Weekend Warrior Syndrome and Stubborn Fat
Are your weekend warrior workouts or sporadic intense exercising habits causing chronic inflammation that’s blocking stubborn fat loss from your belly or other trouble zones or worst blocking the lean muscle gains or toned body you so desperately want?
The older you are the more harm the sporadic hardcore HIIT or irregular extreme training is going to do. Here’s what you need to know about exercise inflammation plus how to lower your systemic inflammation and prevent those fat storing spikes, joint and muscle aches as well as more serious diseases and injuries.
The Truth Is Some Post Exercise Inflammation Is Necessary BUT…
“A long, hard and/or intense training session is a form of stress which initiates an inflammatory response. It is part of the adaptation process, which generates muscle and makes a person stronger and fitter as the body rebuilds.
BUT if a person constantly trains hard without adequate rest, such as doing daily HIIT workouts, long endurance event training or sporadic intense exercising, “weekend warrior” fitness, they can increase chronic inflammation and weaken immunity, rather than boost it”. In addition, out of control inflammation blocks performance and recovery which are both key for fat burning.
Tips to Keep Inflammation from Wreaking Havoc on Your Health & Fitness
So how do you keep inflammation from wreaking havoc on your health and fitness goals? Here is a checklist to help fine tune your eating and exercise habits in ways that will minimize inflammation.
Aim for 2 ½ hours of moderate exercise a week; 30 minutes a day 5 days a week or try 45 minutes 3 days a week *combine with tip #3 for best results.
Maintain a healthy weight and a healthy body fat level; for women 50+ body fat of 20-24% is fitness range and 25%-31% is healthy range
Balance your moderate exercise with 1-2 intense sessions or bouts of intense exercise like HIIT or AMRAP per week every week. Be consistent with both moderate and hard days!
Program active recovery days or active recovery weeks into your monthly or quarterly workout routine. If you need help with this type of workout planning try my Fall Fit Body Challenge.
Minimize processed sugar, fried foods, and alcohol which are all inflammatory
Try to get a minimum of 6 hours of sleep per night or 7-9 if possible.
Eat a more plant based diet or try the Mediterranean diet if your DNA test shows higher systemic inflammation genetics (more on this below).
Minimize exposure to secondhand smoke and other toxins including harmful skin products.
Include anti-inflammatory strategies and therapies in your weekly routine such as supplements, light and sound therapies as well as massage devices.
How Genes & Lifestyle Impact Your Inflammation and Disease Risk
Doctors measure systemic inflammation by looking at your CRP markers; C Reactive Protein which is found in blood plasma and binds to dying cells and certain bacteria to clear them from the body. High CRP levels are a sign that there is a lot of cell damage that needs cleaning up and are linked to high mortality, chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, neurodegenerative diseases and some cancers.
According to researchers your CRP levels are determined 40% by genetics and 60% by lifestyle. “In a recent genome-wide association analysis of more than 82,700 men and women, scientists identified a half a dozen genetic variations that are significantly associated with CRP levels. When they ranked the study participants according to their at-risk CRP genetic makeup, those in the highest gene score group had an average CRP level more than double the average level of those in the lowest gene score group.”
So basically you can be more genetically predisposed to having double the CRP levels of other genetic types BUT it is your daily habits such as eating inflammatory foods, inactivity combined with sporadic extreme fitness, sleep deprivation, excessive alcohol intake, smoking and other toxins that will push your CRP into the danger zone.
More Interesting Inflammation Research & Tips
*In one study, overweight post-menopausal women who lost at least 5% of their body weight had measurable reductions in CRP levels. Those who lost weight by dieting and exercising were able to reduce their CRP levels by more than 41% in a year.
**Researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine found people who reported getting less than six hours of sleep a night had significantly higher CRP levels than those who slept between six and nine hours a night. People who reported sleeping poorly also had more inflammation than their better-rested peers.
***So keeping your inflammation levels down is important for your health and fitness and requires moderation of all things including intense exercise. The main takeaway here is consistency with all healthy habits will yield much better results than going to extremes.
