Rhabdomyolysis, when a protein from torn muscles floods the bloodstream, can be caused by Fitness overexertion, and it can be deadly.
At Fitness One we train athletes of all ages, from ages 7-67. From competitive D-1 Collegiate prospects to 11 year old Soccer players, all the way to the weekend warrior, All should train in a proper strength, cardio and flexibility routine to ensure safe performance and longevity. We believe in proven, safe weight training fundamentals and feel resistance training is a vital part of every exercise program, including extreme fitness classes.
As of late, however, an "extreme" weight lifting and cross training Fitness fad has caused something other than benefits-Instead it is causing permanent, career threatening-Even LIFE threatening problems with some participants.
Extreme Fitness Classes
Just two days after the start of the winter strength-and-conditioning program, Jim Poggi, a University of Iowa freshman football player, called his father to report that his body ached from the intense workouts. The pain in his arms and legs had not subsided even after a weekend of rest.
"He called afterwards and said it was hard work and he was very, very sore," Biff Poggi said of his son.
This type of rhabdomyolysis, caused by physical fitness overexertion, was once rare. But the condition is cropping up with increasing frequency in the world of amateur athletics, experts say, perhaps the result of a culture in sports that emphasizes superior conditioning and physical tenacity.
In the world of fitness classes, this extreme form of training has crossed over into mainstream.
"There is more risk of it now because the use of strength coaches is becoming more widespread," said Dr. Lyle Micheli, director of sports medicine at Children's Hospital Boston. "At the high school level, strength training was unheard of 10 years ago. Now strength training is de rigueur."
The many incidents across the country echoed several other outbreaks of rhabdomyolysis in "Extreme" fitness gyms and on amateur teams around the country in recent years and has raised questions about the vigorous training methods employed in some settings.
The onset of inexperienced strength coaches and even many Instructors who can receive a certification in a single weekend, have helped cause a new slew of injuries that are flooding PT clinics across the United States.
Makimba Mimms, 29, of Bristow says something called a "CrossFit" workout he did in 2005 caused him to urinate blood and his legs to swell.
Mimms sued Manassas World Gym, where he did the workout; Ruthless Training Concepts, a CrossFit affiliate at the time; and a Ruthless employee who administered the workout. A Prince William County jury found all three defendants liable.
The program is popular in law enforcement and military circles but has been criticized as dangerous. It involves timed, high-intensity strength training with little or no rest or water between sets. These types of lawsuits are quickly dismissed by affiliates, and anyone who criticizes it are deemed "haters."
In 2007, seven men and women on the University of South Carolina swim team fell ill after resuming workouts following a summer break. A 2005 report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine described 119 cases that developed among Taiwanese high school students who were instructed to perform 120 push-ups in five minutes. And last fall, 12 members of the McMinnville, Ore., football team — which won one game in 2009 — were hospitalized for rhabdomyolysis after beginning an "immersion" training camp to prepare for the new season.
The Extreme training centers that constantly emphasize "Doing it for time" have opened a door to injury that will not soon be closed, as participants are taught to "tough" it out and push through. This has experts across the globe a little more than just nervous.
"Rhabdomyolysis is more common than is realized," said Dr. E. Randy Eichner of the University of Oklahoma, who has studied the condition. "It's too much exercise, too fast, too soon."
In the past, exertional rhabdomyolysis was mostly seen in isolated cases among military recruits or marathon runners. Some deaths have occurred, and police and military trainers are now well aware of the problem, said Priscilla M. Clarkson, a University of Massachusetts kinesiologist.
But in the civilian world, coaches and trainers often know little about the illness, said Steven A. Hawkins, chairman of exercise science at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
It's difficult to know when vigorous strength training fitness has crossed the line and athletes are at risk of rhabdomyolysis, Clarkson said. Tiny tears occur in muscles after any strenuous workout. The healing of these micro-tears, which causes the soreness people feel after hard exercise, is what prompts the muscle to become stronger.
But the tears release a protein called myoglobin into the bloodstream. If too much myoglobin is released, it can build up in the kidneys and impair function. Treatment includes intravenous fluids and sometimes kidney dialysis.
Dehydration increases the risk. Eccentric exercise, in which muscle fibers are lengthened as they contract — such as with squats and push-ups — is usually involved in triggering the syndrome, Clarkson said.
However, some cases of rhabdomyolysis also appear to involve a coach's or trainer's enthusiasm for working athletes to the brink of collapse, Hawkins said. The Fitness One Training Staff believes this to be the case more often that not.
The gyms in question and their participants will argue with anyone about the effectiveness vs. dangers of a program. I have personally read no less that 10 forums where Exercise Physiologists, Physical Therapists and Trainers with Masters Degrees in Exercise science are "refuted" by gym members or inexperienced Trainers.
At Fitness One, we utilize a system of training approved and developed by the NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) and provide a series of exercises that allow trainees to rest one muscle group while training another. Beginner, intermediate and Advanced level classes separate levels and allow proper training of the different levels. Certified Trainers closely watch each class. Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that the trainers can be "educated" so quickly, or they may be great at a sport, but this does not mean they are a strength and Conditioning coach. the lines are getting crossed in translation.
As far as the Football incident goes, It's still unclear why so many Iowa football players fell ill. The school and the Iowa Board of Regents have ordered an investigation of the incident.
The players reported for their first day of winter workouts on Jan. 20, following a break since the team's Dec. 28 victory over the University of Missouri in the Insight Bowl. The students undertook a grueling, lower-body workout including 100 squats done in rapid succession, according to Biff Poggi. The next day, a strenuous workout focused on the upper body. This is a commnon thread of "extreme" Fitness and people are pushed and driven beyond where they should go in a competitive environment, and some of them pay a dear price.
Four days after the workouts began, one player contacted a team doctor complaining of symptoms resembling rhabdomyolysis, which include extreme muscle pain, swelling in the limbs and dark, tea-colored urine. The dark color comes from the myoglobin in the urine.
After a second player showed up with similar symptoms, the physician notified the training staff, said Tom Moore, University of Iowa spokesman. Eventually, 11 more athletes were diagnosed and hospitalized with cases that varied in severity.
"I suspect if there wasn't that one or two people who got a severe case, those others wouldn't have gotten to the hospital," Clarkson said. "They would have toughed it out. And we wouldn't have heard about it."
That is a common thread, you are not "tough enough" if you stop or don't push yourself to the brink of exhaustion or to the point of throwing up. Some gyms are even praising participants who throw up, congratulating them on going to the extreme.
As early as the day of the writing of this blog, a standout High School athlete in our program, who also participates in his High School Weight Training program came to the Training Center with a serious strain in his elbow joint from performing rapid "power cleans" at school. This injury could possibly put an end to a potentially promising career as a Baseball player. Either unsupervised, or being pushed for time in something like an olympic lift can be a recipe for disaster.
Normal Healthy Adults are at an even greater risk. People need to understand that more is not better, and doing to much is far worse that doing very little. Immediate dangers of this "extreme Cross-Fitness Training" are almost outweighed by the many joint, tendon and muscle damage problems that are certain to follow. Many converts refuse to listen to reason, and their workouts are forcing there bodies to write checks that they soon may not be able to cash due to short and long term injuries and problems.
Of course, the opposite side of the argument is the extreme ineffectiveness of "Big Box" Gym workouts, where sitting on a machine lends very little to ones actual fitness level, creating no real functional strength and limiting progress in every direction!
Our goal at Fitness One is to provide the safest workout-While keeping adherance to strong fundamental truths of exercise. And it is more that just getting a good workout, it also balance, stability, strength in joints and tendons and properly monitored programs. More than the exercise machine, but no to much for the participant.
Much of the problem may lie in coaches who are not in condition themselves, trying to create a better athlete by pushing them to the brink-When they themselves may not know how far that should be. Scary stuff.
Our official view on the subject of "extreme" weight lifting or extreme fitness classes? We are all about a great workout, you can check our testiminals page for that. This, however,for the large percentage of the population, we feel you should Steer clear. Many of the components are of the training are good, but even Rat poison is 99 percent good food or the rats wouldn't eat it. All you need is the 1 percent of the poison to kill you. For fitness, it may just simply be to much, and not worth the risk. But hey, whatever gets you off the couch!
Allen Branch is a Certified Personal Trainer, A Performance Enhancement Specialist with the National Academy of Sports Medicine, a Sports Conditioning Specialist with American Fitness Professionals and is Certified in Resistance Training Biomechanics from the Cooper Institute in Dallas. He has logged over 15,000 hours of Training time and education, and is the Founder of the Fitness One Training System, a safe, effective training protocol that helps adults and children perform at their best in a safe, fun atmosphere. He can be reached at trainer@myfitnessone.com
