Thursday 28 April 2016

What happens to muscles during endurance exercise?

If you are training for your next marathon, Ironman or ultra-marathon and are worried about the breakdown of muscle tissue then you should continue reading this. It will give you a rundown on what happens to your muscles during endurance exercise and how you can avoid the breakdown of those precious muscles while training.

While you are training for that upcoming endurance event you are obviously trying to increase stamina. This can, in turn, result in muscle mass loss. This is due to a number of reasons. One being that endurance exercise can breakdown carbohydrates and fats quickly. Your body then begins to breakdown its own muscles for an energy source. 


Training to prevent muscle loss

Many people may think that training for your particular event means just doing that particular exercise and slowly increasing your distance as you become fitter. This works if you are looking at developing stamina and cardiovascular fitness. However, this may result in a decreases to not only muscle size but also strength and power. To maintain muscle mass while endurance training it is ideal to complete a weight or resistance program as well.

It is important to look at the type of event you are competing in and what you are trying to achieve. Muscle bulk is generally heavier and requires more oxygen and blood flow, but will also provide more power in the vital moments of a race and could be the difference between first and second place. So an elite athlete may want more muscle than their competitors and will train accordingly. However, for most recreational endurance athletes 1-3 resistance training sessions per week is enough to prevent muscle loss. 


Nutrition to prevent muscle loss

Recent studies have found that ingesting protein before and/or during endurance exercise can prevent the muscle protein breakdown. This can also stimulate muscle protein synthesis and enhance skeletal muscles response to resistance training. Protein is both a trigger for activating muscle building pathways, as well as the main component muscle is made with. To ensure that muscle synthesis matches or exceeds breakdown, at least 1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight should be eaten daily

When supplementing with protein it is important to do so within specific time frames. Having either a whole food source or protein supplement within the first 3 hours after exercises is the best time to achieve optimal results.

Whey protein is popular for pre and post-workout supplementation because it’s high in branch chain amino acids (BCAAs), which are most effective for preventing muscle breakdown as well as promoting muscle growth and recovery after exercise.

 

If you are thinking about entering an endurance event in 2016,please consider your training program and nutrition in order to prevent any muscle mass loss.  

Wednesday 27 January 2016

New Years Resolutions are about creating better habits.

Did you make one? We did… It’s almost a month into 2016, are you starting to lose focus or worse have you fallen off the band wagon? A recent study of 1000 Australians, showed that 69% intended to set a New Year’s resolution. Why not, it’s such a great time to set such personal goals, with the start of a fresh new year. But staggeringly less than a quarter of these people will achieve their resolution goals. Here at Rebalance Myotherapy we have clients every year that achieve some amazing goals. This blog gives a little insight into how to help set your goals and also ultimately achieve them. 

A study at the UK University of Hertforshire found the key to keeping on track varies according to your gender. They found that if men set specific goals they were more likely to achieve their resolutions. For example instead of setting a broard goal of losing weight, men that had the goal to lose a certain number of kgs, were able to train and achieve this target. Makes sense really, giving your goals direction and having a target to head towards.

The same study showed that women who shared their resolutions with others had a greater chance of accomplishing their goals. Professor Richard Wiseman states 'women benefit from social support provided by friends and family’. I’ve always found sharing my goals is a great method, it has helped me stay on the path to achieving them. Also, when I’ve set goals I’ve found its best not to set yourself up for failure, rather to set goals that give you the sense of achievement. So instead of waking up New Year’s Day and unrealistically stating I will exercise every day in 2016, just commit to exercising 3 times a week and get yourself a different training buddy for each day. You will then have the social support off three workout buddy's which no matter your fitness level, it is one of the most beneficial and motivational things you can do. No one wants to be that workout buddy that pulls out of training sessions last minute, trust me this method has gotten me out of bed more times than I can count.

I truly believe obtaining goals is clearly linked to creating habits and studies have shown that on average it takes more than 2 months (66 days to be exact) before a new behavior becomes automatic. So with this knowledge make sure you set realistic timelines and understand achieving them will take time (science says so!). Interestingly researchers have also found that 'missing one opportunity to perform the new behavior did not materially affect the habit formation process'. In other words, don’t be so hard on yourself if every now and then you struggle to find time to work on your goals. Treat your goals as a work in progress sometimes you will be moving 100km/hr towards them, other times you will feel you are stagnant or even worse moving backwards. A good way to counteract this is take yourself back to the beginning, reread your goals and look at how far you’ve already come. It’s easy to lose sight of what you’ve already achieved when you’re too focused on that next allusive milestone.

So with 2016 already in full flight and one month already disappearing, there is no time like the present to revisit your goals.  Make sure they have direction and are specific to what you want to achieve. Set realistic time lines, share with a loved one and make yourself accountable. There is no better feeling then accomplishing a goal whether it’s a personal or work related.  Good luck and I hope this information helps you achieve your New Year’s resolution.  

Monica Canny

www.rebalancemyotherapy.com.au