The dangers of having natural base fitness
By Jerry Hamill

Many of us through the gift of good genes and exercising early in life hold a natural base fitness. So when we train to improve we generally see rapid gains and find it easier than most to attain a higher level of fitness and strength. If we train consistently and smart then the risk of injury is significantly lowered. Those of us who have a natural base of fitness gain it through many years of training in a zone that is of high intensity, or partaking in a job that involves physical work whilst also training for our chosen sporting discipline.

However as life has its twists and turns we may come across periods of inactivity, or experience situations where we cannot train as much a we would like. It could be work or just a lifestyle priority like building a house that drags us away from good old training. This leaves us in a situation where we attempt to return to the original level of fitness that we were used to. When we do return to training, or increase the intensity certain challenges face us and in particular, the ability to perform at the same level as before. 

The dangers here, with those of us who have a natural base fitness, is that we find we are able to perform at the same level of intensity, but for a shorter period of time.

There are two problems here within that sentence. The first is having that ability to perform. That gives us the impression that we actually can do what we used to. So you have now convinced yourself that still can train at your old levels. The second is the short period of time. Time is something that most humans measure as a gauge. When you try to perceive time without a form of measure you imagine that the timeframe is significantly longer than it really is. As such when you hit your breaking point you believe you have actually been training for longer than you have been. After noticing just how short a timeframe you have been going for you become stubborn and try to continue to train past that breaking point. This poses a risk of injury that needs to be well managed either by good discipline and self-awareness or by a good coach or trainer.

If you do not accept the fact that coming back into hard training requires a certain amount of time and try to push yourself too hard too early it can lead to the following things:

• Depression- you are not the person you once were
• Frustration and anger- angry at yourself because you’ve been slack or lazy
• Denial- you can still do it so what’s the problem
• Arrogance- being able to push it to the max means you don’t have train as hard as you used to
• Injury- mild to severe muscular aches
• Injury- Medium tear in a small muscle group
• Injury- Maximum major muscle group tear, or break of a limb
• Death- depending on the extremity of the exercise and limits of the body varies on the outcome

It’s quite a list and there is more effects longer term. Having a natural base fitness is something a lot of regular people envy. It’s always going to be there, however it is just that, “ BASE FITNESS”. It means you have something to build on. Building it back up to where it was should be a gradual process that you accept and adhere to. Emotionally and mentally this will challenge you and this process should be embraced as a growing experience. It should be something that is taken in and worked upon as a fine art to compliment your overall training experiences.

Consider your comeback like the acclimatisation period for an ascent to Everest summit. You cannot climb Everest straight away. You would naturally accept that this acclimatisation would take about a month, steadily going from base camp to the second, third and fourth camps. Only then would you be ready to attempt the ascent in one hit. This discipline in itself is crucial to the success of the expedition and your physical ability to accomplish the trek. Why would you not do the same with your sporting endeavours?

Unfortunately many of us refuse to give in to the idea we need to put some effort in slowly to get back to where we were at some point in time. We rush it and ignore all the danger signs our body gives off - signs like extreme fatigue, muscle cramp, soreness, long extended periods of sleep, craving for carbs, constant unrelenting injuries etc. Too many people convince themselves that they can just get out there and do it. Much to their dismay and that of others these people either injure themselves, ruin team experiences, offload horror stories about their experiences or continue to do the same thing without ever learning.

As we get older we recover a lot slower. So the intensity of training needs to be carefully monitored and acknowledged. We need to ensure we actually rest enough to allow the body to recuperate. Many  “older” people put their sporting injuries down to age. It’s actually reluctance to listen to your body and be realistic about your current abilities to perform physical activity. Once both are balanced the outcome is positive, slow, but positive.

The message in this is very much akin to the story of the tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady does it and you’ll get there in the end.