I need to build muscle - and fast!

Do you want to build muscle quickly? Then you should read this article before you start training. Learn how to train, how to recover, how to avoid overtraining and how to speed up your recovery to get the most out of your training.

If you really want to build quality muscle, then read this article...

How many times have we heard this statement above about building muscle fast? Or the following "I train chest and arms every day because I want them to grow." Or similar statements like this one I heard recently: "I train my chest every day, but I don't see any results and now I don't feel like training because I feel tired and exhausted." It is natural that the greater the training experience, the better the results achieved. But increasing the training stimulus can easily end up in a situation where the load the body is subjected to exceeds what it can cope with. This situation is known as overreaching and if it continues long enough, the result is a condition known as "overtraining syndrome".

Repeated days and weeks of training can be considered positive stress because the training increases your capacity for energy production, your tolerance to physical stress and your training performance. The greatest physical changes occur during the first 6 to 10 weeks of training. The degree of adaptations depends on the volume and intensity of the training sessions performed, leading many people to believe that the person who trains at the highest volume and intensity will make the greatest gains.

All too often, training sessions are judged by the work performed during a training session, leading to unrealistic personal training goals. However, the rate at which you can adapt to your training is limited. Too much training can reduce the potential for improvement and in some cases disrupt the adaptation process, ultimately leading to declining performance.

Although training volume is an important stimulus for physical conditioning, it is important to ensure the right balance between volume and intensity. You can also overdo it with training, which can lead to chronic fatigue, increased susceptibility to illness, overtraining syndrome and reduced performance. In contrast, sufficient recovery and the right balance between training volume and intensity can increase training performance. It takes great effort to find the right training volume and intensity necessary to achieve the optimal adaptations to training.

Optimizing the training

A well-designed training program incorporates the principle of progressive overload. In general, this principle states that to maximize the benefits, the training stimulus must be progressively increased as the body adapts to the current stimulus. If the amount of stress remains constant, you will adapt to this level of training and your body will not need any further adaptations. The only way to continue to improve is to progressively increase the training stimulus.
However, if this concept is taken too far, the training can become excessive and push the body beyond its capacity to adapt. Such excessive training at too high a volume or intensity does not result in further improvements in conditioning or performance and can lead to reduced performance and chronic fatigue.

Some people believe that maximum improvement from training can only be achieved through excessive training. This is especially true for young exercisers who believe that more is better and who train longer than two hours per day, believing that these periods of overload will accelerate their adaptations to training or lead to faster muscle gain than using a lower training volume or intensity.

Excessive training

Excessive training involves increasing the volume or intensity of training - or both - to an extreme level. However, the "more is better" philosophy only works up to a certain point. After that, performance will either plateau or even decline.

Overtraining

Despite hard overload training, some exercisers experience an inexplicable reduction in their training performance and physiological function that lasts for weeks, months or even years. This condition is referred to as overtraining - a condition that is attributed to both psychological and physiological causes. If the training load is too intense or the volume exceeds the body's ability to regenerate, then there is more catabolism (breakdown) than anabolism (build-up).

The exhaustion that often follows one or more exhaustive training sessions is usually compensated for by a few days of reduced training or a complete break from training in combination with a carbohydrate-rich diet. Overtraining, on the other hand, is characterized by a sudden decline in exercise performance and physiological function that cannot be offset by a few days of reduced or no exercise and manipulation of caloric intake.

Effects of overtraining: the overtraining syndrome

Most of the symptoms that result from overtraining are collectively grouped together as overtraining syndrome and can only be identified after a decline in exercise performance and physiological function has already occurred. Most of the symptoms of overtraining syndrome can be highly individualized, making it even more difficult to recognize that the reduced training results are the consequence of overtraining. One of the first signs of overtraining is reduced training results despite continuous training. Typically, an exerciser will notice a decrease in strength, coordination and maximum work capacity, as well as a feeling of exhaustion. Other signs and symptoms of overtraining syndrome include

• Changes in appetite and body weight
• sleep disturbances
• Irritability, restlessness, agitation, nervousness
• A lack of motivation
• Reduced ability to concentrate
• Feelings of depression

The underlying causes of overtraining syndrome are often a combination of emotional and physiological factors. Studies have found that stress tolerance can break down due to a sudden increase in worry and anxiety, as well as an increase in physical stress.

The emotional demands on a person suffering from things like fear of failure, unrealistically high training goals and other expectations can be the cause of unbearable emotional stress. For this reason, overtraining is typically accompanied by a loss of motivation or desire to train, which leads to a loss of enthusiasm for training. Other studies have also shown that the symptoms of overtraining syndrome and the symptoms of clinical depression include remarkably similar signs and symptoms.

The physiological factors responsible for the devastating effects of overtraining are still not fully understood by science. However, many abnormal responses have been reported suggesting that overtraining is linked to changes in the neurological system, the hormonal system and the immune system. Although a cause-and-effect relationship between these changes and the symptoms of overtraining has not yet been clearly established, these symptoms can often help determine whether a person is in a state of overtraining.

Overtraining of the autonomic nervous system

Some studies have shown that overtraining is associated with an abnormal response of the autonomic nervous system. Physiological symptoms accompanying the decrease in exercise performance often reflect changes in the neuronal or endocrine system controlled by either the sympathetic nervous system or the parasympathetic nervous system.

Sympathetic overtraining can lead to the following:

• Increased pulse rate at rest
• Increased blood pressure
• Loss of appetite
• Reduced body mass
• Sleep disturbances
• Emotional irritability
• Increased metabolic rate at rest

Other studies suggest that the parasympathetic nervous system may be dominant in some cases of overtraining. In these cases, exercisers show the same dips in performance, but significantly different responses than in the case of sympathetic overtraining.

Signs of parasympathetic overtraining include

• Early onset of fatigue
• Reduced heart rate at rest
• Rapid recovery of heart rate after exercise
• Reduced blood pressure at rest

Some of the symptoms associated with autonomic nervous system overtraining can also be observed in people who are not overtraining. For this reason, we cannot always assume that the presence of these symptoms confirms overtraining. Of the two conditions described, symptoms of sympathetic overtraining can be observed most frequently.

Hormonal response to overtraining

Measurements of different blood hormone levels during periods of heavy training suggest that significant disturbances in endocrine function accompany excessive stress. When athletes increase their training volume by a factor of 1.5 or 2, their thyroxine and testosterone blood levels usually decrease, while their cortisol levels increase.

The ratio of testosterone to cortisol is believed to regulate anabolic processes during recovery, which is why a change in this ratio is considered an important indicator and perhaps a cause of overtraining syndrome. Reduced testosterone levels in combination with increased cortisol levels could lead to more protein catabolism than anabolism in the cells. However, other research suggests that although cortisol levels increase during heavy training and in the early stages of overtraining, cortisol levels are generally reduced both at rest and during exercise in overtraining syndrome.

Overtrained athletes often have higher blood urea levels and since urea is produced during the breakdown of protein, this indicates increased protein catabolism. This mechanism is believed to be responsible for the loss of muscle mass seen in overtrained athletes.

Blood levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine are elevated during periods of intense exercise. These two hormones increase heart rate and blood pressure. Some people suggest that blood levels of these hormones should be measured to confirm overtraining. Unfortunately, measuring these hormones is very expensive and therefore not commonly used.

Acute overload training and heavy intensive training often produce most of the endocrine changes that can also be observed in overtrained athletes. For this reason, measurement of these and other hormones may not provide valid confirmation of overtraining. Athletes whose hormone levels appear to be abnormal may simply be experiencing the normal effects of hard training. These endocrine changes may simply reflect the stress of training - and not necessarily a complete breakdown of the endocrine system.

Immune system and overtraining

Your immune system provides you with protection against bacteria, parasites, viruses and tumor cells. This system depends on the actions of specialized cells and antibodies. These cells eliminate and neutralize invading pathogens that could harm the body. Unfortunately, one of the most serious effects of overtraining is its strong negative impact on the body's immune system.

Studies have shown that excessive training suppresses normal immune function, thereby increasing susceptibility to infection. Other studies have shown that short periods of intense exercise can temporarily impair the immune response and that successive days of heavy exercise can increase this suppression. Intense exercise during illness may reduce your ability to fight infection and increase the risk of complications.

Predictors of overtraining syndrome

It is believed that the cause of overtraining syndrome is most likely physical or emotional overload - or both. You should be careful not to exceed your own stress tolerance by regulating the amount of physiological and psychological stress you experience during exercise, but this is difficult to gauge. Many people rely on their intuition to determine training volume and intensity, but not many can accurately assess the true impact of their training. There are no symptoms that will warn you that you are on the cusp of overtraining. By the time you realize you've overdone it, it's often too late. The damage you have done through repeated days of excessive training or excessive stress can only be repaired by days - or in some cases even weeks - of no training or reduced training.

Treatment of overtraining syndrome

As mentioned above, the exact causes of the reduction in performance associated with overtraining are not yet fully understood, but reports suggest that training intensity is a stronger stress factor than training volume. Recovery from overtraining is only possible through a significant reduction in training intensity or a complete break from training.

Although many think that a reduction in training is sufficient, overtrained athletes require a longer period of time for full recovery and this may necessitate complete abstinence from training for a period of weeks or even months. Sometimes intervention by a psychotherapist may be necessary to help the exerciser cope better with other stressors in life that can contribute to a state of overtraining.

The best way to minimize the risk of overtraining is to use periodization of training, which means alternating periods of light, moderate and hard training. Although different individuals have different levels of tolerance to physical and mental stress, even the strongest athlete will go through periods where they are susceptible to overtraining syndrome.

It is important to pay particular attention to carbohydrate intake. Repeated days of hard training will deplete muscle glycogen stores and if care is not taken to consume additional carbohydrates during hard training periods, muscle glycogen stores and liver glycogen stores will be depleted. As a consequence, even the most heavily recruited muscle fibers will not be able to generate enough power for a hard workout.

Nutrition for regeneration

As mentioned above, carbohydrates play an important role in post-workout recovery and are therefore required as part of a balanced diet with adequate protein and fat intake. Consuming high quality carbohydrates - especially after exercise - will help to replenish muscle glycogen stores and provide sufficient energy for an intense workout.

Protein is also important for the recovery process. There are many studies that conclude that strength athletes need twice as much protein as physically inactive people. Last but not least, don't forget that you may also need additional vitamins and minerals to prevent a possible deficiency of one or more of these nutrients. It is normal for athletes to supplement their diet with a vitamin and mineral supplement as a kind of insurance policy against possible nutrient deficiencies.

References:

Physiology of Sport and Exercise: J H Wilmore. D L Costill

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