Published: Jan. 29, 2014
Setting your limits
Area trainers and doctor discuss excessive exercising and
its dangers
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor
Keep it real ... that is, keep your training plan and
fitness goals within a reasonable and attainable platform. Don’t overwork
yourself as you push toward a 5-kilometer run, a triathlon, a marathon or any
fitness goal set for the year.
Physical exercise is good and often encouraged by health
professionals, but there is such a thing as excessive exercise, which can lead
to greater problems, including death. World tennis star Melanie Oudin, a former
U.S.
Open quarterfinalist, withdrew from the recently completed
Australian Open before it began because she developed an ailment called
rhabdomyolysis.
What is rhabdomyolysis?
It is a condition that breaks down overworked and damaged
muscles, and releases fibers into the bloodstream, causing many complications.
While rare, kidney failure can occur.
“It can occur in any athlete who performs strenuous
activity,” said Dr. Gary Herdrich, a physician at the Froedtert West Bend
Health Center.
It can happen to someone of any age just starting an
exercise program to a moderate athlete to an elite, Olympic-level athlete.
In 2011, 13 Iowa football players were hospitalized because
they developed the ailment.
Herdrich said two of the biggest triggers are excessive
repeated exercise and lack of hydration. Heat can also play a role said
Herdrich.
Herdrich attributed a survey conducted by Harold B. Schiff
in 1978 looking at marathon running.
In the study, myoglobinaemia (muscle destruction or
segregation) occurred in 25 of 44 runners completing a 99-kilometer marathon.
“It comes from trauma to the muscle and the muscle
breakdowns,” Herdrich said.
Potential red flags include trouble moving arms or lifting
objects, fever, confusion or loss of consciousness, abnormal or irregular
heartbeat and dark colored or lack of urine.
One of the biggest warning signs is swelling of the muscle.
If soreness doesn’t go away and is coupled with dark or no
urine, patients should consult a doctor.
“Everybody’s goals are different; everybody’s unique with
their goals,” said Nicola Patrinos, a personal trainer and wellness coach at
Kettle Moraine YMCA in West Bend. “I always focus on the three components of a
good exercise program: cardio, strength and flexibility. Depending on the level
of fitness with one individual, that’s going to vary.”
“So somebody that’s just starting an exercise program,
you’re not going to have them do 45 minutes of cardio seven days a week,” she
added. “You want to start in small steps.”
Patrinos, along with fellow YMCA trainer Chris DelCamp, and
Herdrich, each encourage rest and recovery as being maybe more important than
the exercising itself. In addition, nobody knows your body better than you. So
listen to it if it starts to hurt. That is the best advice for any person at
any level of exercise level, Patrinos said.
“You start by gradual increments,” Herdrich said. “As you do
so, stay well hydrated and listen to your body. You’ve got to build up to it.”
How do you know when too much is too much?
“You want to look at your rate of perceived exertion,”
Patrinos said. “How hard are you working? You ask yourself; not what it says on
the machine. How hard are you working from 1 to 10?
“1 is you can hold a conversation, where 10 is when you
can’t, you’re gasping for air. You want to have your level to be 6, 7 or 8.”
Dehydration is a risk factor and doctors believe that
contributed to Oudin’s problems. It didn’t appear to be an issue for the Iowa
football players, but they had something else in common with Oudin and others
with the diagnosis: an intense workout immediately after a long break.
The Hawkeyes took three weeks off after their bowl game,
then returned with a session that included 100 back squats at half of the
maximum weight each player could manage for one lift.
“Acclimate yourself to exercise,” Herdrich warned.
“When you’re doing those three components, cardio, strength
and flexibility, you want to have a day to rest to let the muscle rest, to let
the muscle repair,” Patrinos said. “You can definitely overtrain.”
While athletes often test their limit with their workout
routines, especially as money becomes a factor in measuring one’s success,
rhabdomyolysis has shown to be the point where an athlete at all levels has
crossed the line of that limit. More doctors and trainers are trying to get
people to shy away from the idea of no pain, no gain. Television shows like
“The Biggest Loser” give people the wrong idea about how to lose weight.
DelCamp said the goal for those interested in strength training is to get close
to hypertrophy — an increase in mass or girth — but not exceed it.
“You want to work the muscle, get it active, challenge it,”
DelCamp said. “But stop if you get that sensation where the muscle gets tight
and starts to shake a little bit.”
Rhabdomyolysis gives a different perspective on that motto
of no pain, no gain. If there’s pain, slow down.
“It’s a little more serious than some people think it is,”
DelCamp said. “It’s not worth second guessing.”
“The challenge (for trainers) is to give them appropriate
expectations about what’s going to happen,” he added.
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