Preventing it or looking for an effective remedy are therefore fundamental prerequisites in the "career" - even amateur - of a bodybuilder or any fitness lover.
To do this, however, one must first of all be able to recognize it and identify its causes; only at this point, it is possible to "hand over" the annual programming or part of it.
In the following article we will try to make a global picture of this uncomfortable situation as well as potentially "harmful" - in addition to compromising the improvement of performance, chronic fatigue is also one of the risk factors for injury and chronic joint, tendon and muscle diseases. .
For further information: Overtraining motor in general, for chronic fatigue we mean a complex and uninterrupted feeling of exhaustion, weakness, lack of energy and motivation, which affects both the basal tone of mood as well as the ability to train with high workloads (resultant of the relationship between volume, density and intensity).
Chronic fatigue is not the overtraining syndrome. Or rather, it can either be the previous step or not lead to it at all. This depends on the specific case and on the intervention / correction method. However, the opposite is true. , that is, that overtraining always includes some degree of chronic fatigue.
The two conditions certainly have numerous points in common, even if sometimes "cause and effect" are reversed. For example, if on the one hand lack of sleep causes chronic fatigue, on the other hand insomnia is one of the most important and worsening complications of "insomnia - it would be a bit" like wondering "was the egg or the chicken born first? ? ".
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue can worsen to the point of delineating a real syndrome.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (or CFS, which stands for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) is a condition characterized by persistent chronic fatigue for at least 6 months, not relieved by rest, which is exacerbated with small efforts and which causes a substantial reduction in previous levels of occupational, social or personal activities.
It is regular to have four or more of the following symptoms, also for at least 6 months:
- impaired memory and concentration such as to reduce previous levels of occupational and personal activity;
- pharyngitis;
- pain in the cervical and axillary lymph nodes;
- muscle and joint pain without inflammation or swelling of the same;
- headache of a type other than that which may have been present in the past;
- unrefreshing sleep;
- post-exercise weakness lasting for at least 24 hours.
It is a debilitating and disabling disease in all respects. Change your lifestyle and the way you relate to others. It can lead to depressive states and is always aggravated by them.
To learn more: Overtraining .
This huge error, which is more serious in the chronic than in the acute, is very often the consequence of the non-integration of periods of active discharge or total rest in the annual program.
Another primary factor is the "rigidity" of the protocol. We are living beings, who grow and age, and therefore subject to fluctuations in performance even independent of the variables that we believe we manage completely. Ergo: it takes "flexibility" to correct the shot even during construction.
Note: those who do not show a certain variability and always respond equally to workouts are most likely limited by the habits established over time.
However, this leads to a reduction in the energy component, caused by one or more of the following factors:
- Stress of the muscular organic systems (increase of catabolites, reduction of enzymes, coenzymes or factors that constitute them, etc.);
- Depletion of muscle reserves;
- Impairment of organic neural systems;
- Psychological factors.
Recovery is a necessary phase of training. One should fully master the ability to assess whether or not supercompensation is suitable, but this is often not the case.
This is because the essence of training is to subject the body and mind to a repetition of stimuli to which a strong adaptation is required.
We are all able to understand if we have recovered or not; it is sufficient to "let a lot of time pass"; on the other hand, very few manage to guess the exact moment - this is also because the recovery should be estimated not only on the previous stimulus, but also on the next one.
There are many who shorten the time in the hope of making the protocol more effective; however, it often happens that the stimulus given does not have the adequate intensity or is not adequately compensated, thus nullifying every effort and indeed establishing the so-called chronic fatigue.
as much as the nervous - and not only.
But what about the psychological factors? They are essential.
Making a small reference to the evolutionary history of man we can appreciate that, in ancient times, fatigue was necessary for survival and was only carried out when it was impossible to do without it (escape, fight, hunting). The recovery was therefore, for the most part, effective and complete.
In sport and bodybuilding the opposite is true; it is the supercompensation phase that is minimized. The fatigue / recovery ratio is reversed. This already makes us understand that "something is not right". But why?
We stay away from anthropological and behavioral observations. It is clear that 99% of people train mainly to satisfy their need for aesthetics, social confirmation, control and discipline. This is a real need and, within limits, more genuine than many others.
Moreover, stress today does not come only from the "physical" work necessary to procure, defend and mate; on the contrary, it is prevalent in all facets of the modern lifestyle.
Stress and the nervous system: what are the differences in human evolution
The life modulator of every human being is represented by the autonomic system, that "set of cells and fibers that innervate the internal organs and glands, with the task of controlling the vegetative activities - that is, that" set of functions which, generally, are outside the voluntary control.
We are talking about the orthosympathetic system, for stress and physical activity (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic system, for peace and quiet (eat and rest) - even if in reality there is no clear distinction between "one and the other" but we often speak of a kind of reciprocal modulation.
The orthosympathetic is therefore responsible for a state of mind of disturbance and activation, originally necessary for survival. It is a pity that this is not only sensitive to physical motor activity and does not respond only to primordial stimuli. It is also implicated in the typical symptoms and clinical signs of nervous stress.
It could be argued that in the past the system that worked most was the parasympathetic, with its modulators of calm induced by rest and tranquility. Currently, however, despite the technological advances aimed at an increase in the quality of life, the orthosympathetic system seems to prevail; this leads many of us to experience high levels of stress.
But what role does physical exercise play in all of this?
When training becomes a stress
In theory, motor training helps relieve nervous stress. It does not rain here, as shown by numerous studies that have analyzed the impact of the same on the tone of the mood.
Let's say, however, that - as our grandparents used to say - "fatigue overcomes taste". In other words, that the commitment required by the protocol gradually becomes less and less tolerable.
This for a thousand reasons, different for each of us - logistics, collateral commitments, economic difficulties, wrong fatigue / recovery ratio, etc. These are also transitory phases, which however should not be ignored.
On the one hand, "gritting your teeth" can make a difference. You cannot loosen your grip at every slightest difficulty. But training unwillingly has a giant side effect: it increases your stress level rather than decreases it
"trying to increase muscle volumes with workouts that are often too long, dense and intense.
In subjects who use certain drugs, sometimes similar pictures can be observed due to imbalances, interactions or incorrect management of the same - if there is really a more sensible method of administration.
Other researchers have come to the conclusion that among the predisposing and generating factors there is also a probable cause in the nervous system, due to an overload of toxins in the CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) in which the brain and spinal cord are immersed; consequently, the activities of all organic systems would be affected.
, sleepiness and or anxious or depressive symptoms.Extremely underestimated is the osteopathic treatment, which could be effective from many points of view.
Osteopathic remedies for chronic fatigue
In Osteopathic Medicine there is an approach known as the "craniosacral area", which allows the "operator - through appropriate manipulations on the skull of the subject suffering from chronic fatigue - to stimulate the movement of the cerebrospinal fluid. This, according to some, can be useful. to drain these toxins out of the cerebrospinal fluid.
Alternatively, it is possible to act with manipulations on the liver and on all the emunctory systems, facilitating circulation and "emptying".
Furthermore, in osteopathy, it is possible to act on the functionality of the sympathetic nervous system. This is thanks to a work on the musculoskeletal system and in particular on the upper dorsal tract. It is of "considerable importance on the work of the autonomic nervous system, precisely because in this area there is the latero-vertebral chain of the orthosympathetic with a very high concentration of nerves.
Techniques are performed to release the soft tissues of the neck, head, back and chest, making sure that the toxins can be conveyed by the lymphatic system to the blood, and then be eradicated.
Following this, the central nervous system would regain the ability to manage all the other systems without impediments, restoring body homeostasis, resulting in a gradual rise in the subject's levels of well-being.
As a first approach, one could operate by carrying out a re-harmonization of the muscle chains which, when placed in a dysfunctional state, create joint compression along the column responsible for the alteration of the neurological impulses of the autonomic system.
So a chain lengthening, especially of the rear, can certainly be useful.
In conclusion
On the other hand, if all this were not associated with a revision of lifestyle and training, the results could be poor and the subject could enter a state of apathy, which is really problematic in everyday life.
The "training" must be "softened" in its greater angles - volume, intensity, density - by reducing the workload. Even the radical variation of the method is often an excellent solution, provisional or not.
Reorganizing one's life according to well-being remains the best way to counteract a state of chronic fatigue.
In bodybuilding, where in many cases too much is asked of one's body, it would be interesting to try to follow some hygienic-behavioral indications. Learning to listen to yourself and act in your own interest are the key to getting out of chronic fatigue.
To learn more: Remedies for Overtraining
