Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend a course that focused primarily on living a holistic lifestyle. I would like to take a few minutes and tell about some of the things I learned from this course. This course opened my eyes at how injured the fitness and health industry truly is. There is a lot of misunderstanding out there about health and this past weekend was an eye opener to say the least!
So here we go!
1) Anything Can Affect Anything
I have always been a pretty logical thinker especially when I became more and more interested in medical exercise. My thought process was just like many others. If I have a client that comes to me with back pain then the logical thing to do is to assess the back to determine what is going on. Unfortunately most back pain cases have no structural dysfunctions that cause the pain. Because there wasn't anything structural I usually focused their program simply on stabilizing the midsection, working on some flexibility and strength issues that are known to help with low back pain and so forth. For some people it seemed to help. Their back pain would go away and all was well. However, some of my clients would still complain that their low back hurts regardless of what we would do. I needed to change my approach but I didn't exactly know how.
After this weekend I learned about some alternative methods that can reduce low back pain. For instance, I learned that stressful relationships at home, personal safety, and security can all influence the low back and lower extremities causing pain and discomfort. Those same things can also affect the adrenal glands which can lead to fatigue causing an abnormally high level of stress hormones. I learned that an effective way of reducing discomfort can come simply from identifying certain stressors, learning how to manage them, and then becoming aware of situations that cause stress. By looking at the whole picture I learned that management of low back pain isn't remedied only through exercises.
2) Different Types of Exercises Have Different Effects on Hormones
Ok so that sounds pretty obvious but let me elaborate. Your central nervous system can be divided into two different parts. The sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system (I already knew this before the class by the way...) Depending on what types of exercises you do will influence one system or the other. The sympathetic branch is responsible for releasing stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. This is the part of the nervous system that prepares the body for the "fight or flight response". The parasympathetic branch is responsible for digestion, immune function, growth and repair process and has a calming effect, the exact opposite effect of the sympathetic branch.
You might be thinking "well that's cool but so far you haven't told me how that affects exercise!' Well here it goes. If you are a person that is typically stressed out or high strung then your body is dominated by the sympathetic branch. This means that stress hormones are constantly elevated meaning that your body is in a constant state of breaking down. If you are trying to get stronger or lose weight then this is not a state that you want to continually be in! Working different muscle groups can actually stimulate the different branches of the nervous system. Try this out...lay down on the floor or couch or bed or what ever and simply focus on breathing. While you are doing this be sure to take deep diaphragmatic breaths meaning that you are allowing your belly to expand while breathing in and relax while breathing out. Breathing through the nose would be best. By doing this you are forcing the diaphragm to do all the work. Do this for about 3-5 minutes. The diaphragm is affected by the parasympathetic branch meaning that it has a relaxing effect. If you find yourself stressed out (in a sympathetic state) then this exercise will actually cause you to relax by suppressing the sympathetic branch.
On the opposite end of the spectrum. Larger muscle groups are influenced by the sympathetic branch. Consider this...If you are walking down the street and something scares the hell out of you what typically happens? First of all your body goes into an immediate "fight or flight response" which is the action of what? The sympathetic branch! The other thing you might notice is that your major muscle groups, such as quads, hamstrings, chest, and shoulders get really tense in preparation to fight or fly. All that being said, if you feel like you are tired and need to wake up then exercising major muscle groups will stimulate the sympathetic branch and you will notice things such as an increased heart rate, increased respiratory rate, increased muscle activation and even increased adrenaline. Sounds awful familiar to what happens during the flight or fight response right? Full body exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and sprinting are good exercises to stimulate the sympathetic branch.
Now that we know what types of exercises stimulate the different branches of the nervous system we know what exercises will be beneficial. If you are are completely stressed out then we want to stimulate the parasympathetic branch to relax you and if you are too relaxed and want to get all crazy then stimulate the sympathetic branch! Awesome huh?
3) Calories Don't Actually Matter
The body is pretty good at letting us know what it needs. If it needs more calories then we get hungry, if it doesn't need more calories we get full. If we are craving carbs then we probably need what? That's right, more carbs. Same thing goes for protein. Everyones metabolism is slightly different and they will require different macronutrient ratios. Once you have figured that out and are eating the right foods then the body will notify you when it needs to be fed. If you restrict calories your body will release cortisol which is a stress hormone which stores fat which isn't good which will make you upset which will cause more stress and send you into a downward spiral of weight gaining bliss. Nothing good comes from counting calories. Just figure out what your body needs (I know how by the way, but you have to comment on my blog!)!
So there you have it, a few things that I learned over the weekend that showed me that the health and fitness industry is pretty messed up. I hope that you have learned something as well and if you have any questions then I will do my best to answer them!
Thanks for reading!
Danny
I think #2 was really interesting. I _always_ feel more alert, active, and attentive in the mornings if I do my squat curl presses. That explains why.
ReplyDeleteI counted calories for the first 90 days of beginning a new lifestyle of fitness and health. It greatly helped me to know where I was at and what I needed to do to control my intake versus calories burned. Food does matter what you eat, and in what proportions. I no longer need to count calories as I am confident that the food I fuel up on is nutrient rich and meeting my needs. Listen to your body carefully and after a while you will recognize what it's telling you.
ReplyDeleteHi david,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely about what types food one needs to eat and the proper proportions and I agree that the body will indicate what it needs. I think that too many people get caught in the traditional calories in vs. calories out to try to lose or gain weight when if they knew what to feel at the beginning they wouldn't have to go through the trial and error period. I think some people need to count calories because that is what motivates them but I believe in the long run it can cause more problems than necessary.
danny