Health vs Fitness & Overtraining
I can’t tell you the number of times when discussing health issues or health challenges with someone that they start talking about their fitness level and the varied activities they participate in; 5k’s, half or full marathons, Crossfit, P90X, or similar programs, having a Peloton bike, Yoga programs, mud-runs, hikes, etc.
Some of you reading this may see where I am heading, while others are like, ‘so, what’s the problem?’ The problem is that, ‘health’ and ‘fitness’ are mistakenly used interchangeably even though they do not mean the same thing. Before saying more, let’s clearly define them.
Fitness - the ability to carry out daily tasks with vigor and alertness, without undue fatigue, and with ample energy to enjoy leisure-time pursuits and respond to emergencies.
Health - more than just the absence of disease and/or its symptoms, health is a relative state in which one is able to function well physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually in order to express the full range of one’s unique potentialities within the environment in which one is living.
Nowhere in the definition of fitness is one’s health mentioned. I am not saying health does not play a role. Just saying that fitness is not dependent upon your health. But…If you are healthy, getting fit or sustaining a given fitness level is much easier and comes more naturally. The reason is simple. A healthy body has the energy to perform the activities required, plus, it has the capacity to adapt to the stress of exercise with minimal, or ANY need to divert resources from other functions. A healthy fit body is able to maintain a state of homeostasis (balance) and, if drawn out of that state, has the ability to return to it in a timely efficient manner.
There is no correlation between being fit and being healthy. You can be healthy and physically fit. You can also be unhealthy and physically fit.
Every year there are instances of high performing athletes, high school, college and professional that die, during or after a race, event or training session.
It is not unusual to see former high-level athletes dying at a younger age due to multiple health complications or having significantly decreased quality of life as compared to the general public.
We have all seen and heard stories of individuals with known health problems that achieve high levels of fitness in spite of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, even cancer.
The fact that one achieves high levels of athletic ability is often due more to a mindset, a focus on pushing and challenging one’s personal limits and abilities than anything else.
But, there exists a dark side. All physical activity is a stress to the body. Under enough stress, acute or chronic, and eventually something has to give. Typically, what gives is the weakest link in the metabolic chain. Chronic/Excessive stress breaks the body down. If ignored, the question is not IF something unwanted will happen, it is WHEN and HOW will it manifest?
Being overwhelmed with physical stress does not mean it will manifest only as a physical symptom, muscle or joint problems for example. Excessive physical stress can manifest as mental fragility, digestive distress, hormonal issues, cognitive dysfunction and more.
Everything in the body is connected. Everything influences everything else. Nothing in the body exists on its own. If you are active and dealing with an unresolved or recently manifesting health challenge, consider the role that your daily physical activities may play as a catalyst.
While it is recognized that a sedentary lifestyle is bad for one’s health, so is an over-active lifestyle. When I say over-active, I am referring to moving beyond your body’s abilities and skills. The reason is over-activity ultimately leads to over-training where you exceed your body’s ability to resolve or adapt to stress.
That capacity to resolve or adapt to stress is not infinite. Everyone has limits and those limits are unique to the individual. While the threshold between appropriate exercise and overtraining is lower for a more sedentary individual than one that has been active all their life, crossing that threshold is just as easy for both and the consequences are ultimately the same.
Just a hint, if you are relying on the generous application of ice, and/or heat, percussion massagers, anti-inflammatories, wraps and tape, frequent pre scheduled chiropractic sessions, soft tissue work, cryotherapy and other related devices, products and modalities to participate in a sport or activity on a regularly even daily basis, it is highly likely you are ignoring the signs of overtraining. The same applies to having your physical therapist or orthopedic surgeon on your speed dial or have their number memorized. Not saying these options are bad, just offering the perspective that if they are required, to keep your head above water, there is something significant missing or ignored.
To swing back around to the health versus fitness issue. If you are genuinely concerned about improving your fitness or sustaining it, regardless of what that level is, you may want to consider devoting time, energy and resources into your health. As mentioned, while you don’t have to be healthy to be fit, fitness is easier to achieve and sustain when you are healthy.
Overtraining is harmful. So in any given over-training situation you have four options;
Ignore all consequences (which I will not discuss because those individuals likely won’t be reading this far. Exercise addiction and addiction in general is a separate issue)
Take a close look at your current training program and work to find a balance so that you do not cross the over-training threshold
Focus on your health to increase your ability to resolve or adapt and thus increase the threshold before overtraining
Combine both options, two and three. Train smarter and proactively empower health.
While options two and three are good options and can result in success, option four is the optimal choice and I believe you would agree. Option four is also the most challenging, but not insurmountable, path to follow. It will pay back in dividends far exceeding any other approach.
Becoming Healthy
The first step in becoming healthy is an understanding of your current state of health, especially the weak links in the chain. Rather than guess and make assumptions I rely, personally and with clients, on comprehensive assessment tools including intake forms (health histories, questionnaires and lifestyle forms), functional lab testing and most important, the ability to interpret the information relative to the individual manifesting them.
That last part is key. For every unwanted health or performance challenge lies multiple possible causal factors or catalysts. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. There is no reason to believe any program, protocol, supplement, diet, etc., will have the desired results just because it worked for someone else. This is regardless of who they are, what they accomplished or what fancy letters follow their name. Any success is as likely due to random chance as anything else.
A true test of achieving one’s health goals, is not just the achieving, but also the ability to sustain those results over time, over a lifetime. A largely ignored reality is biochemical individuality, a termed coined by, and written about by Roger J. Williams in 1956 in his work ‘Biochemical Individuality - The key to understanding what shapes your health.’
Essentially, you are as unique in your metabolic functions/pathways as you are in your fingerprints. To the degree that any health building program meets your unique requirements you will manifest success. To the degree that you understand these requirements and can adapt them to your ever-changing internal environment, you will be able to sustain or build upon those successes.
Biochemical Individuality is why I rarely make blanket statements about the benefits of any specific protocol, product or device for everyone, much less even a majority of a captive population. While I know individuals who swear by their handheld percussion massager, it does nothing for me. Others swear by Self Myofascial Release (SMR) or foam rolling. SMR used to work well for me. Recently, I have learned and now use a more effective tool, ELDOA. Just because something works for me, does not mean it will work for you, much less in the same manner.
While it is generally agreed that everyone must eat food, acquire sleep, physically move, reduce stress and take some form of nutritional supplementation, there are innumerable ways to successfully accomplish any one in particular.
Yes, we should all eat, but eat what, when and in what quantities or proportions? The only method of eating I have food that is capable of being both individualized and adaptable over time is Metabolic Typing® as created by William Wolcott. Metabolic Typing is not a diet, it is a method of eating and developing a healthy relationship with food. Unhealthy food relationships are epidemic today, and unfortunately the victims rarely recognize its existence in spite of their body often communicating, quite loudly that something is wrong.
The only other program I encourage everyone to learn and practice is ELDOA. The reason, as with Metabolic Typing, is that it is built upon a sound understanding of how the body functions, and when followed, it gives the body what it requires and the body innately knows how to take advantage of it. Guy VOYER (ELDOAs creator) is far ahead in understanding how the fascia not only functions within the body, but also how to take advantage of it in creating a more functional and resilient body.
Conclusion
As I am reading over this, there is so much more I want to say and expand upon, but there are limitations in space and your attention span. I would like to believe that some aspect of the information provided proves to be a catalyst for you to consider possibilities and even begin connecting a few dots. What I would like to ask is if there is a question related to this topic that you would like me to further open or explore, just ask.
I would also like to offer a free consultation (virtual or in-person) if you wish to discuss your unique health/fitness challenges and the circumstances surrounding them in more detail, including exactly how I would approach your situation. I am here to help, all you have to do is reach out.