Why is it that when we need exercise the most – stress is everywhere and we’re craving more and more comfort – we pick that exact moment to have trouble finding time to fit it in? We drift so far away from regular exercise that we start seeing the lack show up in our health. Insomnia, digestive issues, pain, you know the drill.
Then the day comes when we want to rise up out of the hole of inertia and recommit to fitness. We see how much fun our fit friends are having and sign up for boot camp or hot ashtanga yoga or a half-marathon.
Bad idea.
I know, I know — all the people who love those hot, sweaty highs are thinking that I don’t know what I’m missing. I’ve been there and had those highs and loved them too. But if you’re coming off a long period of stress with little to no exercise it may not be an endorphin high that you’re getting.
It may a raging b*tch low.
Here’s why . . .
Your aerobic energy system is de-conditioned. It’s not up to the job of producing that much energy that fast. To pick up the slack, your body switches to your anaerobic energy system. That’s the slow twitch muscle fibres that fuel up with glycogen (sugar) and gives you power, speed and big muscles.
But your anaerobic system isn’t designed to power you through a boot camp class. Think more like 2 minutes of fast, strong activity. You know what you’re doing when you grit your teeth and muscle through?? You’re stressing out your poor, tired, stressed body.
When you don’t have the underlying aerobic conditioning to improve your stress resilience you’re doing yourself more harm than good. You’re taking a stressed system and stressing it further, all in the name of regaining fitness.
And it ain’t gonna work.
Phil Maffetone, athletic coach to many world-champion triathletes back in the day, has called this aerobic deficiency syndrome. Doesn’t that sound official? It’s caused by underuse of your aerobic muscles and overuse of your anaerobic muscles.
Here are the symptoms:
- Physical fatigue
- Mental fatigue
- Brain dysfunction
- Recurrent physical injuries
- Excess storage of fat (your body doesn’t burn fat so it stores it)
- Blood sugar stress (your body can’t pull fat from your system so it pulls it out of your blood stream, causing cravings and moodiness)
- Hormonal imbalance (the excess stress messes with your cortisol levels, throwing off all your hormones)
- Poor circulation
- Reduced immune function
- Exercise intolerance
Seriously, if you’re splitting a gut, ready to escalate a minor disagreement into violence, and super important, STILL PUTTING ON WEIGHT, you need to rethink how hard you’re exercising.
Phil recommends building an aerobic base first, before you start making big plans for weight training or intense exercise. He’s a big believer in using a heart rate monitor and keeping in a moderate aerobic level. Here’s what he has to say in his book, The Big Book of Health and Fitness, about building your aerobic base:
For a workout to be truly aerobic, you should be able to exercise the same way for many weeks and months with continued benefits. And, when you’re finished each workout, you should feel great – not tired or sore, and certainly not ready to collapse on your couch. Nor should you have cravings for sugar or other carbohydrates – your workout should program your body to burn more fat, not sugar.
How long this takes depends on your aerobic fitness today. He suggests up to six months of slow, steady progress.
This may be new, but think joy and fun with exercise.
Posted by Deirdre Walsh, Image: iStockphoto
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