Issue 016

August 2006

By Alex Gold

At some point in our training lives we will all feel run down and lethargic. The cause may be that you’ve not had enough sleep, or you may have the start of a virus. Maybe you have entered a state we call over-reaching, or its more-commonly known bigger brother, overtraining.

Over-reaching is sometimes desirable, but if you are not aware what is happening to your body it can cause you to stop progressing or even start to lose strength and power if not properly managed. Let’s start from the beginning, and look at the causes of overtraining and how to balance training stress for optimal results. 

The Nervous Systems

Here’s a fact you may not be aware of: Every movement you make causes stress on your nervous system. It can range from the tiny stress of walking, to the huge stress of lifting your one rep max in the deadlift. The nervous system is made up of different parts, the central nervous system (CNS), which is the brain and the spinal column, and the peripheral nervous system (PNS), which is all the other nerves in the body outside of the CNS. The PNS has various sub-structures, but for our understanding in this context, it is sufficient to think the following:

Signal from brain (CNS)

Transmitted down spinal column (CNS)

Transmitted through limb(s) (PNS)

Movement occurs in the muscle.

If you imagine the CNS as a battery and each muscle as a light bulb, you should start to see that the more muscles are used (as in compound exercises or complicated motor skills such as a takedown or a sweep), the more drain there will be on the CNS. Just as if you wire a series of bulbs to a battery, it will drain faster than if you just connected the one. Right, now the main boring bit is out of the way, how does it affect you?

Am I overtraining? 

If you are a beginner to strength training, training for increased muscle size or for fat loss, you will probably be able to make progress for a long period without even thinking about training stress. This is because as a beginner you lack the neuromuscular efficiency to recruit a large number of muscle fibres, and also most people training for the afore-mentioned goals train in a manner that is not overly stressful, despite the perceived difficulty. For those individuals, their usual training regime (supplemented with adequate rest) can see them enjoy plenty of improvement, and it can be repeated successfully for a long period before plateaus are reached. For others who are more advanced trainees, or who practice a lot of sport alongside their strength and conditioning training (such as your average MMA fighter), the training methods and stressors will need to be more carefully monitored to avoid stagnation. 

Training Stressors

As mentioned previously, all training will stress the nervous system. Different methods will cause different levels of stress though. The maximum effort method (such as lifting heavy weights for a maximum of 1-5 repetitions) will cause great stress and need a long recovery period. The repetition method (such as that seen in standard bodybuilding, 8-12 reps with a lighter load to just short of failure) will cause much less stress and can be recovered from far more quickly, as would a cardio exercise such as tempo runs (sprints performed at around 75% of max speed).

Interestingly, explosive movements such as bodyweight plyometrics, sprints at maximum speed or the dynamic effort method of weight training are very high stressors due to the firing of a high percentage of muscle fibres simultaneously. Knowing how much stress a certain activity puts on the CNS is key to balancing training stress and continual ongoing improvement.

On top of training stressors, we must also consider outside stressors. Life in general these days is very taxing on our bodies and nervous systems. If you have a physical job, the amount of work (movement) carried out during the average day must be taken into account when deciding how to train. If you work a busy shift in a warehouse, you will obviously tire yourself more than working a desk job. Desk jobs are not entirely stress free though; if you are constantly worrying about an important meeting at work or struggling to hit a deadline, you will also be draining your battery at a higher rate! Also related to our stressful lifestyles today is that people often do not get enough sleep, which eats into your recovery, hence the expression ‘burning the candle at both ends’.