A couple of weeks ago (sorry it has take me this long to follow up ;0), I blogged about Exercising Too Hard, Too Long, Too Often, and shortly after, my in box filled with questions about “overtraining.” The most popular question by far was, “how do I back off my routine without stopping exercise completely?” I have an answer…

If you feel that you are overtraining, backing off your exercise routine for a short time isn’t a bad idea. Start by cutting back to 70% of your current routine. For example, if you currently run 25 miles per week, run 70% of that instead (17.5) for a couple of weeks. If you strength train 4 times per week, 12 reps per exercise, 2-3 sets per exercise, multiply all of the components by 70%, so: 1-2 days/week of training, 8-9 reps per exercise, 1-2 sets of each, and also reduce the weight you lift by 70%. If you leg press 100 lbs, press 70lbs instead. Get the idea.

Basically, you want to give your body a rest without stopping exercising all together. This will help maintain your fitness level while also maintaining your mental state. Stop exercising completely, and within a couple of days you’ll likely notice that you feel a tad depressed. In some cases, you might feel really depressed – everyone is different. This phenomenon is called “exercise withdrawal” and you want to avoid it like the plague. Remember, exercise helps the body release endorphins. Endorphins feel good. Really good. This is why you like to exercise – maybe too much ;0) Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but too much of anything is never good.

Tomorrow…what to do if you can’t slow down or stop exercising!

How do you like that creative title? Sometimes, all you need to say is all you need to say. More to the point…cross training is super important, and after a quick look at my post log revealed a glaring lack of information about this super important topic, thought I’d better hop to it and tell you why, CROSS TRAINING IS IMPORTANT!

Think about this for a minute – if you spent all of your day walking forward and that is all you did (no sitting, no bending, no lunging, squatting, or even stooping, no climbing…okay, you get the picture), what do you think would happen to the muscles getting perpetually used? Yep- they’d be over-worked. And the muscles not getting used? They would be under-worked, under-developed (i.e, weak). The end result? Muscle imbalance, over-use injuries, and a host of other problems. The morale of the story: mix up your movement.

The temptation to do the same type of workout (heck, maybe even the same exact workout), is strong, and hey, I get it. It is easier to do the same thing – it takes the thinking (and planning) out of it. But, alas, variety is the spice of life, and also the ingredient that will help you achieve the results you want to achieve.

Let’s pretend for a moment that you are training for a running race. Most plans call for 3-5 days of running at various distances and speeds with a day or two of recovery built in, as well as a day or two of cross-training. the purpose of cross-training in this case (and in all cases, really), is to balance out the program by providing resistance to the working muscles different from the normal method; to strengthen muscles not typically used during the training program; to stretch tight muscle groups; and to reduce impact to overused muscles. There are many other reasons, which I’ll circle back to in another post.

Examples of cross-training in this scenario (i.e, for a runner), might include: swimming, cycling, elliptical training, strength training, yoga or Pilates, dancing, or rock climbing. Once you break free of the idea that doing something different is hard, bad, a step backward (and it is NONE of those things), you’re free to experiment and have fun! Chances are very good, in fact, that you’ll improve at your sport because you’ll have balance in your routine. Odds are even better that you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite sport even longer, because cross-training truly does help prevent overuse injuries.

I’ll leave off here. Next post…the nitty-gritties of cross-training, how to do it, when to do it, and how often to do it.

Stay tuned…

Runners, I am SO jealous of you right now! As my injury slowly heals (waaaayyy too slow for my liking), I seem to notice more people hitting the jogging paths. Forgive me if I throw a rock at you as I drive by. ;0)

One thing I have learned through this rather inconvenient pain in my ass (literally), is that less might be is more. I stretched before said injury, but not enough. I went to yoga every so often, but I know it wasn’t enough. It had been some weeks months since I had a “taper week” or really, any light workout at all. My all or nothing attitude got the better of me. And so, here I am, having to heed my own advice. Believe me, it is like swallowing a bitter-tasting horse pill that then lodges in your throat. I’m learning, and passing along to you my plan of attack so that, 1) I’m held accountable, and 2) you can partake in a “less is more” workout if you chose – and actually, I highly advice that you do.

1. More stretching. Every day for me now. 15-30 seconds per major muscle group, plus some smaller muscles that are overworked and under-appreciated: IT band, tops of feet (perorius tertius, also known as dorsal flexors, as if you care, but you might), the soleus (calf muscle), and perorius longus (the muscle that runs down the outside of your lower leg.) My plan: 2 sets of each exercise, 5-7 days/week.

2. Yoga. The once/week deal I had going on was great…when I went. Clearly, I need yoga in my life, and I think yoga needs me. My plan: Ashtunga 2x/week for 60 mins for now. I’d like to get up to 3x/week and have one of those days include Hatha or a yoga/pilates fusion sort of thing. We’ll see where all this goes over the next few weeks.

3. Massage. I have two appointments set for next week, and after than, I’m shooting for once/month. The benefits of massage are so many that I have to send you away from here momentarily to check them all out. Read: “38 ways yoga keeps you fit“, and Please come right back

4. Taper weeks. The body can not handle day-after-day, week-after-week, of hard training. Period. As with any time of periodized program (marathon training comes to mind), you have to balance the building weeks with taper weeks where, literally, less is more. This gives the muscles time to recover and repair. My plan: every 4 weeks, make 2 of my workouts lighter (i.e, less hard).

5. Sleep more. My plan: 8 hours per night! That’s my mantra. I haven’t lived by this rule, and yet, sleep is so important for muscle repair and for keeping cortisol levels in check. And with that note, I’m off to bed!

I did a really, really dumb thing yesterday…I injured myself (while cross-training, of all things), because I listened to the instructor instead of the voice in my own head. Yes, you heard me right -I basically just told you to not listen to a fitness instructor.  Let me explain.

Maybe this was a premonition, or just a timely idea, but I found a bookmark the other day that said, “There is only one of me. There is only one of anybody. That is why steps look different on different people.” Judith Jamison said that. She was a well known dancer and choreographer, and obviously was aware that we are all individuals. Individually, we move differently because our bodies are put together differently. My range of motion is different than yours, yours is different than your neighbors, etc. Respect that. Know your limits.

I know, I’m usually encouraging you to push the limits…imagine NO limits…REMOVE limits. Those are “perceived” limits though – the kind of limits we place on ourselves such as, “I can’t do a triathlon, because I’m afraid to swim.” That is a fixable problem. The kind of limits I’m talking about are physical limits. Yes, there really are such things, and if you’ve ever tried yoga, you well know what I’m talking about. No doubt that first class felt awkward, hard, frustrating. Am I right? I doubt your body could bend and twist quite the same way as, well, any given person. Maybe you were more flexible. Maybe less. Alas, we are all different.

Now back to my dumb injury. I know my limits, and had been nursing a cranky piriformis problem for several months. Opting to attend a boot camp class I’ve frequented a few times this year (thinking the cross-training would do me some good), I did a stupid thing: I missed the warm up because I arrived late. Then, I did another silly thing: I listened to the instructor’s advice when she (not very tactfully, mind you) informed me that I wasn’t sprinting during one of her intervals because I wasn’t on my toes. A) I don’t sprint, and B) I don’t run on my toes. Ever. But, opting to prove to both myself and the instructor that I could, indeed, do it the “right” way, I badly strained my piriformis and part of my glute. Hurt like the devil, I tell you, but you know what? I’m the only one to blame. I knew better. The thing is, you might not, and I don’t want any of my readers to fall into this trap of, 1) aiming to please an instructor  (I could say more, but will take the higher road here), and 2) trying to prove something to yourself or anyone else, especially when you know your limits.

Listen to your body. Respect your physical limitations (you know what they are.) And finally, don’t assume that because someone is teaching a class, she knows your body. Only you know what your body can truly do – respect that, and don’t be afraid to tell an instructor, “sorry, I’m doing it my way, because I don’t feel comfortable trying something I don’t think I’m ready for.”

To your health, and SAFETY!

I have no idea how many high school athletes’ dreams have been squashed due to a career-ending injury, but from what frequently read in the local papers, I imagine it happens too often. More often than it should. According to a 2008 study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, football and wrestling cause the most injuries of all the HS sports. Female basketball and soccer players also experience a high number of injuries. Although injury sites during the study varied by sport and gender, the most common injury sites included fractures and ligament sprains of the knee, ankle, and shoulder. (http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/37/9/1798)

This isn’t super good news, especially when you consider the pressure placed on young athletes today to “win at all costs.” The upside to all of this is that injuries can be prevented…with the right type of training. To avoid injury and extend the playing time of young athletes, a balanced training program is important.

• Balance work. Strengthening the musculature responsible for the stabilization of joints (so they don’t go this way, and that way when they aren’t supposed to), while also helping them develop better body awareness and increased reaction time will help defend young athletes against injury.

Examples of balance work might include: tossing a weighted ball to the athlete while they stand on a BOSU balance trainer or balance pod, or performing some strength training exercises on one foot, versus two.

• Deceleration. Many injuries occur while athletes are attempting to stop or slow down. Think about the speed with which a basketball player runs down the court, only to stop on a dime at the end, pivot, and jump for a rebound. Myriad other sports, such as tennis, soccer, and lacrosse, present similar scenarios. Teaching athletes how to properly distribute the force of deceleration across multiple joints will reduce the possibility of injury.

• Core strength. Developing a strong core will help control momentum, as well as improve power. The core is the “power house” of the body, and all sports require a strong one. Incorporating focused core work 2-3 times per week, possibly in conjunction with balance work, will go a long way toward strengthening this powerful center of strength.

• Decrease repetitive motions. As with movements we tend to repeat over and over throughout the day, such as bending, lifting, pushing, pulling…repetitive movements increase the possibility of muscle imbalances, which can lead to strains, sprains, and myriad other injuries. Incorporating total-body conditioning to even out muscle imbalances will improve the athlete’s overall conditioning. The TRX training is used by numerous sports programs for just this purpose. Incorporating cross-training on one or more days per week will limit the repetitiveness of sport-specific movements, and help to strengthen opposing muscle groups and even out imbalances.

Allowing the athlete to have “down time” for rest and recovery is also  important. Many athletes today train hard all year for their sport only. The days of playing a different sport for each season are nearly gone (sniff, sniff), and while we’re producing higher caliber athletes than we were two decades ago, we’re also burning them out sooner. Let young athletes “chill” from time to time, try a new sport, or simply do nothing. Remember, their bodies are still young and growing – they need time for R & R, and allowing them to take it may extend the career of the athlete.