Nervous System Fatigue?

[Hayden.M.]

hi all

i didnt really know where to post this one...

has anyone ever heard of nervous system fatigue or does anyone have any info on it?

i read an article once on a sprinting website a while ago and it scared me a bit. they said something like if you push your body to the max too often in a training session or something, then you can fatigue the nervous system and that you would have to give it 6 weeks to recover! can anybody state whether this is true please and if it is, up to what point should you push your body to the limits and how would you know when/if you had nervous system fatigue compared to muscle fatigue?

any replies greatly appreciated,

thanks

[Joshua Naterman]

Google is your friend.

[Jeffrey]

Dont get too worried about it. Its trendy to tell your overtrained but in the real world you are just overreaching. Overtraining is something which only occurs when putting your body true a tremendous amount of stress over a long period of time neglecting overreching symptomes. When you do get overtrained you'll need to recover for a few weeks. So check out some periodization articles, get your diet right and mak sure you get enough sleep and everything will be fine.

[Gregor]

When I was seriously overtrained I didn't sleap for 3 straight days (not even one minute!!!), and after that one week later same happaned, 2 days without a minute of a sleep. This was torture :!: :!:

[Joshua Naterman]

I believe it! The longest I've been awake straight with no naps was 78 hours, I think. That can really mess you up!

Nervous system fatigue always occurs to some extent, as does muscular fatigue. It's all about degrees. When I left BUDS it took my body around 8 months to recover. For 8 months my nails didn't hardly grow at all. I bit one of my nails too close and it took almost 2 months for it to stop hurting. You CAN get so worn down that your body simply has more important things to do than grow nails. Keep in mind that this was an environment where I was averaging 70+ miles a week running, at least 300-400 push ups a day, 4 hours a week of log PT, 8-10 hours a week of IBS boat PT, 3+ miles of ocean swimming a week plus lord knows how much pool time, plus hours and hours of bear crawls and random other punishments. You do that 5 days a week for 5 and a half months and your body will be wrecked. That's just how it goes. You haven't even come close to touching that kind of damage, so you don't need to worry too much. Just get on google and start learning about the different types of fatigue, how quickly they build up, and what types of workouts cause which levels of the different types of fatigue. Shouldn't be hard, all that info is publicly available.

[Razz]

WOW that's some serious overtraining!!!

[Donald Lee]

I believe it! The longest I've been awake straight with no naps was 78 hours, I think. That can really mess you up!

Nervous system fatigue always occurs to some extent, as does muscular fatigue. It's all about degrees. When I left BUDS it took my body around 8 months to recover. For 8 months my nails didn't hardly grow at all. I bit one of my nails too close and it took almost 2 months for it to stop hurting. You CAN get so worn down that your body simply has more important things to do than grow nails. Keep in mind that this was an environment where I was averaging 70+ miles a week running, at least 300-400 push ups a day, 4 hours a week of log PT, 8-10 hours a week of IBS boat PT, 3+ miles of ocean swimming a week plus lord knows how much pool time, plus hours and hours of bear crawls and random other punishments. You do that 5 days a week for 5 and a half months and your body will be wrecked. That's just how it goes. You haven't even come close to touching that kind of damage, so you don't need to worry too much. Just get on google and start learning about the different types of fatigue, how quickly they build up, and what types of workouts cause which levels of the different types of fatigue. Shouldn't be hard, all that info is publicly available.

Wow. That doesn't sound like fun. I went to 6 weeks of Marine Corps OCS a few years back (6-7 days/week of PT), and when I came back, I couldn't run, do pullups or pushups, etc. for over a month. My body felt fine at rest, but once I'd try to exercise, my body would crap out on me. I went to 6 weeks of OCS again summer of '09, and they went easy on us (3-5 days/week of PT), but after 1 week of rest, I started weight lifting again. I felt like an old man. Aches and pains appeared all over. I was rolling a lacrosse ball vigorously over all the tight muscles, which were essentially every muscle.

I'm glad I dropped out of the military. The repeated beatdown your body gets is no fun if you're not driven for that type of lifestyle. I can imagine the PTSD of those who come back from wars. I even had very mild PTSD-like symptoms just from OCS. The military sure knows how to create involuntary responses/reactions.

BTW. are you still a Navy Seal?

[Joshua Naterman]

Lord no! I never made it through training, my shoulder was too messed up to continue. A blessing in disguise for sure!

[Alvaro Antolinez]

Wow that is really interesting!, so you passed the hardest part of the buds but your shoulder couldn´t recover?. I read "lone surivivor" some months ago and I was amazed of the hardness of BUDS.

In your point of view, what is the most important part of the training necessary to pass BUDS( I´ve been searching on the training forums and that so I did some search, is just to know your opinion).

It seams is more endurance oriented, is it or is more mental thoughness?. Will you pass through it again?.

Sorry for all these questions but is great to know some first hand experience on the topic!!

[Joshua Naterman]

I've got no interest in going back anymore. I used to at first, but a) I realize my body is injured, and it was never worth risking further injury, and B) I just have better things to do with any given 6 months!

Buds is mostly endurance oriented. Physically, pull ups and a strong combat side stroke are the most important things. Running is easy to develop, so while basic conditioning( 30+ miles per week) in boots is a must, it doesn't make the list.

In the end, buds is about being in the moment, and not thinking about the past or the future. You live for the NOW. Farmboys and football players do well, because they are used to schedules that are long and uncomfortable. Without the right mindset, even a Greek god would fail. Nothing completely prepares you for the level of exhaustion, cold, and discomfort that you experience, no matter how hard you try, so if you aren't prepared to just be uncomfortable and deathly( I'm not kidding here, in hell week at one point all our core temps went down to 89-91 degrees. We had to be spoon fed) cold and just take it no different than "Oh look, a cloud," you'll never make it.

As Coach always says, form follows function. The function of seals is to do whatever they are asked regardless of the conditions. On missions you will be colder, hungrier, and just far more miserable than they can make you in training, but they try their best to match those conditions so that they are left with people who can handle it. Of course, now things are changing, but it's still pretty rough.

[Alvaro Antolinez]

Thank you for your reply, it is really interesting the power of the mind over the body!. This is a real challenge that I would like to know if I´m able to pass, I suppose I´ll never know....at least to that level. But as you say there are lots of interesting things to do any time!!!

[Joshua Naterman]

I'll tell you what, BUDS was not the most uncomfortable I've ever been. THAT prize goes to two weeks on the Appalachian trail. I walked from the northern border of Virginia down to GA over a 2.5 month period or so, with a group of 6 kids and 2 adults when I was 16. In North Carolina we all fell into a river while we were crossing it, and all of our clothes got soaked. This was in the middle of November, so it was already pretty cold up in the mountains. It rained for two weeks straight, no sun, no way to light a fire. Twice we burned our cooking fuel to get emergency fires going on some dangerously cold nights, and we went pretty hungry for the most part. Took us the two weeks to reach the next town, and it was AWFUL. EVERYTHING was wet. Clothes, sleeping bags, you name it. There was no dry, no warm. We all slept on top of and under a pile of everyone's sleeping bags in a big group under a tarp to stay warm and not die. It was really bad, half the time we were putting the sleeping bags down in 2-4 inches of water because that was the best that we could find. It was really, really uncomfortable, and honestly far worse than what they can do to you at BUDS, at least environmentally speaking.

At least, that's true now. Back when BUDS was at Little Creek, Virginia? Screw that. That's just ridiculous. I was up there from the beginning of december to the beginning of february, and it was awful. We had to sing "rudolf the red nosed reindeer" up to our necks in 25 degree ocean water, then do headstands on the beach until our hair froze to the sand, and THEN go on a 6 mile run. That's what we did after breakfast on Christmas lol! It was just absolutely ridiculous, I couldn't help but laugh.

If you want to know what BUDS is like, eat lunch and then go to the beach when it's around 50 degrees out and cloudy, with the water around 55 degrees and a little windy. Wear long pants, boots, wool socks(or camping socks) and a t-shirt. Bring a duffel bag and fill it with sand most of the way when you get there. Go jump in the water, get out, and roll in the sand until you are completely covered, like to the point where you are afraid to open your eyes. Now start doing push ups, sprints, and occasionally jump back into the water to get wet and sandy all over again. Wouldn't want to dry out! Now run down the beach for a quarter mile or so with the bag hanging by your side, in your hand the whole way. Ok, now turn around and run back with the other hand. Make sure you do this at least 5 times throughout the next hour or two, along with the push ups and sprints, and throw in some lunges. Don't forget to keep getting wet and sandy! Don't take more than 30 seconds rest between things, and only take a rest every 2nd or 3rd exercise. Hold the bag up over your head and run around. Do some sprints this way, maybe ten 50-100 yard sprints. Now hold the bag on your chest with your arms underneath the bag, and sprint up a hill. Do this 20 times at least. do at least one 1/4 mile run with the log in that position. Put the log on one shoulder and do a few sets of squats. Don't forget, you should be getting wet and completely sandy every 10 minutes at least. This should have taken 2.5 to three hours. Take a 15 minute rest after this, and then go on a 4 mile run. Get wet and sandy at least 3 times. You have 30 minutes to complete the run. Stay on the soft sand. If you can't complete it within the time limit, at 30 minutes stop and get wet and sandy. Do sprints to the edge of the beach and back as fast as you can, then get wet and sandy and be back at the sprint starting line within 5 seconds of completing the sprint. If there is any part of your body that is not completely covered in sand start bearcrawling from where you are to the edge of the beach and then back a few times, and then do the same sprint again. Don't start this next part until you successfully complete the sprint and the wet and sandy part. After 3-10 sprints, deciding randomly how many to do, go another few hundred feet, and then do it again.

If you go through with this, then congratulations! You know what Tuesday afternoon feels like at BUDS during first phase. Don't even try to simulate hell week, it's not possible to do that to yourself voluntarily. People just don't work like that, you have to have others force it on you to some extent. There ARE mini-buds events in Virginia every so often, if you want to go for a weekend and see how you feel about a mini-hell week. They're only 2-3 days, and I don't know how hard you get pushed, but it's 50-70 hours straight. You'll at least have a small idea of what it can be like.

[Alvaro Antolinez]

:shock: :shock: :shock: It isn´t strange that your body needed almost a year to recover from BUDS! I got exausted just trying to imagine only that afternoon (and is not the first time I read about buds, I also watched some videos on you tube)!!!. Definitely I am not at the fisical level (yet ) to do a mini buds, maybe not even a single day, but I hope in a couple of years....

I have to convince some friends to get wet and sandy one of this days , I supposse I´ll be quite alone. Just a few would like to test themselves to that point (fewer yet can succeed).

Beeing so big as you are made it harder for you?.

Also your mountain trek wasn´t something to forget!!!

Is admirable your capacity to overcome that conditions.