Edited by Sergio Grieco
For many, if not all gyms, the achievement of the set goals is closely linked to the training schedule, as if the instructor were, with his mastery, the sole architect of the results obtained. In reality it is not really so; if no other factors such as a more correct diet are combined with any training protocol, and I would like to underline that feeding does not only mean eating but also drinking, if the right training and rest times, understood as recovery, will not be respected. physical and regular sleep, then your card may have been made by the best personal trainers in the world but the results will be hard to come by.
By metabolism we mean the set of chemical, physical and biological transformations that are performed in the body to allow the development of vital processes. It is specifically distinguished in two distinct phases: anabolism and catabolism.
Assimilation is the anabolic and constructive phase, which takes the name of anabolism; this phase consists of the continuous transformation of food into organic matter or substances that can subsequently be burned to produce energy. The second phase, catabolism, is the combustion of these substances, their chemical degradation and their removal from the body through the excretion of urine, sweat and through lung ventilation which leads to the elimination of carbon dioxide.
In juvenile age the anabolic phase prevails over the catabolic phase and there is growth; in old age the catabolic one prevails and in the mature age there is, or at least there should be, a balance between the two phases. The various transformations and chemical reactions that constitute the metabolism are in fact connected to numerous factors, it is enough to think that they are linked to the presence and the intervention of at least 25000 different enzymes (which are those discovered until today but there are others to be discovered) and each of these can act only under specific conditions, which are for example the presence of catalysts that activate them or a specific pH value.
A normal metabolism ensures the constancy of the physico-chemical conditions of the components of the organism, ensuring that equilibrium, which takes the name of homeostasis, given for example by the constancy of the chemical composition of internal liquids (think above all of blood) and by maintenance of temperature. Basal metabolism is the minimum amount of energy spent by an organism at rest and fasting to survive, keeping the basic processes active, such as temperature conservation, cardiac activity, respiration and chemical synthesis.
The metabolism corresponds to the intensity of cellular respiration and is therefore correlated to the consumption of oxygen that can be quantified with special equipment. Based on oxygen consumption and calculations that will take into account age, sex, lean body mass (the weight of the muscles only), an individual's energy requirement is calculated for a unit of time.
Metabolism is then greatly influenced by thyroid hormones.
Thyroid hormones stimulate metabolic activity in general, influencing morphogenesis and growth. In the case of hypothyroidism there is an intense decrease in basal metabolism and the symptoms are the lowering of body temperature, the decrease in blood pressure and the feeling of tiredness. In the case of hyperthyroidism the metabolism is strongly accelerated; in fact, hyperthyroid people are very active, sleep little and are emotionally unstable.
Broadly explained the concept of metabolism is quite clear that behind its operation there is the cause of the achievement or not of set goals. If we relate metabolism to gym training, we find that the moment we are training we are in the midst of the second of the two phases, the catabolic one; in fact we are degrading chemical substances whose waste will be expelled through sweat (which contrary to common thinking is not a direct indication of weight loss), urine and carbon dioxide with breathing: we are therefore burning energy, we are impoverishing our body, in practice we are destroying and not building. When we have finished training our body will begin the phase of restoring the values and after we will be fed there will be an anabolic phase, with the transformation of food into organic matter and substances useful for restoring energy supplies. If adequate rest is given before another training then we will have the much sought after supercompensation, which is nothing but the improvement of the values prior to the training performed. For all these reasons it is important not to exaggerate in the loads and in the times of training (the ideal training is estimated around about an hour or so) and it is equally important to give the right detachment of time between one training session and another. Only in this way will we allow our organism to "build" and improve itself, but this concept, which would seem to be aimed only at those seeking muscle growth, is valid for everyone, regardless of gender, age and goals. Here and only here the instructor's hand takes over, with training protocols differentiated depending above all on the person, on his health needs and finally on the goals he wants.
I conclude with a simple translation: Fitness means well-being, we instructors have the obligation to help people feel better about how they were before they came to us and this not only in the presence of full-blown problems (which then everyone has the good problems), but also when there are none at the base. Whatever makes you feel better can be called a cure, even if there is no real starting evil; it is for this reason that I married the thesis that:
FITNESS IS NOT A AESTHETIC BUT THERAPEUTIC.
