This just concerns all the Type A personalities, you know who you are. They live and breath by “What ever is worth doing is better worth overdoing.” You know, those ultra-aggressive, smash mouth, beat you to the punch type of personalities.
They are those self acclaimed, carbo loading over-achievers, the human supermen and superwomen who knows how to juggle their family and their careers, while still making time for “Number 1,” which is themselves. All this, even if it happens to be 5AM in the morning.
The Need For Speed
We’re constantly being reminded and thus now aware that regular and consistent exercising, at moderation, will increase our endurance, improve our muscle tone as well as our strength. Working out also helps our flexibility while providing resistance to disease.
But, extreme exercising for these aggressive Type A personalities who are among us, less stress actually leads to more benefits. It’s now no secret based on recent documented evidence which states that too much strenuous exercise can actually be hazardous to our health, and at times, can even be fatal.
Take Type A personality women for example. For those who happen to exercise too much, which can be more than two hours of straight non-stop strenuous activity on a daily basis, can actually cause a slow down in estrogen production, think menopause, which then contributes to potential calcium loss.
Even once the intense workouts decreases and the estrogen levels become normal again, the bone loss actually still remains unchanged. If this cycle continues and the diet happens to contain plenty of mineral depletion foods, such as caffeine, soda beverages or sugar, then premature thinning of the bone can set in.
So it’s vitally important that you pay strict attention to balancing exercise and diet while in your 20s and your 30s. Once you reach 40 to 50 years of age, the actual bone protecting benefits of estrogen is in full decline.
Avoiding Over Exercising
Over exercising also leads to hormonal imbalance as well. The sudden loss of body fat, which is brought on by continuous strenuous exercise and sweating, can cause progesterone levels to drop.
Deficiency in progesterone can begin and will lead towards bone loss and weakness. Another consequence of increased or sudden fat loss is that it depletes the storage of estrogen, which results in menstrual irregularities.
These situation are most common in those athletes who are in constant intense competitive training, such as a Type A personality body builder or long distance runners, who are able to turn their cycles on and off with a sudden 3-to-5 pound weight loss or gain.
Women who happened to be involved in intense athletics when younger, such as in their teens or early 20s, may want to get their bone density levels checked out during this time.
For All The Highly Intense Athletes
Exerting strenuous exercise, which is a common trait and habit of a typical Type A personality, may have detrimental as well as potentially fatal side effects.
What constant highly intensive training produces is an overabundance of those unwanted free radicals which has been found to be the direct cause or contributor of over 50 different types of diseases.
Free radicals are those unbalanced molecules resident in the body which can cause tissue damage. They can also weaken the immune system, while making you susceptible to premature aging, along with a variety of other different diseases and illnesses.
The connection between over exercising, disease and free radicals were first identified by the untimely and at times sudden deaths of a number of world class and highly tuned athletes, such as long distance runners.
So what’s the missing ingredient to this Type A personality and intense exercise scenario? There is a sudden overproduction of unwanted exercise induced free radicals that’s produced, which can trigger coronary artery disease as well as other potentially fatal illnesses.
The best news out of all this is that current research has demonstrated doing just low to moderate exercises can be just as beneficial as highly intensive ball breaking workouts, all without the wear and tear and breakdown on the system.
So What Is The Perfect Balance
The Type A personality athlete should consider cutting down on their intense workout regimes. So slowly reducing the high intensity, high stress activities from their daily routine is a start.
That endorphin high injection that you get from a good long run can be addictive and can thus lead to increased or excessive exercise. So choose exercises which are more balanced and slower, such as a brisk walk, biking or hiking, rowing or swimming and moderate strength training. Any of these exercises should be performed on a daily basis for up to 30 to 45 minutes.
Strength Training May Be Ideal For Type A’s
Strength training, such as lifting weights or working with those specially designed resistance type of equipment, needs just 2 or 3 workouts per week for around 25 to 50 minutes per session for maximum results.
This type of workout is particularly beneficial for Type A personalities, who can practice these techniques with the SuperSlow protocol. The SuperSlow protocol is a technique which the actual weight is lifted around every 10 seconds or so and then lowered in one half that amount of time.
Fighting Those Free Radicals
To ward off mild to moderate cases of free radical damage which is induced by over exercising, you can take supplements with antioxidant and free-radical fighting vitamins such as C, E and beta-carotene.
These supplements all has an antioxidant base. So depending upon your age, sex and level of activity, you should be taking 500 to 3000ml of vitamin C, 200 to 1,200IU of vitamin E, and anywhere from 10000 to 40000IU of beta carotene.
To trigger better fat burning, while enhancing leaner muscle tissue and protecting the immune system can be conjugated with linoleic acid or CLA. Test trials has shown that taking just 1000mg of CLA directly before meals for 90 days, can actually decrease 20% percent of body fat while protecting muscle tone. As an anti-carcinogen and a protector of the hardening of the arteries, CLA is also recognized as a valuable nutrient as well.
So proper healthy fitness for all you Type A personalities is within reach. The key is moderation as well as balance.