The Flip Side of High intensity Exercise(Reclaim your authentic movement)

Regular exercise has many immediate and long term health benefits but the type of exercise you choose matters. A recent incident prompted me to shed light on this topic. A person experiencing an episode of Cardiac-arrest during the high intensity workout camp. This brings us to wonder, why are we drawn towards very high intensity workouts? In this case cost that person his life.

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High Intensity training have impressive benefits, from increase in metabolic rate to cardio vascular fitness to sculpting your physique and burning more calories in the short amount of time at maximum exertion.

Let’s look at some of the research that suggest, high intensity workouts put us into Sympathetic dominance causing more Stress to the body.

A persistent combination of inappropriate intensities and insufficient recoveries can lead to accentuate physiological disturbance, immunosuppression and as consequence, decline in performance (Halson and Jeukendrup, 2004; Hohl et al., 2009). Billat et al. (1999) showed that, 4 weeks of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) did not enhance the performance and increased their fatigue symptom, called overtraining by the authors.

The type of exercises we choose are mostly tailored towards becoming the victims of advertising industry. You have a coupon, a great deal, new Zumba, spin, orange theory opened around the block!! The choice is more geared towards the new trends rather than what your individual health needs are!

That brings us to the question. What kind of exercises are good?

Let’s try and reframe this question and explore the options from a non-judgmental self.

· What kind of exercises are good for ME?

· What are my health needs?

· Am I living a hyper vigilant lifestyle?

· Am I stressed (Mentally and physically)?

One big aspect that is always overlooked, is the amount of Stress that we have in our lives. We are surrounded by Physical stress, mental stress, emotional stress, environmental stress, sleep stress, nutritional stress and relationship stress.

To top it up, is the choice of exercise that puts ultimate stress on the system both physically and metabolically.

“It can be the straw that broke the camel’s back”.

The best approach to look at your exercise routine starts with looking beyond just the type of exercise you choose but carefully considering,

1. Form and technique: To reduce allostatic load (“the wear and tear on the body” that accumulates as an individual is exposed to repeated or chronic stress) and prevent injuries.

2. Resting Heart rate: The resting heart rate that is in the 70-80 BPM range, with regular exercise can get into 60’s or below range. Exercise stimulates the sympathetic Nervous system “fight and flight” and is countered by the Parasympathetic system “recovery and regeneration” that helps calm the body down. This contributes to a lower resting heart rate. The modern day lifestyle can keep us in the Sympathetic dominance, losing the balance and contributing to health risks and injuries.

3. Redefining fitness goals: The choice of exercise are based on the goals you might have. Some of it can be a short term goal to lose weight quickly for an approaching reunion or wedding or a long term to train for a marathon or exercise to stay fit. Why many fall off the wagon after the short term goal time period?

4. Reconnecting with self: The dominance of devices, Apps and media over stimulate your five senses numbing the ability for interoception (how the individual perceives their own body). Self-awareness is the first step towards prevention.

Motivation is the key for a sustainable practice. Make fitness choices by understanding your body needs. Pay attention to your emotions and mental state before, during and after your exercise session and throughout the day. Mental state does affect your physical performance.

Thanks for reading this post. Preeti Girisha PT, owner-TrueSelfTherapy