SOME TIPS ON HOW TO MANAGE
FATIGUE
Every day’s a new day at the gym, in class or on the track. Of course this sounds obvious but your body
doesn’t always respond in the same way or even as you might anticipate and
therefore sometime exercise feels a breeze and some days it feels more like
staggering uphill into a gale. It sure
feels fine when you feel like you could just swing along for hours but what’s
the deal with those times that you’ve barely started and you’re clock watching
and feeling totally wiped out.
There can be physical reasons for this feeling of fatigue or it can be
psychological. It could be your body
telling you to hold up, you’re over training and it’s time to shake things
about.
Don’t allow dehydration to set in as at an extremely low rate, less
than 5%, dehydration can impair performance.
Research shows that this can result in reduced coordination, premature
fatigue and the body’s ability to regulate its core temperature. Keeping fluids up will probably help to avoid
depleted motivation which could be the brain’s self-preservation reaction to
the stress overload that it’s experiencing due to feeling dehydrated.
As muscles perform at moderate to high intensity they’ll depend on
carbohydrates and fat as their primary source of fuel. The body stores carbohydrates in the form of
glycogen to provide energy to the muscles.
These glycogen stores become a primary requirement as the muscles are
called upon to perform vigorous exercise.
Exercising in a fasted condition for a prolonged period of time can
cause the muscles to become fatigued and create permanent damage. At this point the liver will cut in to assist
by using amino acids to make glucose.
This is gluconeogenesis. However,
if exercising in a prolonged state it may not always be possible for the liver
to produce sufficient glucose. A result
of which is a drop in the blood glucose level, resulting in premature
fatiguing.
To assist in training, complex carbohydrates consumed 30-60 minutes
ahead of your workout, at a rate of roughly 0.5g per pound of body weight will
assist in maintaining energy and warding off early onset fatigue. That way you’ll train better and feel the
benefit.
Iron levels too can also be responsible for a dip in degree of performance
and a rise in feeling fatigued. Iron
deficiency, possibly more common than you might think in weight watchers and
dieters, those with an under-active thyroid or diabetes.
Overtraining is a culprit in loss of optimum performance. Rather than fitness gains and enhancement,
overtraining has the exact opposite effect and will most likely leave you
feeling that a fairly standard level of endurance is unachievable. This also induces other attendant negatives such as
reducing immunity to infection.
How do you know if this applies to you.
One good indicator is an early a.m. resting heart rate. There are many good Apps and heart rate
monitors available. If your morning heart rate
shows an increase of say 5 beats on its regular average range, the signs would
indicate that overtraining could be one cause.
And it might be wise to consider taking some rest days and recommence at
a lower intensity or try something new and different. Swap a gym session for aquarobics or a run
for a Zumba class. You never know, this
could bring unexpected reinvigoration.
Sleep and nutrition are also always contributors in the mix.
Keep change in mind but start with small changes like the amount of
liquids and carbs you are taking on board prior to exercising to keep your body
happy and constant.
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