States of Metabolism
There are three distinct stages of metabolism undergone in the cell; equilibrium, catabolism
and anabolism.
Equilibrium
Equilibrium can be easily defined as a fully recovered state, where energy is neither being
depleted nor replenished, and structural tissue is not being damaged or repaired. As a resistance
athlete, it is desirable to achieve a momentary state of equilibrium if over training is to be avoided.
However, if this stage of metabolism is maintained for long periods (10-15 days or more), atrophy
of the contractile proteins will result in gradual tissue loss. It is worth mentioning that the over
trained athlete’s metabolism, seldom, if ever, enters into the stage of equilibrium. This is because
the muscle tissue never reaches a fully recovered state. Reducing the duration of intense training
sessions, allowing for longer rest between workouts, and eating plenty of total calories from healthy
protein and carbohydrate foods can all help to avoid over training.
Catabolism
Catabolism is the stage when energy is being depleted and tissue damage is taking place.
Catabolism obviously occurs during exercise. There are two distinctly different processes taking
place; energy is depleted and structural tissue is damaged. Your ultimate goal is to “keep catabolism
in the gym.” If you are over training, catabolism will continue long after the workout is over. The
body will continually feed off of hard earned muscle tissue for its recovery needs (gluconeogenesis).
Anabolism
Anabolism is the stage of metabolism when energy is being repleted and tissue damage
is being repaired. This is the most valuable stage of metabolism to the resistance trainee. The
purpose of expending less total energy during catabolism is to allow for the post-workout presence
of sufficient pyruvate (converted form of stored glycogen) to initiate anabolism. Anabolism can only
be initiated in the presence of cellular recovery energy. Most successful resistance athletes know
the value in ingesting a high carbohydrate post workout meal, but even these carbohydrates can be
a day late, and a dollar short if the training session was too exhaustive. It takes time for digested
nutrients to reach the exhausted tissues, and during this time, continued catabolism is occurring in
the over trained muscle.
All things considered, you are better off slightly under training and reaching the stage of
equilibrium than over training and remaining in a stage of catabolism.