Continuing on the topic of mind over matter, and specifically in relation to exercise, I am reminded of some work done by Professor Tim Noakes several years ago. Professor Noakes challenged a long established belief that fatigue originates in the muscles (when the muscles run out of oxygen, glycogen or ATP), or when there is too much lactic acid. This model was called the “Limitations Model”. Rather, Noakes and his colleagues proposed that fatigue originates in the brain (I can now hear all coaches saying “you’re not tired, it’s in your head). According to Noakes, “fatigue is a complex emotion affected by factors such as motivation and drive, other emotions such as anger and fear, and memory of prior activity” (read more here).
According to Noakes (and colleagues)…
“the brain, when it senses that the athlete is overstretching him- or herself, sets off a series of sensations that the body translates as symptoms of fatigue. The brain does so to protect itself, the heart and the rest of the body. “Its main function is to make sure you don’t get into trouble in whatever exercise you’re doing” (read more here and here).
But how does the brain know when enough is enough? I should note that the Central Governor model is a highly complex one, and accounts for various interrelated factors, and I am skimming the surface.
One aspect, or conclusion I could draw was that the brain begins brain gathers “data” from early childhood on how far we we can push ourselves physically. So perhaps as a child you weren’t exposed to much sport. Whenever you were asked to participate in physical education you expected to feel tired (because you were unfit) and so you did (because you were unfit, but also because your brain acted against any threat of over doing it). In adulthood, your brain would sound the “I’m tired” alarm long before someone else who may, as a child, have spent hours running around a soccer field. You would need to ensure that your brain doesn’t trick you into thinking you’re tired, when in fact you could run further or faster. The risk for the soccer fan could be the opposite, his or her brain might ignore signs of real muscular fatigue and land up pushing too hard and result in over training.
So the next time you’re running and you feel fatigued, you might consider the possibility that it’s all in your head and push on. You might be right, and you might be wrong, and I think this is where a heart rate monitor might be a more reliable indicator of fatigue.
Thinking back to my previous post, I wonder if anything has been done on mood and the perception of fatigue. I shall see what I can find.
This is exactly what I try to explain to my fiancé when we run together… She wants to call it quits because she’s “too tired” to continue, so I have to ask her to analyse exactly WHAT it is that is too tired: Is the body physically at its limit, or are psychological/emotional undercurrents ‘overriding’ her physical abilities?
As a beginner runner I had the same problem… Having grown up with very little exercise (and too much TV) my body AND my mind were not used to being pushed or tested.
Once I’d learned to analyse WHY I felt I needed to quit running and rather walk, I realised my body could go a lot further than I thought it could. I would always have energy left in my tank shortly after I’d finished training, so I realised I wasn’t pushing myself physically to the extent I felt I was in my mind.
It’s the same with Wing Chun… when in a deep squat or push-up plank, the easy option is to give in to the ‘it’s too sore’, but I’ve found it’s possible to dig deeper and override the emotional fatigue until I get closer to the actual physical limit. On the other hand, sometimes it doesn’t work as it should, and my mind fatigue wins. That’s when I think there are many other factors playing a part.. did I have a bad day? Did I start with an inflated expectation of my abilities? That happened on a run in Hartenbos… I had psyched myself up to a point where I had hopes of a silver medal (and a top 100 position), and when i shot off too fast and tired too quickly, I found myself falling further and further behind, with the resulting feeling that I had let myself down, and I was INSTANTLY exhausted almost to the point of tearing off my race number and walking back to the start in tears.
Anyway, I’m no authority on anything, those are just my experiences of the topic on hand.
I find in my sparring sessions at the gym I become overly fatigued in the last 30 seconds of a 2 min round. I also feel that after an hour in the gym (boxing, jump rope, heavy bag) I am loose and feel like I can spar another 3 rounds. This suggests to me that my body is telling me it’s not warmed up. I want to believe fatigue is all in my head, but doesn’t your body actually produce lactic acid? Aren’t you actually sore the next day? Is the onset of fatigue really just your mind actually telling your body to produce lactic acid? If so instead of steroids or other legal performance enhancers why not find a way to mentally block the pain of fatigue. I have taken jack3d and nuerocore, and I find that both simply seem to be hyped up energy drinks. Maybe there is a way to mentally overcome fatigue, I mean we all know to get to that point and push through but is that really the only way?
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