High Intensity Training for the Metabolically Dysfunctional

A few years ago I started a paleo diet and around the same time I started doing High Intensity weight training as well. For the first couple of months I got great results but as time went on I started to experience health issues and results haven't been the same since. Little did I know a few years later I found out I had subclinical hypothyroidism as well as SNP and gene defects, which effect many metabolic and methylation pathways such as sulfur, ammonia and methylenetetrahydrafolate reductase.

Many others suffer from other issues which may hamper their results when doing a paleoish diet and doing high intensity training. While treating the core causes of the condition are important there are some lifestyle and dietary changes that may need to be made as well. Nutrigenomics is a new field of nutriition and dieting which focuses on eating right for your genetic makeup. Many factors can influence how your genes are expressed, especially stress, inflammation and lifestyle.

Metabolically dysfunctional is a term I use to describe a broad range of conditions which may affect one's metabolism. Conditions range from chronic fatigue syndrome, adrenal/blood sugar issues, thyroid issues, digestive issues, being overweight/obese and impaired detoxification/methylation. Metabolic disorders are a lot more common than many think, especially when people have a combination of MTHFR and SNP defects which are often found later in life (for me I was 24-25 at the time).

High Intensity training is a form of weight training which is brief, short and intense but much safter and efficient than other forms of strength training. For more extensive information on the basics of high intensity training check out my other squidoo lens at: http://www.squidoo.com/high-intensity-training-101

Also check out my recently written hubpage on congruent and functional exercise here: http://jheldt.hubpages.com/hub/Introduction-to-Fun...

Going on a paleo diet or autoimmune diet is an important first step. A paleo diet naturally removes the most common food intolerances and allergens. Depending on your digestive health, it may be necessary to remove FODMAPs foods and go on a Gaps diet. Many people have low stomach acid so looking into a betaine hcl with digestive bitters and taking enzymes will help a lot with digestion.

Depending on certain snp mutations you have you may need to restrict or lower ammonia and sulfur/thiols food. Most protein sources are high in ammonia, and lists of foods for thiols/sulfur foods can be found online. Taking Yucca root and Orithinine can help lower ammonia in the body but it is still recommended to go lower protein as well. Raising fat intake and carb intake can help with the lowered protein intake. Taking a broad spectrum of amino acids can help as well when eating less protein, and can also help with carb cravings as well.

Will help you apply HIT and paleo principles to your current health situation.

Recovery and sleep are very important parts of high intensity training. It is often overlooked and getting more sleep (9-10 hours) can help with chronic health issues in and of itself. With a metabolically dysfunctional body it is vital to get as much sleep every night as you can get. Not until I read the book "Lights Out!" did it become so apparent how vital this is.

For some more details on optimizing sleep check out this hubpage here: http://jheldt.hubpages.com/hub/Hacking-Your-Sleep Essentially try to go to bed around 9-12 pm and wake up around 9-10 am, make your room as dark as possible, block blue lights (tv, computers which can be blocked some with gunnar glasses) and lights. Taking gaba and l-theanine can enhance the quality of sleep as well. Also listening to bin-aural beats such as Mind Food hemisync can enhance sleep as well. Eating a small meal with low carb/high protein/fat before bed as well.

Also when doing High Intensity training, extra recovery days may be required for the workouts. Most people that do high intensity training wait about a week between each workout but depending on situation may require two weeks between each workout (this is what I do currently).

Natural supplements and therapies for those dealing with chronic conditions such as mthfr, methylation, detoxification defects, chronic fatigue syndrome, metabolic syndrome, thyroid issues.

These are some resources (books), tools and supplements that will help you out.