Welcome to another weekend short of The Matter Over Mind Experience
This is your host, Master Trainer & Weight Management Expert, Narado Zeco Powell
This weekend I will quickly talk about Intensive Exercise.
When many of us want to lose weight, we work out too much or sometimes try to outwork a bad diet
Let’s discuss what happens when we do too much and what the winning formula is.
Let’s begin !
How much is too much?
This depends per person of course
I will split this into 2
Strength training vs cardio
Strength training to the point where you are breaking down muscle beyond the point of properly recovering is too much
This rarely happens if you have a solid diet and supplement protocol
In my article on exercise intensity I explained the importance of a positive net protein balance
Basically that means that to build lean muscle you must eat enough for muscle synthesis so your body doesn’t break down muscle due to lack of animo acids
I will explain more when I explain the winning formula
Now, let’s discuss cardio, because that’s where most of us go wrong
Same can happen when we break down muscle and many people who are trying to lose weight, do so much cardio to that point
There are other things that can happen
In this PubMed article titled, How Much Exercise is Too Much,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5153114/
Physical activity sometimes is accompanied by certain arrhythmias – premature beats or atrial fibrillation (AF).
Less often such activity may result in life-threatening arrhythmias – specifically ventricular fibrillation.”
This is probably due to the stress on your cardio system due to high cortisol and adrenaline
Now, let discuss the winning formula
There are benefits to both styles of training, however, many people focus on only 1 style of training.
This leads to deficiencies in their training program.
We need a healthy dose of both styles of training.
I recommend strength training at the base of your program, especially for weight loss & building lean muscle.
I generally recommend strength training, done in lower zones, at least 4 to 5 times per week.
I recommend high intensity about 2 times per week, 3 max.
This will give you the benefits of anaerobic exercise.
You can do high intensity as a separate session, i.e in the mornings or after a strength training session. In addition, your sessions can be short, i.e 10 minutes of intense rowing or a combination of jogging and sprinting.
The last item to consider is maintaining a positive net protein balance.
This means eating adequate protein and supplementing as needed.
This depends on factors such as style of training & activity level.
Most healthy & active individuals can eat up to .75 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body-weight.
The rule I follow is whatever weight I am aiming for, that’s how much protein I eat
Keep in mind of you have underlying health issues and speak to a medical professional before making any dietary changes
Have a nice weekend fam!
