adminInnocent Choga : Fitness
Last week we discussed the Instinctive Principle in exercising. This week, for the benefit of those who have just started exercising, we would like to discuss the most basic training principle which is the Overload Principle. This is one method of training that most of us use all the time. Every successful athlete uses this principle to get past sticking points.The purpose of this principle is to provide continuous benefits and avoid adapting to usual work outs and the staleness that follows. It is a principle that anyone who is starting on an exercise programme would benefit from if they can immediately understand and implement it at the beginning of their exercise programmes. Early progress builds momentum and ensures continuous progress.
Overloading is a situation in which we put our muscles under a lot more stress than what we usually do or what we were previously doing .We demand more from our physiques so that we can improve in terms of performance and physical fitness. The loading can be in the form of intensity, duration or frequency of training .
Overloading can help us increase our muscular strength and size, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, stamina and it also enables athletes to perfect their skills.
For weight trainers an increase in intensity, for example, means continually increasing weights (load) when the weights we are lifting are no longer challenging such that we can now lift them comfortably. This will increase our muscle strength and size and also reduce body fat.
If we do not want to increase weight we can increase our sets or repetitions, which will be the load in this case. This will improve our muscular endurance and stamina.
At times we load by continually trying to reduce the time we perform a set of exercises or we continually add more exercises and the duration of exercising. This will help to improve our cardiovascular (aerobic) endurance, stamina and also improve our heart rate. Thus we will be able to do more strenuous physical work comfortably at lower heart rates. We have to avoid staying in a comfort zone to improve and maintain our fitness levels. But we have to be careful not to overdo it, otherwise we get negative results.
Overloading will help us reduce our dietary fat levels at a faster rate and it will increase our capillary networks in the performing muscles so that they can efficiently receive more oxygen and nutrients enabling them to handle more work with ease.
As we adapt to certain higher levels of training our bones and ligaments also get stronger. Using enhancers such as steroids will strengthen the muscles and not the bones, tendons and ligaments.
This can result in injuries such as torn ligaments; caused by the muscles lifting heavier weights or doing more work than what the tendons and ligaments can handle naturally.
The loading in this case will not be progressive but it will be sudden big jump in strength and performance levels than normal.
Benefits accrue when we combine this loading principle with a good balanced diet and adequate rest. When the fitness equation is well balanced our body cells regenerate enabling us to perform better than before and helping us to avoid injuries in the process. This also keeps us motivated to achieve even better results than before.
Guest
Our guest this week is Yeukai Angela Mawuta who is 30 years old. At school Yeukai says she was involved in sports, in particular athletics and she participated in the 400 and 800 meter runs. After school she laid off physical activity only to resume when she turned 25.
Her passion for the fitness lifestyle began when she stayed in Thailand. She says she found Thai boxing intriguing and as a result she joined a Thai Boxing Club and there she trained under a strict trainer called Billy.
The trainer not only administered gruelling sessions but also dictated what they had to eat .Every morning they had to go for a run and the daily running distance ranged from 8 to 16 kilometres.
In Thailand she also used to participate in the 52 kilometre Kol Samui run among other activities.
Yeukai says although she would like to practice Thai boxing she cannot find an expert to train with in Zimbabwe. At the moment her current exercise workouts include boxing which she practices with a boxing expert, Matthew Kadewere. Matthew says he does boxing sessions with her two to three times a week. It was after I had watched them in a session with Yeukai furiously and expertly hitting the punch pads that I decided to have a chat with them. The punching bag is also part of their boxing programme.
According to Kadewere, Yeukai did not have any problems mastering the boxing techniques because of her Thai boxing background. Kadewere says boxing workouts affect mainly the upper body muscles and Thai boxing is more like kick boxing , and it affects the whole body .Thai boxing though mainly involves the use of elbows and knees.
Yeukai says in May 2015, she went for the Great Wall of China Marathon. The event which she participated in was a 23 000 stair climbing event involving a section of the Great Wall. She said only 14 percent of the people who registered for that particular event managed to finish the race. She was among those who touched the finishing line. At first I doubted Yeukai’s exercise feats until she furnished me with the pictures and documents and I actually got to see a certificate with the results stating that she was the last of the race finishers.
Yeukai says she changes her training every month just for variety and to avoid adapting to same type of training. Adapting to the same type of training and diet slackens her progress. Her average training time is one and a half hours.
When it comes to diet issues Yeukai says she has a lactose intolerance so she does not consume any dairy products. She is also into gluten free products. She says gluten bloats her up and she feels uncomfortable, but otherwise she does not need to watch her diet too much.
Her diet consists predominantly of chicken, fish, gluten free grains flour products and fruit. During our discussion after her training session she was eating grapefruit which dieticians say helps to reduce weight.
Standing at a height of 160 centimetres Yeukai’s weight fluctuates between 60 and 63 kilogrammes. Kadewere confirmed, and added that some time ago she had gone over 70 kilogrammes but easily reduced to her normal average weight.
She admitted that she is addicted to exercise. She is addicted to the pain and always has to feel the pain when she exercises. She likes the discipline associated with training. She says it keeps her in line, and motivates her to better in all aspects of life. She says along the way she has changed from doing aerobics only to using weights and doing high intensity pump session with weights which are aerobic in nature. She says she likes the kind of training that is enticing, intriguing and challenging.
Once a month she has a stamina test program where she does a cross fit or what she calls a murph workout. She starts with a 2 kilometre run, followed by a 100 burpees, then 200 pushups, 300 squats using bodyweight and this ends with another 2 kilometre run.
The maximum time this can take is one hour and anything more than that rings an alarm bell, but she says her best times have been 40 and 45 minutes.
Yeukai says she engages in fitness exercises just for the fun and challenges. She says in exercises “You discover yourself, you learn more about yourself. Upgrading and varying the activities removes blinkers allowing you learn more about different things”.
Email;[email protected] Innocent Choga is a six time National Bodybuilding Champion with international experience. He is studying for a science degree in Physical Education and Sport.
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