Excessive training stops the cell power plants

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Exercise is healthy, but you can overdo it. If you are untrained and expect your body to work out too intensely, you may paralyze the cellular power plants in the muscles - with negative consequences for your health.

Summer is just around the corner and the figure needs to be trimmed for beach suitability as quickly as possible? Headlines like "Burn 200 calories in two and a half minutes" are naturally tempting. Fitness apps like Freeletics and Co., which work with high-intensity interval training, are therefore becoming increasingly popular.

Sports grouch in the sprint

But is it really healthy if the muscles are as soft as pudding after a workout and the sore muscles make getting up a torture the next morning? Canadian and European researchers have investigated this question. The team led by Robert Boushel, Director of the University of British Columbia’s School of Kinesiology in Canada, analyzed tissue samples from twelve male test subjects. The test persons were all healthy and belonged to the category “non-sports enthusiasts”. According to their own statements, they only worked very sporadically on their physical fitness.

Over a period of two weeks, the participants had to sweat: The training included 30-second sprints that alternated with short breaks, as well as high-intensity cycling with arms and legs.

At half power

A close look into the test subjects' muscle cells showed that the cellular power plants, the so-called mitochondria, whistled out of the last hole after training. They only worked half as well as they did before the exercises.

In trained athletes, interval training usually stimulates the growth of the mitochondria - this allows the body to make better use of oxygen and increases the fitness of the heart and circulation. Not so with the couch potatoes. "If someone isn't trained, sprint interval training can improve performance, but it's probably not healthy," said Boushel.

The weakened cell power plants also have a second negative effect: free radicals can no longer be intercepted as well. These are aggressive oxygen molecules that cause damage in the cell's blueprint, i.e. in the DNA. Large amounts of such free radicals are believed to be a risk factor for premature aging, organ damage, and even cancer.

Slow start

Boushel therefore urges caution: “You should start slowly and only make the training more intense over time.” The expert also recommends looking for an experienced trainer if you want to start with interval exercises.

The long-term effects of high-intensity interval training have not yet been adequately researched. In the next step, Boushel and his team want to find out what influence different training intensities and training duration have on health biomarkers in the body. (away)

Source: R. Boushel et al .: High-intensity sprint training inhibits mitochondrial respiration through aconitase inactivation, The FASEB Journal, doi: 10.1096 / fj.15-276857, published online 9 October 2015.

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