How to Explain a Slow Day of Exercising? It’s in How You Eat, Drink, Sleep and Think
By RACHEL BACHMAN / The Wall Street Journal
One of the mysteries of being physically active is when the same workout feels great one week and lousy the next. Why does a routine 4-mile run or hourlong yoga class suddenly morph into the last leg of an Ironman triathlon?
Bad workouts happen to everyone, from professional athletes to office workers trying to carve out 30 minutes at the gym.
Coaches and academics can identify many factors to explain this mystery. In short, much of what you eat, drink and even think about can affect how you exercise.
Peter Thompson, a longtime track and field coach who has worked with athletic novices and Olympians, says one factor that can slow regular exercisers is inadequate recovery time.
“Training does not make you fitter. It’s the recovery and adaptation for training that makes you fitter,” says Mr. Thompson, a native Brit who lives in Eugene, Ore. “So you should train to recover, not recover to train.”
Mr. Thompson recommends that people rank their energy level each day on a scale from 1 to 10. If they never rank themselves an 8 or 9, they’re working out too hard, too often or both, he says.
For most of us, excessive channel-surfing is a bigger problem than over training. But we don’t always prepare for workouts as predictably as we set our DVRs.
Failing to eat enough, especially before a taxing workout, can leave people feeling heavy-legged, says Stella Lucia Volpe, chair of the department of nutrition sciences at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
The idea is to provide your body with fuel that it can use quickly. The closer you get to exercising, the simpler and more carbohydrate-centric the food should be. Dr. Volpe recommends eating an apple or a small piece of toast with peanut butter, for example.
“Even some coffee before is absolutely fine,” she says. For part-time coffee drinkers she cautions to start with a small cup, because it can stimulate the gastrointestinal tract.
Some people can’t eat before exercising without getting nauseous. For them, Dr. Volpe advises eating a light snack of yogurt or cereal the night before. If you’re trying to lose weight, weigh yourself once a week to make sure your caloric intake isn’t overtaking your activity level, Dr. Volpe says.
Alcohol, though it can have health benefits in moderation, can be a stealthy workout disrupter. The American College of Sports Medicine, an organization of 50,000 exercise-science professionals, recommends avoiding alcohol for 48 hours before an athletic competition.
Teetotaling isn’t necessary if you’re just cycling your usual loop. But the quantity or type of alcohol you drink could help explain why that loop sometimes feels tougher.
“If you normally drink wine but then the night before you have some brandy, your body might react to that,” Dr. Volpe says. “Maybe you won’t sleep as well.”
Alcohol is one of several things that can pull water from the body. Dehydration can make your body less efficient at cooling itself, making exercise feel more labored.
Sleep also can be dehydrating, particularly if sleep with your mouth open, says Chris Winter, a neurologist in Charlottesville, Va., who consults pro athletes on how to manage their slumber. That could explain why a morning workout leaves you feeling especially parched if you usually work out later in the day.
The effects of poor sleep also can linger for as long as 48 hours. A deficit of as little as one or two hours can throw people off, Dr. Winter says.
To read more, please visit: The Ways to Avoid Feeling Off During Workouts / The Wall Street Journal