Tag: Overtraining
How to Avoid Fatigue: Tips for Post-Exercise Recovery!
Are you tired of being tired after a workout and dread that feeling of exhaustion that hits you like a ton of weights after hitting the gym? You’ve come to the right place.
Many people start exercising because they want to feel energetic and invigorated. However, working out has the exact opposite effect on some. They feel fatigued and drained after a workout and end up dragging their feet through the rest of the day. People that train late in the evening don’t have it any better, either. Exercise fatigue can make it hard to fall asleep.
Furthermore, training fatigue and exhaustion don’t discriminate between beginners and advanced lifters. It can plague the training experience of lifters across all experience levels. Depending on several factors, a lifter might experience fatigue immediately after a workout or the following day.
Chronic fatigue can hamper your ability to recover after a workout, which can impede your strength and muscle gain journey, inhibit your performance in upcoming workouts, and increase your risk of injury.
Contrary to what most lifters have come to believe, post-workout fatigue doesn’t have to be the norm. Making a few changes to your pre-training and post-workout regimen can reduce or even eliminate the feeling of exhaustion and help your body recover more efficiently.
In this article, we cover how to avoid fatigue, the most common reasons for fatigue after a workout, and what you can do to maximize your workout performance while powering up your post-workout recovery. So, put down that Red Bull, and listen up.
Reasons for Fatigue After a Workout
In contrast to the prevailing view held by most lifters, what you do immediately after a workout session is not the only factor responsible for a post-training crash. Multiple factors could be at play if you feel tired and exhausted after a training session. You must analyze your entire lifestyle to check where you are lacking. Here are the factors to consider while troubleshooting your post-exercise fatigue:
Training Intensity
Your training intensity has a significant impact on your post-workout experience. You’re more likely to experience fatigue after a high-intensity training regimen than after a low to moderate-intensity workout. HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workouts involve short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by brief periods of rest or lower-intensity exercise.
Although the popularity of HIIT workouts is on the rise, only a few trainers know how to program HIIT sessions correctly to maximize results and limit post-training fatigue.
Additionally, lifters that are bumping up their training intensity are at higher odds of experiencing prolonged training fatigue. Trying new exercise programs, lifts, training methods, and advanced training principles can also lead to post-workout exhaustion.
How to avoid exercise fatigue due to high training intensity:
You must gradually increase your training intensity and limit your HIIT workouts to less than 45 minutes to restrict the risk of post-training fatigue. Furthermore, you must cut back your training frequency if you still experience fatigue after lowering your training intensity.
Caffeine
Caffeine, due to its energy, focus, and alertness-boosting capabilities, is the darling of the fitness community. Pre-workout supplements are loaded with caffeine to give you a solid punch of energy. Recently, the sports supplement market has witnessed a flood of energy drinks. Bros that don’t have the budget for a pre-workout supp or energy drinks usually throw down espresso shots to fire up for their training sessions.
However, caffeine is also notorious for causing post-workout crashes. The potency of a caffeine-loaded pre-workout supplement is directly proportional to the harshness of its post-workout crashes.
Plus, caffeine is a diuretic and can cause dehydration if consumed in large quantities, leading to fatigue and decreased athletic performance. It doesn’t end here; consuming too much caffeine can interfere with your sleep cycle, which can add to the feeling of exhaustion and fatigue.
How to avoid exercise fatigue due to caffeine:
If you cannot hit the gym without caffeine, you must regulate your dosage to avoid post-workout crashes. Furthermore, you could use a stim-free pre-workout supplement to get all the benefits of a pre-training sup, minus the crashes.
Dehydration
Proper hydration is crucial for optimal training performance and recovery. During a workout, your body sweats to regulate your body temperature. Dehydration strikes if you don’t drink enough fluids to replace the lost sweat, leading to a decrease in blood volume and blood pressure, which makes it harder for your heart to pump oxygen and nutrients to your muscles.
You’ll fatigue more quickly and often if your muscles don’t get enough oxygen and nutrients during a workout. Muscle cramps and stiffness are a couple of signs of dehydration, which can further lead to chronic fatigue. [1]
Furthermore, dehydration during a workout can cause your core body temperature to rise, which can lead to heat exhaustion or even heat stroke in severe cases.
How to avoid exercise fatigue due to dehydration:
You must keep yourself hydrated before, during, and after a workout. Plus, if you are an endurance athlete or sweat a lot during your training sesh, you must ensure you consume an appropriate amount of sodium and electrolytes to avoid dehydration. Sports drinks such as Gatorade are excellent for keeping you hydrated throughout an intense workout.
You must drink at least a gallon of water each day to keep yourself hydrated and limit the risk of dehydration. The American Council on Exercise recommends drinking 17-20 ounces of water 2-3 hours before exercise, 7-10 ounces every 10-20 minutes during exercise, and at least eight ounces of water within 30 minutes of exercise.
Low Blood Sugar
Your body uses stored glycogen as an energy source during your workouts. People following a calorie-restrictive diet are at a higher risk of exhausting their glycogen reserves during moderate to high-intensity workouts, which can cause low blood sugar and fatigue.
If your blood sugar levels drop too low, your body becomes incapable of producing enough glucose to fuel your muscles properly, leading to fatigue. Plus, low blood sugar can lower your insulin levels, reducing your ability to store glycogen. It leads to your muscles tiring more quickly during exercise, leading to fatigue.
How to avoid exercise fatigue due to low blood sugar:
Eat balanced meals before and after a workout to limit the risk of low blood sugar levels. The meals should contain high-quality complex carbohydrates to replenish your glycogen reserves and avoid fatigue. Additionally, you must eat a carbohydrate-rich snack during longer workouts to prevent low blood sugar.
Lack of Sleep
A lack of sleep can make you feel tired and lethargic, especially after a high-intensity workout. Many people get grumpy after a bad night’s sleep, which can hamper the quality of their workouts.
You must sleep seven to eight hours each night to ensure optimal time to recuperate between workouts. Sleep deprivation can cause overexertion, which can lead to chronic fatigue.
How to avoid exercise fatigue due to lack of sleep:
Sleeping in a cold room can help you doze off quickly and increase the time you spend in deep sleep, which can improve your recovery. You should avoid screens before bedtime and meditate to improve your sleep cycle. Using melatonin and magnesium supplements can also improve your sleep quality.
Poor Nutrition
A poor diet is one of the leading reasons for prolonged fatigue. For optimal functioning, your body requires multiple nutrients, including carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. Not meeting your daily macro and micronutrient goals can lead to fatigue after exercise.
While a lack of carbohydrates can cause fatigue due to glycogen store depletion, protein deficiency can impair muscle growth and recovery. Improper fat intake can cause joint health issues.
How to avoid exercise fatigue due to poor nutrition:
Ensure that you meet your daily caloric needs and follow a macro and micronutrient-balanced diet to promote muscle and strength gain and limit fatigue. Seek expert help if you don’t know how to design a diet program, as it can significantly improve your energy levels.
Overtraining
Pushing too hard in the gym can lead to overtraining. It beats up your central nervous system, which limits your body’s ability to recover from your workouts. Prolonged workouts, using too many advanced training techniques, or increasing your workout volume and intensity disproportionality can lead to overtraining. [2]
Skipping rest days or not allowing your body enough rest between workouts is also a common cause of overtraining. Not only does overtraining cause chronic fatigue, but it also increases your risk of injury.
How to avoid exercise fatigue due to overtraining:
Diet and recovery are just as important as training, if not more. You must back up your workout regimen with a balanced diet and give your muscles enough time to recover between workouts. Lifters following an advanced training program should limit their workouts to five days a week and rest for the remaining two days.
Read also: Overtraining: How Much Exercise Is Too Much?
Medical Conditions
Medical conditions such as anemia, thyroid disorders, and chronic fatigue syndrome can lead to persistent fatigue and weakness, even with mild exercise. Furthermore, asthma, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), can cause shortness of breath and fatigue during exercise due to impaired lung function.
On the other hand, certain medications can also cause fatigue and weakness as a side effect. For example, beta-blockers, used to treat hypertension and heart conditions, can cause prolonged fatigue.
How to avoid exercise fatigue due to medical conditions:
You must get a doctor’s clearance before starting training if you are dealing with any medical conditions. Plus, you must also seek medical advice before bumping up your training intensity while on medication.
Tips To Reduce Post-Workout Fatigue
Here are some tips on how to avoid fatigue and exhaustion:
Active Recovery
Most hobbyist exercisers overlook the importance of active recovery in their training regimen. Active recovery after a workout can improve blood flow to your muscles, which can help deliver the necessary nutrients for recovery and limits the chances of fatigue. It also reduces muscle stiffness, lower the chances of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and lowers stress levels. [3]
Active recovery exercises like light jogging, cycling, rowing, and foam rolling are a must after high-intensity workouts. Your active recovery sessions should last between 20-30 minutes. You could also do stretching, mobility drills, or yoga at this time.
Rehydrate and Refuel
You must supply your muscles with the required nutrients to speed up your recovery process. However, rehydration and refueling should not be limited to post-workout. You must follow a balanced diet program to avoid chronic fatigue.
Reduce Stress
Stress reduction techniques can help reduce post-workout fatigue by calming the nervous system. These techniques can vary depending on an individual’s preferences and lifestyle. Some people might prefer playing video games to lower stress, whereas others might prefer listening to their favorite music.
Other popular stress-reducing techniques include deep breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, massage, or taking a warm bath. These techniques help lower cortisol levels, improve sleep quality, increase mental clarity, and reduce muscle tension. [4]
Listen To Your Body
Every individual is built differently, meaning we react to the same stimulus uniquely. An exerciser can have a higher stress appetite than their training partner. Hence, you must not try to copy other people around you. Follow a personalized diet and training program to achieve your objectives. Furthermore, constantly assess your health markers to ensure optimal recovery and reduce your risk of chronic fatigue.
Wrapping Up
Fatigue is a common occurrence among trainers that hampers performance and results in the gym. Dehydration, poor diet, sleep, low blood sugar levels, and overtraining are some of the common factors behind chronic fatigue.
You can uproot fatigue, improve your recovery, and reduce your risk of injury by using the tips mentioned in this article, including implementing active recovery, rehydrating and refueling, reducing stress, and modifying your training intensity according to your needs. Make sure that you seek medical clearance before starting to exercise if you are dealing with a medical condition. Best of luck!
References
Edwards AM, Noakes TD. Dehydration: cause of fatigue or sign of pacing in elite soccer? Sports Med. 2009;39(1):1-13. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200939010-00001. PMID: 19093692.
Kreher JB, Schwartz JB. Overtraining syndrome: a practical guide. Sports Health. 2012 Mar;4(2):128-38. doi: 10.1177/1941738111434406. PMID: 23016079; PMCID: PMC3435910.
Ortiz RO Jr, Sinclair Elder AJ, Elder CL, Dawes JJ. A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Active Recovery Interventions on Athletic Performance of Professional-, Collegiate-, and Competitive-Level Adult Athletes. J Strength Cond Res. 2019 Aug;33(8):2275-2287. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002589. PMID: 29742750.
Nag N, Yang X, Jelinek G, Neate S, Simpson-Yap S. Undertaking specific stress-reducing activities are associated with reduced fatigue and depression, and increased mastery, in people with multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2022 Jun;62:103804. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2022.103804. Epub 2022 Apr 12. PMID: 35461058.
Bicep Curl Drop Set: Pump Your Guns and Maximize Muscle Gain!
The biceps are arguably the most loved muscle group. It is common to hear people skip leg days, but you’ll never hear of anyone missing arm day. Although the biceps curl ranks high on every lifter’s favorite exercise list, only a few have guns worth showing off.
The biceps is a small muscle group, and most lifters rely on curls (an isolation exercise) to add inches to their arms. Nonetheless, only a few succeed.
Usually, exercisers oscillate between doing too little and too much in their arms training regimen. While the first technique lacks training intensity to spark new muscle tissue growth, the latter leads to overtraining. Furthermore, both these techniques lead to a training plateau.
This is where the drop sets come in. Drop sets help increase your training intensity by adding more sets and reps to your training regimen, helping ignite new muscle growth and break through plateaus. Drop sets boost muscle growth by significantly enhancing your target muscle’s time under tension.
To build biceps that surpass people’s imagination, you must put in the work that most people cannot fathom. The bicep curl drop set is a step in the right direction.
The drop set is an advanced training technique that is not for the faint of heart. “Muscle-ripping pump” is a popular term in training jargon. Most lifters throw it around like it’s nobody’s business. The truth is that most trainers have never experienced a “muscle-ripping pump,” unless that is, they try the drop set.
In this article, we go over everything you need to learn about the biceps curl drop set to build bigger and stronger pythons, including the definition, step-by-step instructions, sample biceps drop set workout, its benefits, and tips to make the most of them.
What is a Drop Set?
A drop set is an advanced resistance training technique that helps spark hypertrophy by shocking your muscles through an uptick in training intensity. In a drop set, you perform an exercise with an appropriate weight for the desired number of repetitions, then lighten the load by 10–30% and perform another set to failure without pausing for rest between sets.
The number of reps you will perform will depend on your training objectives. Research has shown that performing 1-3 sets of 8-12 reps of an exercise with an appropriate weight is optimal for building muscle mass. On the other hand, 3-5 sets of 1-5 reps are ideal for building strength. [1]
Training for muscle failure in two non-stop sets fills your muscles with blood and lactic acid, which stretches the fascia and supplies your muscle fibers with the required nutrients for muscle growth.
You could also do a double drop set to take your muscle pumps to the next level. A double drop set involves dropping weights twice in the same set. To do a double drop set, complete a set to failure, lighten the load by 10-30%, and do another set; complete the round by doing another set after reducing the load by 10-30%.
Here is a sample barbell biceps curl double drop set using 95 pounds:
Set 1: 12 reps [95 pounds]
Set 2: Failure (8-12 reps) [85 pounds]
Set 3: Failure (8-12 reps) [65 pounds]
While performing a drop set, you must ensure that you’re following a picture-perfect form. Using momentum or a sleazy form increases your risk of injury as your muscles are already fatigued. You must stop your set as soon as you notice your form slipping.
How to Perform a Biceps Curl Drop Set
The drop set technique can be used for any biceps curl exercise. For the sake of this article, we’ll consider the dumbbell biceps curl. Drop sets require more logistical planning than traditional dumbbell curl sets. Hence, you must ensure that you already have everything you need by your side before you begin the drop set. Stopping to look for weights drops your training intensity and will hamper your muscle-building potential.
Use the following pointers to incorporate the biceps curl into your training schedule:
Choose The Weight
Most lifters are confused about the weights they should be lifting on the biceps curl drop set. While some people bite off more than they can chew, exposing themselves to an injury, others undersell themselves, leaving gains on the table.
As a rule of thumb, you should start your drop set with a weight that allows you to complete 8-12 reps of an exercise with the perfect form. Then, you must not lighten the load by more than 30% for the drop set to ensure optimal small-twitch muscle fiber stimulation. You must choose a weight that allows you to complete 8-12 reps in the drop sets.
For example, if you perform the first set of a dumbbell bicep curl with 45-pound dumbbells, you can only drop the weight to 30 pounds for the drop set. You can then use 20-pound dumbbells for the double-drop set.
Decreasing the weight in small increments (5-10%) can limit the number of repetitions you can perform. You must, however, ensure that you fail in the 8-12 rep range to induce hypertrophy and improve your muscle endurance.
Setup
Many lifters make the mistake of starting the bicep curl drop set without the proper engagement. While doing the dumbbell bicep curl drop set, you should have the 2-3 sets of dumbbells you will use around you and in your reach before starting the exercise.
Looking for dumbbells for your drop sets in the middle of your set will hamper your training intensity. If you wait too long between sets, you’ll end up recruiting your fast-twitch muscle fibers instead of the slow-twitch fibers, beating the purpose of this advanced training technique.
Plan
To make the most of drop sets, you must program them into your workouts strategically. Plan your workouts a week in advance so that you don’t end up using drop sets more than once in a workout and twice a week. Using this training technique too frequently can result in overtraining, increasing your risk of injury and leading you to a plateau.
Training Experience
The ‘advanced’ in advance resistance training technique exists for a reason. Beginners must resist the temptation of using drop sets in their workouts. Furthermore, you should only use it in exercises you have mastered. Experimenting with drop sets in a lift you are still learning increases your risk of injury.
Sample Bicep Curl Drop Set Workout
Given below is a biceps workout that involves a superset of dumbbell biceps curls:
In this workout, we have programmed the drop sets at the end to end the workout on a high. Start with the heaviest dumbbells and do as many reps as possible. Without resting between sets, switch to lighter dumbbells and curl to failure. Lighten the weights again, and work to failure without stopping for rest.
Benefits of Drop Set
Adding the drop set advanced training technique to your exercise regimen entails the following advantages:
Helps Build Muscle Mass
A 2018 study found that drop sets delivered more muscle gains by stimulating slow-twitch muscle fiber growth than the conventional sets during a six-week resistance training protocol. [2]
Drop sets are an incredibly versatile training principle. You could use them in any workout and for any exercise. You can do a drop set at the start of a workout to pre-exhaust your muscles, in the middle of the workout, or at the end to finish your training session with a mind-numbing pump.
Drop sets fill your muscles with blood and lactic acid, which stretches the fascia around the muscle and delivers the required nutrients to the muscle tissue for growth.
Improves Muscle Endurance
Our muscles consist of two types of muscle fibers — slow and fast-twitch. Although conventional strength training exercises are great for engaging fast-twitch muscle fibers, they do little to nothing for the slow-twitch fibers. The slow-twitch muscle fibers are endurance-based, meaning they require a greater time under tension than the fast-twitch fibers to fire up, and this is exactly what the drop sets deliver.
A study published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness found that a single set of drop set can lead to better muscle gains than three sets of a conventional resistance training exercise. [3]
Time Effective
Drop sets are a great way to get a lot of work done in a short period. Folks that have hit a plateau and need to up their training volume but cannot afford to spend another 30-45 minutes in the gym should turn to drop sets.
Most drop sets take 15-20 seconds to complete. Lifters that generally do 15 sets in a workout can boost their training volume by 20% just by doing three drop sets of an exercise. Not to mention the insane training intensity that can be achieved using this training principle.
Bicep Curl Drop Set Tips
Here are some bicep curl drop set tips to get the best bang for your buck:
Exercise Type
Prefer doing drop sets in isolation exercises like the biceps curl that focus on a single muscle group. Since compound exercises have multiple moving parts, the risk of injury is significantly higher while doing drop sets.
Lifters tend to compromise on their form on compound lifts like the squat when fatigue starts to set in, increasing their odds of injury. It is easier to bail on a bicep curl drop set rep than to get out of a squat mid-rep.
Sets
You should not do drop sets for more than one exercise in a workout, as it can cause muscle overexertion, increasing your risk of injury. Furthermore, avoid doing more than double drop sets at a time.
Notably, ‘run the rack’ is another advanced training technique that is growing in popularity and involves lightening the load until you lift the lightest weight on the rack. It is a drop set variation that should be reserved for advanced athletes. The high volume and intensity of multiple drop sets can result in a lousy form and an unprecedented strain on your muscles, multiplying your injury odds.
Frequency
Since drop sets are so effective in delivering a muscle pump, many lifters tend to overdo them, increasing overtraining risk. Overtraining affects your central nervous system, and depending on your genetics and recovery program, it might take you months to come out of this phase.
You must limit drop set use to one exercise per workout. Furthermore, avoid performing drop sets more than twice weekly to allow your muscle enough time to recover from your high-intensity workouts.
Are Bicep Curl Drop Sets Safe?
Drop sets are an advanced resistance training technique and should not be used by newbies and rookie lifters. As you start incorporating drop sets into your training regimen, it should be done under an expert’s supervision to minimize the risk of injury.
You must then choose an appropriate weight and exercise for the drop set. Use a weight you can control for 8-12 reps per set and an exercise you have mastered. Doing drop sets on an unfamiliar exercise puts you in a delicate position, and a slight misstep can lead to an injury.
Wrapping Up
The bicep curl drop set is an advanced resistance training technique that will push your limits and challenge your muscles like never before. It will increase your training intensity by increasing the time under tension, helping you avoid and break through a training plateau.
Rookie lifters should start with the conventional drop sets, whereas more advanced lifters can utilize the double drop sets to fill their guns with blood and lactic acid. Finally, you must strategically program the drop sets into your biceps training routine. Doing too much too soon can lead to overtraining, which can stall your growth.
References
Krzysztofik M, Wilk M, Wojdała G, Gołaś A. Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec 4;16(24):4897. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16244897. PMID: 31817252; PMCID: PMC6950543.
Fink J, Schoenfeld BJ, Kikuchi N, Nakazato K. Effects of drop set resistance training on acute stress indicators and long-term muscle hypertrophy and strength. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2018 May;58(5):597-605. doi: 10.23736/S0022-4707.17.06838-4. Epub 2017 Apr 26. PMID: 28474868.
Fink, Julius & Schoenfeld, Brad & Kikuchi, Naoki & Nakazato, Koichi. (2017). Effects of drop set resistance training on acute stress indicators and long-term muscle hypertrophy and strength. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness. 58. 10.23736/S0022-4707.17.06838-4.
What Over Exercising can do to You?
People who are workout freaks and exercise for more than 2+ hours. Over Exercising are in reality destroying their health rather profiting it. All of us wish to have an amazing body and health. Also, often we are so indulged in doing so that we forget. Our true meaning of keeping […]
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