AMA November 2024 - On Fitness (General)

It's a time of the year when I thought we could all benefit from an Ask Me Anything session. Previous AMA sessions, which are now in our Knowledge Base, focused on a specific aspect of fitness like strength or speed. It's been some time since we had one and a lot of new people have joined The Hive, plus many of you are further along your fitness journey. For all those reasons I thought it would be super-useful to make this one general so any question you have about fitness can be examined. As usual I will bring in scientific studies and research to back up what I say and I will explain things in detail, no matter how simple they may seem.

Rules as usual:

• There are no stupid questions so feel free to ask anything.
• I will acknowledge your question with a thumbs up and answer it within 24 hours, usually.
• Feel free to ask for any clarifications on my answer or any follow-up questions that are sparked by it.
• If you ask a follow up question if you tag me @Damer it becomes more likely I will see it (I get inundated with emails and notifications most days)
• If something doesn't make sense just ask me to explain further (sometimes I assume some things are common knowledge and I shouldn't)
• The AMA will run for two weeks to allow everyone time to think about it and get their questions in and also get in follow-up questions should they need to

The starting date will be Wednesday 6th November. I will open this thread up then so start lining your questions up.

 

[RangerX]

I am 35 with a newborn baby. She's about 4 months I guess not technically a newborn. Anyway, I'm getting inside the truck. I have a highly stressful job and I consistently do not get enough sleep. I am working on cleaning up my diet and developing a consistent exercise routine. I do have trouble sticking with something beyond walking a lot of times, but I'm trying anyway. My question is knowing that high levels of stress and lack of sleep. I have a constantly rotating work schedule that is unpredictable and a crying baby. What can I do to help me get sick less often cuz I feel like I'm getting sick all the time. I feel like I am drained and out of energy all the time. I don't know if I just need to eat more citrus fruit or take a supplement or change the type of workouts I'm doing. I can't really have any control over my work schedule so I am looking for a different job. But with high levels of stress and lower than adequate levels of sleep, what steps can I take to keep myself from getting sick.

 

[Damer]

@RangerX thank you so much for kicking this off and your question is pure gold. Most times what stops us from getting as fit as we want to is life itself. The world is complex and the way we fit in it even more so. In the struggle to make it all work we often sacrifice the things we take for granted: our physical and mental health. It is usually a health scare of some kind that snaps us back to a more sensible way of doing things and by 'sensible' I really mean feasible.

Stress, initially, activates the sympathetic nervous system, which directly guides what is popularly known as the 'fight or flight' response and dampens down inflammation in the body to better release resources to allocate to that response. At the same time it excites the central nervous system and the endocrine system in the body (because they play an active role in the excitation levels of the sympathetic nervous system) and because both of these systems are involved in a constant interplay with the immune system, it affects that as well. The initial response of the immune system to stress is positive. However, over time, chronic stress that's left unmanaged dysregulates the immune system and results in a host of bad health outcomes that range from colds and the flu to mental health episodes and cancer. There is a relatively comprehensive, 2019 study that looks at all that here.

That study talks about interventions such as exercise, nutrition and self-care (of which sleep is an inescapable aspect).

You have a high degree of self-awareness. You know your life is unpredictable and you also realize you're experiencing high levels of stress. Every balanced approach to long-lasting health rests on three obvious pillars:

• Exercise (or physical activity)
• Nutrition
• Sleep

The challenge you're facing is making it work in a way that is workable, will not detract from your role as a mother, won't take you away from the current workload you face and still help you manage your stress levels. You're already getting in non-exercise thermogenesis activity (NEAT for short) by walking, mostly and you're trying to fix your nutrition. The problem is that the general level of unpredictability in your life is draining and it is that energy drain which then makes it harder to stick to anything consistently or even find the time to do something that is going to be beneficial to you.

I have three suggestions to make here that may be of direct help to you: First, stop trying to fix everything at once. It's too much. You can't create the perfect exercise routine, fix your nutrition which will require a more conscious effort to cook or get healthier, balanced meals and reduce your stress levels while trying to juggle the unpredictable and resource-draining parts of your life. This is a recipe for failure and when you do fail you then guilt yourself which only makes things worse. Work, instead, on making any changes that are easier to make right now. Can you walk a little more or add a little more NEAT activity to your day by changing something you're already doing? Do that first. Can you improve your nutrition by reducing your intake of or cutting out entirely foods like sugar and alcohol, which increase your inflammation levels and add to the general sense of stress you experience? Do that first. Make all these little changes and be methodical and patient, give them time to take effect. Know that anything you do to reduce the excess easy-source carbohydrates from your diet (by reducing or cutting out food and drink items like processed white bread, sweets, sugar, soda drinks and alcohol) you're priming your body to better deal with the effects of sleep deprivation (or inconsistent sleep). There is a very recent study on that in the military, here.

Second, since you know to expect a certain level of chaos in your life and worklife come to terms with that. The amount of control we experience over our life is important to the healthy function of our brain and body. When we feel we have no control things get stressful and, over time, internally our organs are effected which directly impacts our health. Navy SEALs are some of the best trained people on the planet. They're taught to be effective and calm in chaotic environments over which they have zero control by adopting a specific mindset which reframes their experience as positive instead of negative. I detail some of this here:

While the reframing is a mental trick the effects it has on the body in terms of stress reduction, clearer thinking, an improved sense of control and an enhanced physical and mental experience are undeniable. Workout what mental imagery you can employ that allows you to internally manage the stress you feel so you feel more capable.

Finally, while getting more sleep is not an option that's currently available to you, you can use some of the time you have (and it only needs as little as three minutes) to do some mental housekeeping by meditating. Meditation, over time, increases brain gray matter, improves brain density and leads to improved cognition (there are studies behind each link I added here). It also helps with brain structural health and improves neurogenesis in the brain. It does, in other words, for the brain what exercise does for the body.

Meditation is a skill, like any other, and we have a handy guide you could use.

Provided you apply these three things, in the first instance, you will notice a marked change in your own management of the challenges you experience and that will become a solid basis for further change you can make on your own.

Our Self-Care and Wellbeing channel has a lot of short videos that might be of use to you. You will find its contents here.

Be fully aware of your own emotions in all this. As you understand them and their source you begin to better understand how you function and that is a solid basis for further improvements.

I hope all this helps a little. Feel free to come back with anything you think I need to explain further or give better (or more) examples of or expand on.

 

[LionAlpha]

Hey Damer, and hey everyone! So.. for those that don't already know it seems that I have a kinda big herniated disc in the L5-S1, and the orthopedic prescribed some physiotherapies to also help with inflammation of the spot (I'm gonna start them in a couple of weeks). When I asked him about working out he told me to do nothing until I finish the physiotherapies, that literally breaks my heart. I asked him what about after the physiotherapies, and he said I can get back to working out as long as it doesn't stress the lower back. Of course, I am also going to discuss this with the physiotherapist, but wanted to ask Damer... Based on your fitness experience, if you were in my spot (and please don't be haha), what would you avoid, and what you wouldn't? And generally, what would you do to get back to the level you were, or as close as it can be? Thank you in advance!

 

[RangerX]

@RangerX thank you so much for kicking this off and your question is pure gold. Most times what stops us from getting as fit as we want to is life itself. The world is complex and the way we fit in it even more so. In the struggle to make it all work we often sacrifice the things we take for granted: our physical and mental health. It is usually a health scare of some kind that snaps us back to a more sensible way of doing things and by 'sensible' I really mean feasible.

Stress, initially, activates the sympathetic nervous system, which directly guides what is popularly known as the 'fight or flight' response and dampens down inflammation in the body to better release resources to allocate to that response. At the same time it excites the central nervous system and the endocrine system in the body (because they play an active role in the excitation levels of the sympathetic nervous system) and because both of these systems are involved in a constant interplay with the immune system, it affects that as well. The initial response of the immune system to stress is positive. However, over time, chronic stress that's left unmanaged dysregulates the immune system and results in a host of bad health outcomes that range from colds and the flu to mental health episodes and cancer. There is a relatively comprehensive, 2019 study that looks at all that here.

That study talks about interventions such as exercise, nutrition and self-care (of which sleep is an inescapable aspect).

You have a high degree of self-awareness. You know your life is unpredictable and you also realize you're experiencing high levels of stress. Every balanced approach to long-lasting health rests on three obvious pillars:

• Exercise (or physical activity)
• Nutrition
• Sleep

The challenge you're facing is making it work in a way that is workable, will not detract from your role as a mother, won't take you away from the current workload you face and still help you manage your stress levels. You're already getting in non-exercise thermogenesis activity (NEAT for short) by walking, mostly and you're trying to fix your nutrition. The problem is that the general level of unpredictability in your life is draining and it is that energy drain which then makes it harder to stick to anything consistently or even find the time to do something that is going to be beneficial to you.

I have three suggestions to make here that may be of direct help to you: First, stop trying to fix everything at once. It's too much. You can't create the perfect exercise routine, fix your nutrition which will require a more conscious effort to cook or get healthier, balanced meals and reduce your stress levels while trying to juggle the unpredictable and resource-draining parts of your life. This is a recipe for failure and when you do fail you then guilt yourself which only makes things worse. Work, instead, on making any changes that are easier to make right now. Can you walk a little more or add a little more NEAT activity to your day by changing something you're already doing? Do that first. Can you improve your nutrition by reducing your intake of or cutting out entirely foods like sugar and alcohol, which increase your inflammation levels and add to the general sense of stress you experience? Do that first. Make all these little changes and be methodical and patient, give them time to take effect. Know that anything you do to reduce the excess easy-source carbohydrates from your diet (by reducing or cutting out food and drink items like processed white bread, sweets, sugar, soda drinks and alcohol) you're priming your body to better deal with the effects of sleep deprivation (or inconsistent sleep). There is a very recent study on that in the military, here.

Second, since you know to expect a certain level of chaos in your life and worklife come to terms with that. The amount of control we experience over our life is important to the healthy function of our brain and body. When we feel we have no control things get stressful and, over time, internally our organs are effected which directly impacts our health. Navy SEALs are some of the best trained people on the planet. They're taught to be effective and calm in chaotic environments over which they have zero control by adopting a specific mindset which reframes their experience as positive instead of negative. I detail some of this here:

While the reframing is a mental trick the effects it has on the body in terms of stress reduction, clearer thinking, an improved sense of control and an enhanced physical and mental experience are undeniable. Workout what mental imagery you can employ that allows you to internally manage the stress you feel so you feel more capable.

Finally, while getting more sleep is not an option that's currently available to you, you can use some of the time you have (and it only needs as little as three minutes) to do some mental housekeeping by meditating. Meditation, over time, increases brain gray matter, improves brain density and leads to improved cognition (there are studies behind each link I added here). It also helps with brain structural health and improves neurogenesis in the brain. It does, in other words, for the brain what exercise does for the body.

Meditation is a skill, like any other, and we have a handy guide you could use.

Provided you apply these three things, in the first instance, you will notice a marked change in your own management of the challenges you experience and that will become a solid basis for further change you can make on your own.

Our Self-Care and Wellbeing channel has a lot of short videos that might be of use to you. You will find its contents here.

Be fully aware of your own emotions in all this. As you understand them and their source you begin to better understand how you function and that is a solid basis for further improvements.

I hope all this helps a little. Feel free to come back with anything you think I need to explain further or give better (or more) examples of or expand on.

Thank you and for clarification, I am a middle-aged man I don't think the gender changes anything, but if it does I wanted to state that

 

[Damer]

@LionAlpha I am really sorry to hear about your injury. Every time we get injured it feels like a massive setback. Good news in your case is that most herniated discs in the lumbosacral joint do heal, on their own, within about 12 weeks. A disc that's healed however can easily get re-injured if not properly strengthened. The physiotherapy you're likely to have is going to address that issue plus gently work the pelvis area so that circulation is improved and healing is accelerated.

Before you can get back to normal you should avoid:

• Anything high impact
• No sudden twists of the spine
• No hyper-extension of the lower back
• No heavy lifting

That however leaves you with quite a few options still. If you work on yoga workouts: https://darebee.com/collections/easy-yoga-workouts.html while listening to your body so you get a feel for how much pressure is now applied on your injured lower back, you should be able to significantly help your case. That is also the path to getting back to where you were: steady, persistent and consistent exercises that strengthens your lower back and spine.

It will take a minimum of six months from rehabilitation to the point where you will be able to get back to what you were doing before. It's not so much the healing that takes time as the strengthening so that you don't get re-injured. Any injured tissue in the body undergoes the same process:

• Injury
• Inflammation
• De-strengthening

Rehabilitation exercises (i.e. physiotherapy) seek to maintain or increase blood flow to the damaged area safely so that it maintains its range of motion and, at the same time, heals. The tricky part is always the last. Because injured tissue is de-strengthened it is not "back to normal" the moment the injury is no longer an issue (i.e. you no longer feel pain when you move it). It has been de-strengthened and now needs to be re-strengthened. Usually, because we no longer feel pain and because in our heads we have a picture of what we used to be like before the injury and believe that because the pain has gone we can now get back to what we did before, after we recover from an injury we very quickly get re-injured in the same or adjacent body part and this sets a pattern which the leads to a chronic injury and/or weakness.

We can avoid all this by being patient, methodical and persistent. After you stop feeling pain in your lower back and/or back of your legs and glutes, gradually and with great care increase your exercise load. Be patient. Give yourself adequate time to recover from each session. Record everything you do so you can gauge progress and be very, very, kind to yourself.

As for getting back into it, I would start with any workout that is "total body" and work up in intensity, slowly from there. That way you're safeguarding against overloading the pelvic area by spreading the load to satellite muscle groups. The other thing I would do (have done once actually, when I was forced off training for two months) is engage in breathing exercises: like this one: https://darebee.com/workouts/breathing-workout.html and this one: https://darebee.com/workouts/breathe-easy-workout.html Aerobic fitness drops pretty quickly when you don't exercise and these workouts will help you preserve a large part of that.

Provided you do all that there is no reason you can't get back to 100% fitness. I really hope this helps and please don't hesitate to let me know of any follow-up questions and also just keep us informed of your progress.

 

[Damer]

@RangerX my mistake and apologies . It doesn't in any way. The exact same approach applies.

 

[EnbyFitness]

Hi hi!

Asking as a social worker AND as someone with my own mental health issues:

We all know that exercise helps with several mental health disorders, such as anxiety, depression, ADHD and many others. However, we also know that telling a depressed person to “just exercise” is bad advice, as they often don’t have the energy to do so unless they’re already on some form of medication. I live in America, where mental healthcare is oftentimes inaccessible.

So my question is: what advice do you have for someone with depression? Should exercise even be a priority for them if their depression is very severe? Thank you in advance for your answer! I know I’ll recommend this site as a social worker to clients no matter what, but I want to be mindful in doing so. Thanks again!

 

[RangerX]

Secondary question and it wouldn't be something that would tackle right away following your advice but I just thought someone might benefit. What would be the advantage of going vegetarian for dinner every other night? So three to four times per week just for one meal on each of those days. And for bonus points, if you wanted to modify some of your wok to run programs like 8 weeks to 5K to be intervals on a bicycle and think of like the cheapest indoor exercise bike you can with like a magnetic resistance dial that goes from like 1 to 10. How would you modify those to accommodate a bicycle instead of running?

 

[Damer]

@EnbyFitness what an excellent question you raise and what a can of worms it is! Ok, let's start with the easiest aspect of it by establishing in broad terms what depression is: From a neuroscientific point of view it is a rewiring of the brain the cause of which, in some cases, can be explained by genetics and hereditary factors and, in others, environmental factors that causes brain inflammation due to higher levels of translocator proteins, a highly active amygdala (used to process emotions and, in particularly negative emotions) and an inter-hemispheric imbalance: a hyperactive right-hemisphere (RH) and a relatively hypoactive left-hemisphere (LH).

All this is a fancy way of saying that while outwardly a person who is depressed may appear passive, internally they're operating under a massive energetic load. To ask them to engage in exercise (which definitely helps by rebalancing brain and body neurotransmitters, reducing amygdala activity and -over time- rewiring parts of the brain that are activated by depressive episodes) is to place an additional energetic load on them: they need to decide to do something, at a specific time, to a relatively specific format. Add to all this the fact that we're naturally hardwired to avoid physical activity and you can see the problem: Energy, or rather the energy actively required to overcome the massive perceptual barriers that arise when a brain enters a stage of depression.

That also provides the solution you seek, which will be different in its practical aspects on a case-by-case basis but the format of which will be the same: ease of access. Depending on the personal routine and past habits and experiences of the person who is depressed, the solution is to structure something for them that is easy to understand, easy to do, easy to follow each day/week and which provides, if possible, a measure of directly experienced fun.

How you build all that will vary on the resources you have to work with, the time available to you and other local constraints. The aim however is to get rid of as many perceptual barriers as possible. For example: exercise with no equipment, zero need for space in your underwear and do something absolutely basic that needs to be ticked off on a progress chart. These are all elements designed to get rid of barriers and also provide some motivation which, in itself, activates the brain's reward system.

The formula doesn't change much when we apply it to ourselves (and we all have a bad day every now and then). If we've made it as easy as possible to do what we need to do then the chances of us doing it increase exponentially, if we've created obstacles (i.e. we need to get to a particular place, at a particular time) then the difficulty we perceive increases exponentially and we become less likely to follow through with our fitness plan.

I really hope this helps.

 

[WolfDreamer]

I am training for a 50k, and my biggest struggle is finding time to run longer distances. My training plan asks for roughly 3-5 miles per day starting out at least four days a week, as well as one long run on the weekend. I have five children who are involved in sports and/or dance, as well as a full time career as a teacher. It would seem that morning is the most available time for me, but this usually means getting up at 4:15-4:30 AM in order to find the time to run. I know sleep is important, but because of our busy schedule, I rarely get to bed before 10:00.

My question is this: Can I effectively train for a 50k by breaking up my miles throughout my day and/or by doing other exercises besides running? I do not have access to a treadmill, so that is not an option, either. I am usually able to get my long runs in on Saturday mornings without issue, but it is M-F that often cause a problem.

 

[LionAlpha]

@LionAlpha I am really sorry to hear about your injury. Every time we get injured it feels like a massive setback. Good news in your case is that most herniated discs in the lumbosacral joint do heal, on their own, within about 12 weeks. A disc that's healed however can easily get re-injured if not properly strengthened. The physiotherapy you're likely to have is going to address that issue plus gently work the pelvis area so that circulation is improved and healing is accelerated.

Before you can get back to normal you should avoid:

• Anything high impact
• No sudden twists of the spine
• No hyper-extension of the lower back
• No heavy lifting

That however leaves you with quite a few options still. If you work on yoga workouts: https://darebee.com/collections/easy-yoga-workouts.html while listening to your body so you get a feel for how much pressure is now applied on your injured lower back, you should be able to significantly help your case. That is also the path to getting back to where you were: steady, persistent and consistent exercises that strengthens your lower back and spine.

It will take a minimum of six months from rehabilitation to the point where you will be able to get back to what you were doing before. It's not so much the healing that takes time as the strengthening so that you don't get re-injured. Any injured tissue in the body undergoes the same process:

• Injury
• Inflammation
• De-strengthening

Rehabilitation exercises (i.e. physiotherapy) seek to maintain or increase blood flow to the damaged area safely so that it maintains its range of motion and, at the same time, heals. The tricky part is always the last. Because injured tissue is de-strengthened it is not "back to normal" the moment the injury is no longer an issue (i.e. you no longer feel pain when you move it). It has been de-strengthened and now needs to be re-strengthened. Usually, because we no longer feel pain and because in our heads we have a picture of what we used to be like before the injury and believe that because the pain has gone we can now get back to what we did before, after we recover from an injury we very quickly get re-injured in the same or adjacent body part and this sets a pattern which the leads to a chronic injury and/or weakness.

We can avoid all this by being patient, methodical and persistent. After you stop feeling pain in your lower back and/or back of your legs and glutes, gradually and with great care increase your exercise load. Be patient. Give yourself adequate time to recover from each session. Record everything you do so you can gauge progress and be very, very, kind to yourself.

As for getting back into it, I would start with any workout that is "total body" and work up in intensity, slowly from there. That way you're safeguarding against overloading the pelvic area by spreading the load to satellite muscle groups. The other thing I would do (have done once actually, when I was forced off training for two months) is engage in breathing exercises: like this one: https://darebee.com/workouts/breathing-workout.html and this one: https://darebee.com/workouts/breathe-easy-workout.html Aerobic fitness drops pretty quickly when you don't exercise and these workouts will help you preserve a large part of that.

Provided you do all that there is no reason you can't get back to 100% fitness. I really hope this helps and please don't hesitate to let me know of any follow-up questions and also just keep us informed of your progress.

Thank you very much for the thorough response @Damer ! If I understand correctly, my main goal after the physiotherapies should be to strengthen again my lower back. And after sometime to get back to it with easier workouts. Truth be told I'm not into Yoga at all. I just want my traditional bodyweight strength training back . I guess I can look more into it, when the physiotherapies are done. Again thank you!

 

[Damer]

@RangerX excellent follow-up and what a difference just 20 years make. Had you asked me the same question about meat in your diet at the turn of the century I would have said you're good either way and the difference in changing diet would be so small in terms of physical performance that you could safely ignore it. We have had, in the intervening years, more studies and, arguably, our food sources are getting worse. There are recent studies that suggest that reducing meat in your diet (as you propose) or cutting it out altogether reduces the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) that is an inflammation biomarker. Anything that reduces inflammation in the body is a plus because it means: less damage being caused, less repair being carried out and more available energy every day.

Recent studies find that plant-based diets and mostly-plant based diets deliver enhanced athletic performance. Similarly, a recent meta-analysis of a number of studies on nutrition and athletic performance shows that meat consumption triggers inflammation in the body and suppresses the immune system. Add to this the fact that all meat contains residual hormones that are labelled safe for human consumption but the long-terms of which remain unclear and my guess is you will definitely feel better with your plan and perform better in your exercise.

Now your running question has a more compound answer. Running is a biomechanical exercise that coordinates the body's kinetic chains and improves the body's aerobic and cardiovascular systems as well as joint and bone strength primarily due to its high impact. Cycling, even on the cheapest bike available, is excellent for lower body strength and coordination and it also improves the aerobic and cardiovascular systems so using a time/distance measure (depending on what the bike shows you) over intensity (by playing with the resistance levels) you can get pretty good results. Like, for instance, workout for 20 - 30 mins one day using resistance 6 - 7 and workout longer on other days at a lower resistance. You could even choose to vary the resistance for specific segments of time like cycling at resistance 10 for 2 - 3 minutes and then dropping all the way to resistance 2 - 3 and cycling for half an hour before repeating the higher resitance and time again. Experiment, when the time comes, to see what works best for you and you will find your groove.

I hope all this helps.

 

[Damer]

@WolfDreamer what an interesting puzzle you pose and the question of time-coz-of-life is one we all struggle with so, I suspect, many other people will find the answer useful.

Your question is: Can I effectively train for a 50k by breaking up my miles throughout my day and/or by doing other exercises besides running?

And the answer to this is: it depends. Let's see what that really means and where this unwillingness of mine to commit to a definitive reply comes from (and there is a definitive reply). Now, running is a biomechanical activity that engages quite a few, if not all, of the body's resources and systems. It requires lower body strength, endurance (in particular of the distance you plan to run), aerobic fitness, cardiovascular fitness and coordination and that's before we get to the more technical aspects of it such as cadence and gait (which for non-runners in The Hive translate to the number of steps per minute and the distance the foot travels per step).

If you're competing for time and want to hit a particularly competitive time in your 50k run, everything I am going to suggest will help you only up to a certain extent. After that there is no substitute for hitting the road. However, if that is not your goal and you want to either just run it or run it at a fairly decent time then the good news is that you can totally not run outside which will save you a lot of time by putting you in total charge of what you do and when.

The question hinges on what you're training. To run well you need coordination, lower body strength, strong lower body tendons, endurance (so your muscles can work hard for prolonged periods of time), aerobic capacity (so your lungs can supply adequate oxygen to your muscles) and good cardiovascular system (so your heart/lung coordination is on point and your body can transport nutrients where it needs to quickly and flash out the byproducts of prolonged running).

A workout like Better Than Running will definitely help. Our alternatives to running collection of workouts also provides variety and various levels of intensity for that all-round experience. Used correctly with careful intent all of these will give you exactly the substitute you need. You can then use your weekend runs to gauge how you're doing. I know all this makes substituting these exercises sound easy the difficulty in the substitution stems from the execution. Running is a mental game as much as a physical one. When you run you're training your mind to stay focused and manage your body and this, in itself, has a rhythm that's developed over time. This is why I mentioned your time goal in running 50k. The workouts will definitely help you physically. You must make sure you develop the necessary mental fortitude when you run over the weekends.

I hop this helps and please keep us informed of your progress. Record your weekend runs and times and also, if possible, record the workouts you do to prepare. If you find the time and inclination to start a log in our Checking In section, I suspect your journey will help many other people who struggle with a similar problem and similar circumstances.

I hope all this helps.

 

[WolfDreamer]

I hope all this helps.

This is very helpful, thank you! The good news is I have been running for a few years now, and I completed a trail half marathon a few weeks ago. I am familiar with all that is required to run effectively and safely, as well as how to continue to enjoy running and not feel like I'm dying. I'm not concerned about time other than completing the 50k before the cutoff, and I do plan to train via actual running when I can. My concern was that my tight schedule would interfere with finding the time to run and thus interfere with my training.

 

[FlowersandPetals]

View attachment 5097

It's a time of the year when I thought we could all benefit from an Ask Me Anything session. Previous AMA sessions, which are now in our Knowledge Base, focused on a specific aspect of fitness like strength or speed. It's been some time since we had one and a lot of new people have joined The Hive, plus many of you are further along your fitness journey. For all those reasons I thought it would be super-useful to make this one general so any question you have about fitness can be examined. As usual I will bring in scientific studies and research to back up what I say and I will explain things in detail, no matter how simple they may seem.

Rules as usual:

• There are no stupid questions so feel free to ask anything.
• I will acknowledge your question with a thumbs up and answer it within 24 hours, usually.
• Feel free to ask for any clarifications on my answer or any follow-up questions that are sparked by it.
• If you ask a follow up question if you tag me @Damer it becomes more likely I will see it (I get inundated with emails and notifications most days)
• If something doesn't make sense just ask me to explain further (sometimes I assume some things are common knowledge and I shouldn't)
• The AMA will run for two weeks to allow everyone time to think about it and get their questions in and also get in follow-up questions should they need to

The starting date will be Wednesday 6th November. I will open this thread up then so start lining your questions

View attachment 5097

It's a time of the year when I thought we could all benefit from an Ask Me Anything session. Previous AMA sessions, which are now in our Knowledge Base, focused on a specific aspect of fitness like strength or speed. It's been some time since we had one and a lot of new people have joined The Hive, plus many of you are further along your fitness journey. For all those reasons I thought it would be super-useful to make this one general so any question you have about fitness can be examined. As usual I will bring in scientific studies and research to back up what I say and I will explain things in detail, no matter how simple they may seem.

Rules as usual:

• There are no stupid questions so feel free to ask anything.
• I will acknowledge your question with a thumbs up and answer it within 24 hours, usually.
• Feel free to ask for any clarifications on my answer or any follow-up questions that are sparked by it.
• If you ask a follow up question if you tag me @Damer it becomes more likely I will see it (I get inundated with emails and notifications most days)
• If something doesn't make sense just ask me to explain further (sometimes I assume some things are common knowledge and I shouldn't)
• The AMA will run for two weeks to allow everyone time to think about it and get their questions in and also get in follow-up questions should they need to

The starting date will be Wednesday 6th November. I will open this thread up then so start lining your questions up.

Hi


New here so I hope you don’t mind how do you get rid of a menopause belly? I’m on a vegan, gluten free diet (due to a chronic illness that the doctors are clueless about). I exercise everyday, 6 of those days are 2 1/2 hours mostly strength training. Thanks

 

[Damer]

@FlowersandPetals great question and thank you for asking it. From a hormonal point of view menopause is as great a transition for the human body as adolescence. And just like adolescence it needs careful management to get through. You're already on a good path with your vegan, gluten free diet and regular exercise. The reason fat is stored around the waist after menopause is because of changes in oestrogen levels in the body. To combat that beyond diet and exercise you also need to look at adequate hydration and really good quality sleep. All of these are interventions that work but they need time and effort. Just like in adolescence, getting through it requires a structured strategy (which most of us back then never got) and a really good balance between mind and body, plus a lot of patience.

If it helps we have a training program specifically designed for that. You can find it here.

I really hope all this is of help.

 

[FlowersandPetals]

Thanks! I’ll look into that

 

[prajjwal]

View attachment 5097

It's a time of the year when I thought we could all benefit from an Ask Me Anything session. Previous AMA sessions, which are now in our Knowledge Base, focused on a specific aspect of fitness like strength or speed. It's been some time since we had one and a lot of new people have joined The Hive, plus many of you are further along your fitness journey. For all those reasons I thought it would be super-useful to make this one general so any question you have about fitness can be examined. As usual I will bring in scientific studies and research to back up what I say and I will explain things in detail, no matter how simple they may seem.

Rules as usual:

• There are no stupid questions so feel free to ask anything.
• I will acknowledge your question with a thumbs up and answer it within 24 hours, usually.
• Feel free to ask for any clarifications on my answer or any follow-up questions that are sparked by it.
• If you ask a follow up question if you tag me @Damer it becomes more likely I will see it (I get inundated with emails and notifications most days)
• If something doesn't make sense just ask me to explain further (sometimes I assume some things are common knowledge and I shouldn't)
• The AMA will run for two weeks to allow everyone time to think about it and get their questions in and also get in follow-up questions should they need to

The starting date will be Wednesday 6th November. I will open this thread up then so start lining your questions up.

@Damer Hi I am Prajjwal and I am 17 about 7-6 months ago I had two consecutive fractures in my right hand lower arm bones and my right hand wrist joints and elbow joints are also not freely movable from my birth
But I am really want to become strong and as I am very thin I want to gain muscle mass but without putting excessive force on my arm
Is there any workout plan which will help me gain more muscle mass and more stamina as I have became weak and thin after my hand broke.
I have been doing some workouts from darebee from 2 months but I am not sure that I am doing right
And I am also deviated towards boxing too.
I really want to become stronger and continue my life as a fit and healthy person.
Can you please consider a workout plan

Oh and one more stupid question but i actually don't know the answer
Of there is written 5 sets
This means that we have to do the whole workout 5 times or do a particular exercise 5 times and move to other exercise and do it 5 times

Please help me

 

[Mustang5]

Hello
I am a 56 year old female. I want to make sure that I don’t lose muscle mass as I continue to age. I am wondering if bodyweight training is sufficient. For example, if I do the punches challenge, does that build muscle?

If not, how heavy do you need to go? Or do I need to mix it up: some heavy weights to gain, some lighter days to maintain?
Thank you

 

[Damer]

@Mustang5 thank you for bringing this seemingly simple question to the AMA. Obviously there are complexities here I will get into and unpack but let's start with the obvious thing first: Muscle is an organ. It has a complex role producing a number of cytokines, called myokines that play a role in our immune system, aging and intracellular communication between muscles and adipose fat as well as other organs in the body that are active in maintaining the body's energy expenditure. Some of this is detailed in the science book Muscle and Exercise Physiology and what I've just said is explained in chapter 13, an extract of which can be found here. Cytokines, of which myokines are a part of are proteins that play a central role in cell signalling in the body and are used to activate processes that fight disease, combat inflammation, repair tissue and so on.

Muscles also play a massive role in locomotion in the body: We need them for continued mobility. As we age, for sure, we need muscles but that's not the only thing we need. We also need:

• Strength
• Aerobic capacity
• Range of motion

Strength is an attribute (or a skill, if you like) that requires muscles (obviously) but also a good cardiovascular system (to transport the neurochemical messengers that make this possible) and a healthy neurological system (that makes electrochemical signalling in the body, possible).

All of this goes some way towards answering your questions: Do punches build muscles? They do as they require arms, shoulders, biceps, triceps, lats and delts to work extensively to make it happen. They also build coordination and help towards neurological health. We have an article on this here. Is that enough? No. The reason it's not enough comes down to cell signalling in an aging body.

As we age the body tries to reserve resources and its go-to move is to reduce energy expenditure by reducing muscle mass. This is called sarcopenia. Sarcopenia, in turn, is caused by a number of overlapping factors that include "declines in hormones and numbers of neuromuscular junctions, increased inflammation, declines in activity, and inadequate nutrition." It all sounds like we're caught in a downward spiral as we age, which is true, provided we do nothing about it.

Exercise is an intervention. It sends a persistent signal to the body that it needs to adapt to meet the demands of an environmental stressor (which is what exercise is) and the adaptations, over time, lead to the visible changes we see (stronger muscles, tendons and ligaments and improved cardiovascular and aerobic fitness) which, in turn, produce the same range of movement and capabilities in older bodies that we see in younger ones (which is how we turn back the biological clock).

Because the body's trend is to go the opposite way, it's important to send a strong, persistent signal regarding this change. So we need three parts for this:

• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Sufficient Sleep

The body only changes materially while we sleep. So quality of sleep is important, as well as length. It needs sufficient nutrition to carry out all the changes it needs so, as we age, nutrition is more important than ever. And it needs that signal that exercise sends it that it needs to change and become stronger. Bodyweight training, over time, is a strong signal but as we age we also need to do weights in order to build the necessary muscle as the body tries to err on the side of caution and commit as few resources as possible to building strength and muscle unless it really feels it has to.

How much weight you lift is up to you: What can you lift without pushing your limits and risking injury? Work it out and apply it (and we have specific strength workouts for building strength with weights and without).

By mixing it up, as you suggest, you maintain the strength of the signal the body receives to continue adapting. It comes down to what allows you to train every day, change constantly so you improve and maintain your overall capability, functionality and sense of owning the body you live in, as you get older.

I hope this helps and should I need to expand on anything a little more or add more examples, please let me know.

 

[Damer]

@prajjwal Thank you for your questions and let's start with the easiest one first: if there are five sets to a workout. It means we go through all the exercises in the workout, one after another. That's one set. We have a break up to two minutes and then we start again, and repeat until we have done this five times. We have a manual that explains some of this, here.

Now for your more complicated question. You said you have some difficulty in range of motion on your arm which is from birth. The fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, started to exercise because he has scoliosis, which is excessive curvature of the spine, and one leg is slightly shorter than the other. Exercise, done right, can help us overcome limitations and maintain our quality of life. But for that to happen we need to factor in:

• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Adequate Rest

Without proper food to help you build the muscles you need and enough rest to repair tissue and build muscle, exercise on its own is insufficient. What you choose to do by way of workouts depends on the time you have available, space and capabilties. Your body is young so it will respond quickly but you need to have a structured approach where you exercise every day, give it enough sleep time to recover, reduce the intensity every time it gets over tired and make sure you're eating enough of the right kind of food.

I really hope this helps.

 

[Mustang5]

@Mustang5 thank you for bringing this seemingly simple question to the AMA. Obviously there are complexities here I will get into and unpack but let's start with the obvious thing first: Muscle is an organ. It has a complex role producing a number of cytokines, called myokines that play a role in our immune system, aging and intracellular communication between muscles and adipose fat as well as other organs in the body that are active in maintaining the body's energy expenditure. Some of this is detailed in the science book Muscle and Exercise Physiology and what I've just said is explained in chapter 13, an extract of which can be found here. Cytokines, of which myokines are a part of are proteins that play a central role in cell signalling in the body and are used to activate processes that fight disease, combat inflammation, repair tissue and so on.

Muscles also play a massive role in locomotion in the body: We need them for continued mobility. As we age, for sure, we need muscles but that's not the only thing we need. We also need:

• Strength
• Aerobic capacity
• Range of motion

Strength is an attribute (or a skill, if you like) that requires muscles (obviously) but also a good cardiovascular system (to transport the neurochemical messengers that make this possible) and a healthy neurological system (that makes electrochemical signalling in the body, possible).

All of this goes some way towards answering your questions: Do punches build muscles? They do as they require arms, shoulders, biceps, triceps, lats and delts to work extensively to make it happen. They also build coordination and help towards neurological health. We have an article on this here. Is that enough? No. The reason it's not enough comes down to cell signalling in an aging body.

As we age the body tries to reserve resources and its go-to move is to reduce energy expenditure by reducing muscle mass. This is called sarcopenia. Sarcopenia, in turn, is caused by a number of overlapping factors that include "declines in hormones and numbers of neuromuscular junctions, increased inflammation, declines in activity, and inadequate nutrition." It all sounds like we're caught in a downward spiral as we age, which is true, provided we do nothing about it.

Exercise is an intervention. It sends a persistent signal to the body that it needs to adapt to meet the demands of an environmental stressor (which is what exercise is) and the adaptations, over time, lead to the visible changes we see (stronger muscles, tendons and ligaments and improved cardiovascular and aerobic fitness) which, in turn, produce the same range of movement and capabilities in older bodies that we see in younger ones (which is how we turn back the biological clock).

Because the body's trend is to go the opposite way, it's important to send a strong, persistent signal regarding this change. So we need three parts for this:

• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Sufficient Sleep

The body only changes materially while we sleep. So quality of sleep is important, as well as length. It needs sufficient nutrition to carry out all the changes it needs so, as we age, nutrition is more important than ever. And it needs that signal that exercise sends it that it needs to change and become stronger. Bodyweight training, over time, is a strong signal but as we age we also need to do weights in order to build the necessary muscle as the body tries to err on the side of caution and commit as few resources as possible to building strength and muscle unless it really feels it has to.

How much weight you lift is up to you: What can you lift without pushing your limits and risking injury? Work it out and apply it (and we have specific strength workouts for building strength with weights and without).

By mixing it up, as you suggest, you maintain the strength of the signal the body receives to continue adapting. It comes down to what allows you to train every day, change constantly so you improve and maintain your overall capability, functionality and sense of owning the body you live in, as you get older.

I hope this helps and should I need to expand on anything a little more or add more examples, please let me know.

Thank you very much for this very complete answer. I have been struggling with adequate sleep. But now know I need to resolve this problem since it is also part of the equation.

 

[Saffity]

@Damer You mentioned mixing up body weight and other weights/resistance. If I have one choice to invest in, would it be better to get resistance bands, free weights/dumbbells, or kettle bells (or something else entirely)? Also, have you tried TRX or similar systems, do they work as far as increasing the difficulty/results of a body weight workout?

 

[Damer]

@Saffity such good questions! Ok, let's tackle the first one, first. If you're going to invest in just one of the types of equipment you mentioned and cost is the only driving factor then you just get the one you can afford. But if cost is not the driving factor and we assume that good quality resistance bands are in the approximate price range with free weights and kettlebells then the choice comes down to what you can do with them. Each of these gives you a progressively higher range of options. They're all resistance exercises but resistance bands have more of a limit in terms of load and the different forms of exercise you can use them in. Free weights give you a much larger option in terms of types of exercise and can be used to develop not just strength but also speed and kettlebells give you the most because they can be used in many if not all of the exercises where you'd used free weights plus they can tackle particularly hard to do joint angle exercises that wouldn't work as well, if at all, with the free weights because of the grip and the way the load is distributed.

For your second question: TRX was developed by a Navy SEAL who, presumably, was inspired by the use of suspension exercises Navy SEALs and Marines did in the cramped space of a ship. It works by changing the joint angle which, in turn, stretches and contracts different muscle groups differently and applies as a result different loads on the muscles. Every time we change the joint angle we achieve the same result and the easiest way to experience that is to do elevated push ups where your feet are on a chair and your hands are on the floor. Your body weight is the same but your shoulder muscles and upper back will experience a higher load which will then be felt by your triceps and chest. This higher load is because of changes to the joint angle of the shoulder which affect the length of specific muscle fibers. Muscles that are stretched experience more of a load than muscles that are at their normal length. Again, as an example consider how much harder it is to raise a pair of dumbbells to the front of your chest with your arms stretched when you lie on a bench and start off with the arms holding the dumbbells being past the level of your shoulders, towards the floor. By stretching the pectoral muscles, biceps and, somewhat, the shoulders we destrengthen the muscle fiber and increase the load they have to apply to raise the dumbbells.

Without being against their use I am always reticent to suggest TRX or similar systems. Beyond the cost and the space they take up, they also increase the chances of an injury happening the same way that lifting large weights does. They make it easy to underestimate the load experienced and difficult to adjust anything in execution which means that it is easier then for a muscle to exceed its tolerance and become injured and every muscle sports injury is the result of our exceeding a particular limit.

You can turn any exercise from resistance to aerobic or endurance depending on how you execute it and bodyweight training is by far the safest way to exercise in this regard.

We detail this with an example in the video below:

I hope this helps and don't hesitate to let me know if any more examples or clarifications are needed.

 

[prajjwal]

@prajjwal Thank you for your questions and let's start with the easiest one first: if there are five sets to a workout. It means we go through all the exercises in the workout, one after another. That's one set. We have a break up to two minutes and then we start again, and repeat until we have done this five times. We have a manual that explains some of this, here.

Now for your more complicated question. You said you have some difficulty in range of motion on your arm which is from birth. The fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, started to exercise because he has scoliosis, which is excessive curvature of the spine, and one leg is slightly shorter than the other. Exercise, done right, can help us overcome limitations and maintain our quality of life. But for that to happen we need to factor it:

• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Adequate Rest

Without proper food to help you build the muscles you need and enough rest to repair tissue and build muscle, exercise on its own is insufficient. What you choose to do by way of workouts depends on the time you have available, space and capabilties. Your body is young so it will respond quickly but you need to have a structured approach where you exercise every day, give it enough sleep time to recover, reduce the intensity every time it gets over tired and make sure you;re eating enough of the right kind of food.

I really hope this helps.

Thank you so much for your explanation i really appreciate it and it actually helped me

 

[Bushu0121]

@Damer hope all is going well. I’m 25 years old male and i workout regularly(currently i workout 5-6 days a week and i follow the PPL routine). I’m trying to figure out when is the best time to take protein shake according to science. I am aware that most studies suggest that you take protein within two hours post workout however, the issue that i come across is that i would get full pretty quick after having a meal which results in not taking the protein shake within the suggested timeframe. Instead, i would end up taking it later in the day or before bed but i would like to find out if this have any effect on performance or if i would lose out on gains. I would also like to add that i take creatine capsule(optimum nutrition) and i usually take that along with multivitamin after finishing a meal post workout.


Thank you in advance for your insight.

 

[AquaMarie]

Hi, @Damer ! Could you tell me a bit about the effects of isometric exercises on the body, please?

My physical therapist has me doing an isometric exercise with a resistance band for my ankle. Her explanation was that it would not only help me build up strength, but that it is also a pain reliever. And for me, at least, it's a very good pain reliever; a few sets can take me from limping to 'it only hurts when I pay attention to it.' I'd love to know how and why it works! (Even if it's just psychosomatic - I'll take all the help I can get )

Thank you!

 

[Damer]

@Bushu0121 thank you for your question and also clarification on your creatine intake as it gives me the opportunity to address this here. Let's start with the focus on taking protein at a particular time which is still an obsession in gym-goers across the world. This stems from an outdated belief that there is something called "the Anabolic Window" also popularly called "the Metabolic Window" where there is a relatively precise timing required in order to help muscles recover, repair and grow after exercise. Traditionally, this was thought to be between 15 - 60 minutes after a workout.

It's not clear how this came about but it's most likely it rose out of direct experience. After a workout muscles feel tired and depleted as glycogen levels in the bloodstream have dropped and a post-workout meal (in the past) or protein shake, these days, supplies some carbohydrates (even shakes are rarely just pure protein) which quickly replenish glycogen levels and make a person feel like muscle adaptations are already taking place (they're not!) and their energy is increasing (well, it gets replenished).

We know that while exercise triggers the adaptations we need in the body, the processes that repair tissue and build muscle happen only when we sleep and there is additional scientific evidence that shows that poor quality sleep and sleep deprivation result in an increase, in the body, of hormones that contribute to muscle breakdown and a decrease in muscle mass. If the duration and quality of sleep are the key ingredients necessary for muscle growth logic suggests that the timing of protein intake, either pre- or post- workout is immaterial.

This was backed up by a 2013 meta-analysis of 20 separate studies on the subject that showed that there are zero benefits to be had in sticking to "the Anabolic Window" in your protein intake. The results are backed by a later (2017) though small study on trained males that also showed there is little to be gained by trying to take protein in a pre- or post- workout period.

This isn't to say it doesn't help to have a pre- or post- workout protein intake, though the help it provides is not for the reasons most people think. While the studies I mentioned above used strict protocols to normalize different lifestyles and dietary habits, most ordinary people get to the gym or start their workout in a state of elevated arousal (i.e. stress), life, work and the general inconsistency of the perceived, external world create stress which generates higher levels of cortisol. Cortisol, in turn, acts as a muscle growth suppressant and even goes as far as to lead to the break down of muscle tissue and experienced muscle mass reduction. (There's a study on that, here). A pre- or post- workout protein shake reduces some of the perceived stress load on the body and leads to a reduction of cortisol which then helps in muscle growth or, at the very least, stops muscle mass loss.

So, to recap: provided your total protein intake in the day is what it should be the timing of when you take it doesn't matter, but if you have an established ritual that works for you and makes you feel better via a pre- or post- workout protein shake, by all means continue it. It will do no harm.

Now on your consumption of creatine timing does matter. Creatine monohydrate is a compound that gets broken down into creatine phosphate. Creatibe phosphate is a catalyst. It speeds up the replenishment of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by lending one of its phosphate molecules to adenosine diphosphate which is a by-product of ATP break down in the body. ATP is the primary fuel of cells. It powers everything in the body from the work muscles do to the thinking that goes on in the brain. The presence of creatine monohydrate allows ATP replenishment to occur faster which means that you can increase the intensity of your workout (because the individual cells that power muscle movement can replace the fuel they use up faster so they tire less easily). So, if you use your creatine intake to improve the intensity of your workout and the beneficial adaptations you get from an increased intensity then you should take creatine 15 - 30 minutes before you workout. If, on the other hand you use creatine to aid ATP recovery then you reduce the amount of post-workout stress experienced by the body and accelerate recovery and boost the immune system.

Bottom line: when you take creatine depends on what you want to achieve. You mentioned you have a post-workout meal and also take multi-vitamins all of which go a long way towards aiding muscle recovery after a workout and reducing the amount of stress experienced by the body because of the workout. Adding creatine to that mix seems redundant and I would suggest you move your creatine intake to pre-workout in order to get the most benefits out of it.

I hope all this helps. Again, as with other respondents here, let me know if something I have said needs further explanation or examples.

 

[Damer]

@AquaMarie isometrics. Let's unpack this (and thank you for raising the question) - isometric is a term applied to any exercise where muscle tension is generated but the muscles do not change in length and the joint does not change angle. Great examples of this are planks, wall sits and the sitting stance of martial arts. It is true that isometric exercise has a strong analgesic (i.e. pain-relieving effect). But how? Well here's how this theory goes. Sedentary life or a modern lifestyle that is not physically very active, causes muscles to tighten in order to maintain joint stability. Tight muscles are the result of particular neurotransmitters which are secreted to make them tight and they're called cortical muscle inhibitors and the tightness that is experienced is called: corticol muscle inhibition. Tight muscles squeeze the complex network of nerves emanating from the spine and spreading across the body from the brain which, in turn, signal the brain that a tightness has been experienced which, the brain in turn translates as a pain signal.

This is one of the reasons we're generally more sensitive to pain in cold weather. The reduction of blood flowing through our extremities leads to a tightening of muscles which ever so slightly, in turn, squeeze the nerves which then makes us over-sensitive to everything else.

By forcing muscles to work against each other, isometric exercise makes them tighten further and then, when the tension stops, relax. The relaxation is what relieves the pain by significantly recalibrating the pressure that is being experienced by the nerves and therefore reducing or completely eliminating the signal sent by the nerves to the brain.

The pain-relief effect of isometric exercises is detailed in this study, here and in this study, here.

Because isometric exercises pit one muscle group against another, they're a great way to maintain strength when injured and, as more studies have shown, it also helps reduce blood pressure.

I hope this covers what you needed to know but let me know if I need to explain anything further.

 

[Damer]

There are just three days left before this AMA closes. If there are some follow-up questions or, indeed, any new ones, now's the time to start putting them here.

 

[GladiatorTrail]

Hi everyone,
I have two questions I’d love your insights on:
1. What mobility and stretching techniques do you recommend? (want to do forward bend and front-squat with barbell)
2. How can I recognize if I am overtrained, and what should I do about it?

 

[Lazarus]

Hi everyone,

My question is not very exercise related, but I've been finding it difficult to get credible information on this.

I ran a 25 km yesterday, but my legs started cramping pretty badly around the 2 hr mark(20 km give or take). I was told at the next aid station that this was likely due electrolyte imbalances. They suggested that I use electrolyte gels from my next run onwards, but these are usually costly.

Could I use fruits as an alternative? Maybe bananas or oranges? Or would those have a higher chance of causing digestive issues?

 

[Damer]

@Lazarus interesting question. A cramp is caused by an involuntary contraction of a muscle which remains contracted and, as a result, sends signals to the brain through the muscle spindles. Spindles are, primarily, stretch detectors. They monitor the extent and speed at which a muscle contracts or stretches and send a signal to the brain. The brain then interprets that signal as pain. Cramps always happen suddenly and fast which is why they are painful. Because the contraction is involuntary the muscles tend to stay contracted so the pain felt by them only increases.

A cramp can be caused by a number of causes of which low electrolytes in the bloodstream is only one. Other causes include over-use of muscles, weak muscles that are overloaded, CNS fatigue and insufficient carbohydrates in the body. Without knowing much else about you, running 25km qualifies you as a cramp-recipient by pretty much all of these causes, which means that just addressing electrolytes may not solve it for you if that is not the real cause.

I am going to try and break down most of the causes here for you so you can best decide what path to take.

Electrolytes are minerals that are used to regulate the basic functions of our entire system, from how blood transfers oxygen in the body to how nerves transfer commands from the brain. They're Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Chloride, Magnesium, Phosphate and Bicarbonate and each does something different though they do have overlapping functions like, for instance, Calcium, Sodium and Potassium, all of which affect the function of the central nervous system (CNS for short). Running can deplete them through sweating and, if this is the cause of your cramps, adequate hydration and some lemon juice in your water should help.

Muscles that are repeatedly used at high intensity (as they are in running long distance) can cramp when the intensity of the exercise and repeated use of the muscle group collide in fatigue that's caused by metabolite accumulation or central nervous system (CNS) fatigue. These are complex issues that arise from sustained exertion and can only be solved by careful, sports-specific conditioning. Diagnosing them precisely is difficult because sweating and electrolyte imbalance also play a part in this.

Muscles that are not properly conditioned and are therefore not strong enough for what is being asked of them will also experience cramping. This happens because the muscles are over-strained, experience perhaps some muscle-damage as a result. Are further de-strengthened and experience an even higher mechanical load as a result. This leads to them functioning at a sub-optimum level with insufficient time between the voluntary contraction and stretching they're asked to perform. To make the picture even murkier is the fact that under-trained, de-strengthened muscles will experience higher levels of fatigue and may even cause faster electrolyte depletion because the effort required to make them work is significantly higher.

Everything the body does is controlled by the central nervous system (CNS) which branches out into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (I am painting a very general picture here, as there are a lot of details) each of which controls voluntary and involuntary activity in the body. The electrochemical activity of the CNS shows that it can be fatigued often leading to neuromuscular failure. Incidentally most sports scientists define muscle cramps during running as a neuromuscular failure caused by a malfunction in the reflex action between the muscle that's exercising and the spinal cord that delivers it the messages necessary to make it move. Physical conditioning is how you deal with this issue - you basically teach your body to sustain high-quality electrochemical messaging during high-intensity, prolonged exercise.

Finally carbohydrates are the primary, go-to source of fuel for the body looking to replenish adenosine triphosphate (ATP) reserves in the cells that power the muscles. Every cell in the body burns ATP in a complex cycle of usage and replenishment. Much of that cycle relies for speed on the presence of carbohydrates in the blood stream, usually in the form of blood glucose and then, glycogen stored in the liver. Long runs at high speed in high temperatures tend to deplete carbohydrates in the body (especially as you approach the two-hour mark of sustained, high-level activity). Th solution to this is making sure you have a high-carb meal a day before the race (or in the morning of the race if it starts a few hours later) to allow your body to have sufficient energy stores.

Because we're not machines none of this works independently of the others. They're all connected and tend to work in tandem most times. However there may be a simple, single culprit for the cramps you experience. Now that you know how they can be caused the best way to solve it is to experiment.

I hope this helps.

 

[Damer]

@GregoryPOL let's start with the more complicated one first: overtraining. This is a complex phenomenon but its symptoms are easy to spot: inexplicable mood swings, loss of appetite, poor sleep quality and a general sense of fatigue. Additional symptoms are performance losses despite the fact that training continues, high resting heart rate, occasional heart palpitations and a sense of dehydration despite drinking enough fluids and sore muscles that feel inflexible. There is a very useful study on this, here.

Overtraining basically occurs when there is insufficient rest time for the body to recover between training sessions. If you see yourself not gaining ground or even losing ground in how you perform, despite the fact that your training sessions have not decreased in number or intensity it's a good sign that you're overtraining. The best way round it, if you experience any of this is to get enough rest. Ideally you should be logging everything you do, days, times, performance and how you feel and how much rest you had.

Bear in mind that every gain we seek to make in fitness relies on three things:

• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Sleep

If any of these is off then we will plateau in the progress we make.

Now for mobility you basically need to get in some stretching.

Here are four workouts that can help you achieve the flexibility you need:

Stretching For Runners Workout

2200+ free workouts: cardio, strength, HIIT and abs by DAREBEE

darebee.com

Superhero Stretch

2200+ free workouts: cardio, strength, HIIT and abs by DAREBEE

darebee.com

Hip Flexors Workout

Hip Flexors is a Darebee tendon strength workout you can do at home or anywhere else.

darebee.com

Hamstring Stretch

Hamstring stretch will stretch your hamstrings. How's that for doing exactly what it says it'll do?

darebee.com

Remember that stretching de-strengthens the muscles and you should never do a stretch session and then an intensive workout, especially when that entails lifting weights.

I really hope this helps.

 

[NewPickle]

@Damer I’ve just started attending gym again and do a HIIT program on a treadmill for 40mins which is a mix of walking and running. I want to do more but have been suffering from some muscle spasms likely from bad posture on the sofa and sleeping that has been going on for a few weeks. An online physio from health insurance gave me some exercises but I feel an in person visit would benefit me.

1.Is there danger in doing back workouts collection in this state?
2.Should I first heal before I try anything?

I also try to swim but cough constantly from the moment I’m in the water and as the whole body shakes it hurts around my spine. Other times it’s just the lower right side that feels tender. A sneeze in the wrong pose or reaching out to grab something can cause a spasm. Any guidance is much appreciated.

 

[Damer]

@NewPickle back pain diagnosis, remotely, is always a little tricky case in point your experience with the online physio. Having said that, with the little information you've given me I will go out on a limb here and say that your sleeping arrangements and the way they affect your posture are to blame. From your description of when the muscle spasms happen I would guess that there is no real injury to the muscles of your back but they're over-strained and because they work all day as you sit, stand and walk they need a little help to rest and adjust.

The workouts collection we have on lower back pain and back pain has exercises that have been developed specifically to address this, some of the workouts were put together in close consultation with the orthopaedic surgeons of the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Provided you do them, slowly and with care they should help you. You should also, at the gym, reduce any high impact workout like running and substitute it for plain walking on the treadmill and do it a little longer if possible (like an hour).

You should also check your diet for sufficient carbohydrates and electrolytes, though being the culprit is lower on the list of possibilities.

Quality of sleep is key of course and you need to address this first, before anything else you do pays off.

I really hope this helps and please keep us informed of your progress.

 

[Damer]

And, just like this, this AMA is now officially closed. As with all previous AMAs I will move this to our Knowledge Base. If you have some browsing time in your day now and again it will definitely be worth your time to just browse through the Qs & As. It is likely that the answer to a question you have is found there. As with previous AMAs I want to extend to all of you who participated a heartfelt "Thank You!". It is your questions that actually make this valuable every time and it is your thinking afterwards that helps elevate it. That is something I appreciate more than I can express here.