Adrenal Stress and Workout Intensity

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Byron Gardner on July 15, 2009 at 8:07pm

Hi Heather,

Your best bet to getting back on your routine, is to find your current work out limits.
This means, knowing your body and how it reacts to stimulus.
Check things like, heart rate- optimize yours
Energy levels- Know how you operate while working out (eat before or after, do proteins fill you up?)
Get a Workout routine, and have an idea of calorie burn and necessary carb intake.
Work out with a partner, or find accountability.
and Lastly listen to your body- if you dont know what it is saying learn its language.

Good luck

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Erin on July 23, 2009 at 10:14pm

I faced the same thing last year. go slow, make sure you take your day off each week. if you track your heart rate each morning before you get out of bed, when you start to slip into overtraining it will start to go up. if it starts, you're either getting sick or are about to go into overtraining. take a few easy/rest days and then back off just a bit when you go back to working out. you also dont want to increase your duration and intensity in the same week. so go longer one week and then go harder the next but don't go harder and longer on the same week. just know that when you go back you will still have a lot of your old fitness still there. you havent lost it all during your rest. you'll probably get back to your old shape quicker than when you started out the first time.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by heather turek on July 29, 2009 at 7:52pm

hey erin thanks for your insight! sounds like you a lot about this! do you know any resources that would help me with this??
also can i bother you with more questions?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Erin on August 7, 2009 at 2:47pm

i dont have any resources, just stuff i have read over the years. and please ask any questions you have. who knows, i may actually know something bout it, :)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sweet Fur on August 21, 2009 at 2:52pm

This is actually the kind of information I'm looking for too! Before I was dx'd I don't think "pacing myself" was a term I used. Now I have no idea how to not go from 0- overkill. Help!

You know those books you can buy that have training plans for people just starting out in a sport- like cycling or running? Do any of you use those to help guide you? Should they be ratched down a bit or adjusted?

I, like Heather, have thyroid issues too (useless, like my pancreas) but I never heard of them affecting how much I can exercise. Have you found differences in your abilities or stamina when your tsh is too high/ low?

Thanks for any tips! I love the heartrate one- hadn't heard that before! What makes your heart rate rise to signal overtraining?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by heather turek on August 22, 2009 at 6:41am

hi sweet fur i just found a book called "maffetone method" by (dr.??) maffetone. he wrote a couple others too- talks about HR and how not to stress out your body while exercising. i just ordered it and cant vouch for it but it's a start.

also there is the "diabetic athlete's handbook" by ?sheri colberg? i'm only through chapter 1 so i cant vouch for it either but many people have recommended it on this sight. also recommended to me by professional diabetic athletes

ive never payed attention to how my TSH levels affect my energy. i was on synthroid for 18 years which is T4 only and now switched to Armour which is T3 and T4. the T3 is what goes to your cells for energy so when i switched to armour it immediately gave me energy.

i dont know how to pace myself either and am totally out of my element! i feel ya!
keep up the good work!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Stuart on October 20, 2009 at 6:41am

Hello Heather:

As yourself and others have said everyone needs to be smarter about gym activities. As diabetics we cannot afford to be blaise about our "launch codes" so to speak? If we go ~green light~ (ie exercise) at 100 to start a severely intense exercise session guarantees us far more than just an intense workout, The results will NOT be pretty.

I am not intimately familiar with Thyroid meds, nor adrenal conditions per se. However c. 97 I did some preliminary research re: adrenaline and there were several published papers/studies speaking about a new hypothesis at the time re: the adrenal system being impaired in some portion of the diabetic community. They were exploring causes of the the a-symptomatic hypo idea at the time, as I recall.

There are exercises which directly trigger retroactively the adrenal response... in the Indian disciplines of Hatha-Yoga & martial arts of various cultures as well? Normally melodramtic breathing exercises with a side-order of muscular contraction and relleasing the muscles thereof. I can point you in the direction of various youtube videos if that would be any help?

Are you having a specific issue with your adrenaling system in particular?
Stuart

▶ Reply to This