to have your last, light meal by 6 or 7 pm if possible to avoid putting stress on your metabolism. To ensure you have all of your bases covered try taking our Top-Rated Multivitamin TrueBasics A/O. TrueDetox and Cleanse is the perfect product to kickstart your spring cleaning!