How to be a Stronger Person - Inside and Out

Some of you may have heard of the Overload Principle of physical training. Perhaps I am biased as a personal trainer candidate, but I would go so far as to say that this is a basic law of physics. Overload Training is not only important to every system of our bodies, but for social and emotional development and personal growth. You must reach outside of what you think you can to build new strength and to grow in any way. Confront your fears, travel, try new foods and music, learn a skill you never thought possible- it is never too late, you are strong enough (or you will be if you take the risk). Where there's a will- there's a way!

The most basic way that overload works is in strength training. Progressively increasing the weight you lift, and pushing yourself to the maximum reps you can lift, causes the body to adapt to the stress stimulus by producing more muscle mass. Besides the muscle building, your body adapts the way it delivers blood to the muscle and stimulates more motor neurons to reach more fibers of the muscle.

Cardiovascular training also requires progressive overload. Depending on an individual's fitness level, they are usually directed to work out at 60-85% of their maximum heart rate. For very unfit individuals, they may hit their upper limit just walking up one flight of stairs. The more that individual works out and maintains that upper limit, the more intense exercise is required to reach that heart rate. Even at rest, their heart rate will now be lower because their body has adapted and can deliver blood more efficiently. As they adapt, the amount of overload can be increased to facilitate greater adaptation and therefore cardiovascular fitness.

Even our bones respond to overload. Progressively more impact to a bone actually makes it stronger. (At this point I should also mention that there are disorders that limit the bodies ability to adapt to stress stimulus- such as osteoporosis, neuromuscular disorders and heart defects. Please consult a personal trainer, physical therapist or physician before attempting any of these methods)

Behavior modification also requires progressive overload. If you want to go from what you're used to straight to some extreme that you have never experienced before- you're going to have quite a bit of shock and most likely struggle to stick with it. My hubs are always written with this in mind. It takes small changes. Baby steps. And then when you're on the other side of the field, you don't even realize you were going anywhere and you're completely secure with your new place in life. But we have to reach outside of ourselves all the time or else we're just curled up in one place- never moving, never growing, never living. Since behavior and thought has to do with the brain, this is likely a physical adaptation to stress as well. A psychology professor once told me that the best way to prevent Alzheimer's was actually doing puzzles and driving home a different route every day- because it made the brain build more and more connections. I don't know if there are studies to back up that claim, but it certainly rings true to me!

If you are trying to eat healthy and lose weight- check out my hub series "52 Good Habits for 2012". This uses the overload principle to introduce one baby step- one simple trick- every week, toward the change you are after.

And lastly- I believe there is a spiritual application to the overload principle as well. In Christianity it may manifest as "God never gives you more than you can handle". There are many principles of yoga in which this applies as well.

So take a risk, break the rules, face your fears, and live your dreams!