07/03/2020
Why most people fail to proceed with their fitness level ( lifting heavier weights , maximizing muscle gains , etc..) ?
Hans Selye described three predictable stages the body uses to respond to stressors :
1-alarm reaction stage : distress signal is sent to a part of the brain called the hypothalamus that enables the release of glucocorticoids that trigger the release of adrenaline and cortisol, which is a stress hormone. The adrenaline gives a person a boost of energy. Their heart rate increases and their blood pressure rises. Meanwhile, blood sugar levels also go up.
2-Resistance stage : During the resistance stage, the body tries to counteract the physiological changes that happened during the alarm reaction stage. If the stressful situation comes to an end, during the resistance stage, the body will then return to normal.
However, if the stressor remains, the body will stay in a state of alert, and stress hormones continue to be produced.
3-Exhaustion stage : After an extended period of stress, the body goes into the final stage of GAS, known as the exhaustion stage. At this stage, the body has depleted its energy resources by continually trying but failing to recover from the initial alarm reaction stage.
People often keep increasing their training volume until they plateau(reach a state of no change after a period of activity or progress) and the body is no longer equipped to fight stress and one starts to experience tiredness, stiffness, strenuously preserve his/her lifting weights and even could lead to injury(overtraining syndrome) .
Each muscle has a set number of maximum recoverable volume , one should have a deload week significantly reducing the training volume after a month of high frequent intense training , and this is more often necessary for advanced athletes (as progression becomes far harder) .
Rest and recovery is an important aspect of every exercise program and far more complicated than most people think it is .
