THIS SITE HAS BEEN BUILT BY ME..... MIKE BARKER.. TO HELP MYSELF AND OTHERS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN CYCLING-RUNNING AND SWIMMING.....also EATING!            

 

 

 

 Know the signs of unhealthy exercise addiction.... 

 
 
Running is unconditionally great for the body, the soul, and the mind, right? Almost, but not quite.

Almost anything harm when taken to an extreme -- even the most benign or beneficial activities.

Even the sacred domain of exercise is not protected from this universal truth. When a commitment to exercise crosses the line to dependency and compulsion, it can create physical, social, and psychological havoc for those among us who appear outwardly to be the very fittest. Runners are particularly vulnerable.

A "positive addiction" is a healthy adaptation to the barriers to exercise in life, since commitments to work, family, and other healthy pursuits must compete for time to work out. Sometimes, however, the line between commitment and compulsion is crossed.

Richard Benyo, writing on the subject of exercise addiction for the Road Runners Club of America, says that there is a negative side to exercise that gradually, insidiously, can take over the positive.

"In an ironic way, nature balances the situation when the thing obsessed turns on and bites the obsessor."

Exercise addiction is not just another term for overtraining syndrome. Healthy athletes training for peak performance and competition can suffer overtraining symptoms, which are the short-term result of too little rest and recovery.

Exercise addiction, on the other hand, is a chronic loss of perspective of the role of exercise in a full life. A healthy athlete and an exercise addict may share similar levels of training volume -- the difference is in the attitude.

An addicted individual isn't able to see value in unrelated activities and pursues his sport even when it is against his best interest.

Recognizing addiction

The exercise addict has lost his balance: Exercise has become overvalued compared to elements widely recognized as giving meaning in a full life -- work, friends, family, community involvement -- in short, the fruits of our humanity.

When emotional connections are passed up in favor of additional hours of training; when injury, illness and fatigue don't preempt a workout; when all free time is consumed by training -- exercise addiction is the diagnosis.

Warning lights for addiction include withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, irritability, and depression that appear when circumstances prevent you from working out.

To the addict, there is no exception to the rule "the more the better." More training, more hours, more miles, more intensity: more is absolutely always better. Anything that interferes with the lust for more exercise is resented.

Blurred boundaries

The paradox inherent in exercise addiction is the blurred boundary between what is healthy, admirable and desirable, and behavior that is over the edge and dependent. As runners and fitness enthusiasts, we value individuals who seem to epitomize the true athlete who achieves success by virtue of discipline, sacrifice, and hard work.

Peak fitness and excellence, which we aspire to achieve with our own running, require a dogged commitment to training despite circumstances and moods that would conspire against your resolve. Once we accomplish a training routine and the necessary commitment, isn't it normal to feel irritable and a little depressed when we miss our run?

Part of the paradox for the exercise-dependent is that levels of achievement are often beneath what is expected for the obviously high level of commitment. Performance suffers when value is placed only on working out.

The addict answers poor performance with running more and resting less. A healthy athlete looks at the big picture and adjusts training programs allowing for rest and recovery among all the training variables.

Who is at risk?

Experts have argued as to whether exercise addiction is linked to the highly touted "runner's high," due in part to the release of beta-endorphins during and after intense exercise. Most agree though, that exercise addiction is the result of psychological factors.

"Intense, high-achieving perfectionist individuals are particularly vulnerable to this addiction," says psychologist Sharon Stoliaroff, Ph.D.

In the case of exercise addiction, the underlying psychological causes are usually linked by low self-esteem, which finds gratification in the gains made by training.

"Unfortunately," Stoliaroff warns, "denial is a frequent component of any addictive process."

Don't run away

If you see a little too much of yourself in these paragraphs, don't run the other direction. Find a good counselor or someone else whose opinion you trust and discuss the possibility of exercise addiction.

As you work with a counselor, change the emphasis of your exercise from "more is better," to quality. Objective progress can be made by planning your workouts with an experienced trainer on a weekly basis, with rest and recovery given the emphasis they deserve in a well-balanced training program.

Write down a seven-day schedule, planning mileage, intensity, rest, and any cross-training activities with specific, reasonable goals relative to your skills. Working with a trainer, set outside limits for number of workout hours in any given week.

Count all exercise in your total -- stretching, warm-ups, cool-downs, cross-training, walking, yoga -- everything. Do not exceed the mileage, time, or intensity that you've planned.

Never work out just because you found an extra hour or two in your day. Train only to the extent that you've planned. If you find extra time, spend it with a friend, a book, a movie, call your mother. Set goals in other aspects of your life besides training. Learn something new -- gourmet cooking, sailing, knitting.

Become a mentor to someone in your community who needs you. If you miss a day, scratch it off your schedule. Never make up a missed workout by doubling up the next day.

Balance

The exercise-addicted runner will almost always suffer the consequences of his addiction. It is not a coincidence that few exercise addicts can be lifetime runners.

As Benyo said, "the obsession bites back" in the form of chronic injuries, impaired relationships and other problems. The exercise-obsessed runner may one day complain that running ruined his life, but it was running out of balance that was the ruin.

Remember that working out should always have an element of play. If working out loses all aspects of fun, something has gone wrong. The most competitive professional athletes still love their sport, love to run because it gives pleasure, and not because it has become a compulsive need.

Renowned running writer Dr. George Sheehan put it this way: "The things we do with our bodies should be done merely because they are fun -- not because they serve some serious purpose. If we are not doing something that is enjoyable on its own account we should look for something that is."

Sheehan ran right to the end of his life. He could not separate his identity from his running. Running and being were synonymous. As a result he achieved great things as a runner. Running didn't subtract from the rest of his life, it added. He was also the father of 12, a doctor, prolific writer, philosopher and thinker. He found balance. Look for balance. Running enhances life. It can't stand alone.

Have you gone over the edge?

Rate yourself as honestly as you can below with the following checklist:

I have missed important social obligations and family events in order to exercise.

I have given up other interests, including time with friends, in order to make more time to work out.

Missing a workout makes me irritable and depressed.

I only feel content when I am exercising or within the hour after exercising.

I like exercise better than sex, good food, or a movie -- in fact there's almost nothing I'd rather do.

I work out even if I'm sick, injured, or exhausted. I'll feel better when I get moving anyway.

In addition to my regular schedule, I'll exercise more if I find extra time.

Family and friends have told me I'm too involved in exercise.

I have a history (or a family history) of anxiety or depression.

If you have checked three or more of these items, you may be losing your perspective on running and working out. Exercise is healthy as long as it is in balance with a full life. Speak with a mental health professional or your doctor for help.

(Sharon Stoliaroff, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist
                                          

 
 
The way things are going, it won't be long before Atkins and anti-Atkins replace liberalism and conservatism as the dominant, competing ideologies in this country.

I'm referring of course to the high-protein, low-carb diet promoted by the late diet guru Robert Atkins, and to the backlash against it.

All of this controversy about carbs and proteins has led many runners to question whether the high-carbohydrate diet traditionally recommended for runners is really the right way to go.

Should we be filling up on proteins instead? The purpose of this article is to clarify for you what the latest science says about the roles of carbs and protein in the life of a runner.

No Atkins for runners

While carbohydrate continues to be demonized in the popular media coverage of fad diets, the evidence in support of high-carbohydrate diets for endurance athletes continues to accumulate.

As everyone knows, the Kenyans are considered to be the best distance runners in the world. While the traditional Kenyan diet -- lean, unprocessed, and mostly vegetarian -- is certainly not the only reason behind the Kenyans' running dominance, it is very likely a strong contributing factor.

Recently, researchers from the University of Copenhagen set out to determine the macronutrient breakdown of this diet. They studied the food intake of 12 adolescent male runners from the storied Kalenjin tribe over a two-week period. They found that a whopping 71% of their daily calories came from carbohydrate, only 15% from fat, and a mere 13% from protein. Their staple foods were corn and kidney beans.

One of the main effects of endurance training is that it increases the muscles' capacity to store carbohydrate for use during activity. A high-carbohydrate diet is required to take advantage of this adaptation.

Dozens of clinical studies have demonstrated that the more carbohydrate an athlete has stored in his or her muscles prior to exercise, the better he or she will perform.

For example, in a study performed at the University of Guelph, Ontario, well-trained women were randomly assigned to either a high-carbohydrate (78%) or a low-carbohydrate (48%) food prior to a cycling test to exhaustion. The women in the high-carbohydrate group were able, on average, to continue significantly longer.

Runners do need more protein in their diet than sedentary individuals, due to the need to replace muscle proteins broken down during workouts and races. But they only need more protein in proportion to their overall need for more calories in general.

Protein should account for about 15% of calories consumed. Carbohydrate should account for 60% and fat for the remaining 25%.

Carbohydrate-protein synergy

What tends to get lost beneath the clamor of the pro- and anti-carb and protein ideologies is the important fact that carbohydrates and proteins actually cooperate to boost endurance during exercise and recovery after exercise.

It's not that one is good and the other bad. We need both, and we need them together, to optimize running performance.

Carbohydrate is the primary fuel source for running. As you probably know, a whole mountain of research has demonstrated that consuming a sports drink containing 6 to 8 percent carbohydrate plus electrolytes during workouts and races improves performance and delays fatigue.

For the past 30 years, sports drink formulas have been based on this research. But newer research has shown that consuming a small amount of protein with carbohydrate during exercise results in faster delivery of carbohydrate to working muscles. This is because both protein and carbohydrate stimulate insulin, the hormone whose job is to transport carbohydrate into the muscle cell.

Runners generally fatigue when the working muscles' supply of stored carbohydrate (called glycogen) becomes depleted. So, the faster the carbohydrate you consume during a run is delivered to the working muscles, the more glycogen is conserved and the more fatigue is delayed.

In one study, athletes who used a carbohydrate-protein sports drink were able to continue 24% longer than athletes who used a conventional carbohydrate-only sports drink, and 57% longer than those who drank only water.

During prolonged runs, when carbohydrate fuel runs low, as much as 20 percent of a runner's energy needs are supplied by protein. Under normal circumstances, these proteins are "stolen" from muscle tissue. This process weakens the muscles, reducing performance, and leads to post-exercise muscle soreness.

However, there is evidence that consuming protein can reduce muscle protein breakdown -- and the weakness and soreness that come with it -- during prolonged exercise. By using a sports drink or energy gel containing protein, you are able to get the majority of the protein your body needs for energy from this source, so your muscles are left alone, and both your performance and your later recovery get a boost.

Getting the right amount of protein is crucial. Exercise physiologists believe that a carbohydrate-protein ratio of 4 to 1 (that is, 4 grams of carbohydrate for each gram of protein) is optimal. When greater amounts of protein are taken in, the rate of stomach emptying decreases and gastrointestinal problems (e.g. stomach cramps, nausea) can result.

After exercise

It is not possible to consume enough carbohydrate during moderate- to high-intensity exercise to replace what is burned, nor to completely offset muscle protein degradation. So it is important to consume additional carbohydrate and protein after the workout.

This should be done as soon as possible, because the body is able to synthesize glycogen and protein at more than twice the normal rate due to heightened insulin receptivity in the muscle cells following exercise.

Carbohydrate-protein sports drinks are again the best immediate post-workout nutrition source because of their rapid absorption and their water and electrolyte content. Using such drinks and/or water and solid foods, you should be sure to fully replenish fluid losses (i.e. return to pre-workout bodyweight) and consume 10% - 20% of your daily carbohydrate and protein intake within the first two hours after completing exercise.

Action steps

Chances are you're already eating more than enough protein. Chances are, too, that you're getting less than 60% of your calories from carbohydrate. To find out, record everything you eat and drink for a three-day period, and use a resource such as The Complete Book of Food Counts or similar book to determine the macronutrient breakdown. Then tweak your diet as necessary.

It's also likely that you're not consuming carbohydrate with protein during workouts. The simplest way to correct this problem is to switch to one of the newer sports drinks that contain the ideal 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein.

Your body will let you know you're doing the right thing. Then you can tune out all that fad diet noise!

Copyright 2002 by Poweringmuscles. Published with permission. For cutting-edge sports nutrition info, visit www.poweringmuscles.com.

 

 

 

 

TRAINING INTENSITY ZONES ZONE Breathing % of Lactate Threshold HR (BIKE) % of Lactate Threshold HR (RUN) Rate of Perceived Excertion (Borg Scale) 1 hardly noticeable 65-81 65-84 6-9 2 slight 82-88 85-91 10-12 3 aware of breathing 89-93 92-95 13-14 4 starting to breathe hard 94-100 96-100 15-16 5a breathing hard 100-102 100-102 17 5b heavy, labored breathing 103-105 103-105 18-19 5c maximal exertion 106+ 106+ 20