LONGECITY

As the title suggests, whenever I engage in regular resistance training, I start having problems with cognition: can't focus on mental tasks, can't think abstractly, can't memorize new things... I become dumber.

Not only that, I need a lot of willpower to stop constantly thinking about training, about what I did in the gym, what I will do the next session, anxiously trying to improve my training program etc.

Things get back to normal in a week or so after I stop going to the gym.

 

What's interesting, a little more than half a year ago, I tried selegiline and it also made me feel dumb. And it did so in a similar way lifting weights does.

 

So, can anyone else relate to this? What do you think the problem is? 

 

 

 

The same happens to me. Maybe you are overtraining.

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Magnesium deficiency for sure but you will need Zinc for focus, Molybdenum for clarity. Your appetite will go through the roof so please eat well and train within your own resources. Your body uses Transmutation as a balance mechanism, not just your kidneys/diet/mind. Don't forget to hydrate, you need salts for that to!

No silica this time???

 

Wow, that's a good new!!!

 

 

By the way overtraining does completely different things that are almost exactly the opposite of what reported.

 

Both training and selegiline should do the opposite of what reported as well (in a "normal" person).

 

What both training and exercise does is to raise dopamine (or increasing dopamine receptors, which in the end yields more or less the same results).

 

It looks like too much dopamine doesn't play well with you causing psychosis, a well known effect of high dopamine on certain people.

 

It may be worth to see a doctor about it because implications may need attention.   

 

 

Magnesium deficiency for sure

So you took his blood and got his magnesium number? 

Here's my thought, mental fatigue. 

 

It comes from repetitiously focusing on one specific type of exercise far too much. 

 

Mix it up. Add something that is useful in boosting confidence, in every day life.

 

I train MMA, I only hit the gym semi-hard twice a week, and I also do a lot of bike riding and Yoga two/three times a week.

 

Mix things up, add enough diversity that it's not getting boring and taxing your mental approach.

 

Simple as that. 

Everyone knows you can't get any reliable results for Mag with a blood test. I did MMA for eight years, before it got popular! And Magnesium was probably one of the things that opened my mind to all the crap I keep pushing onto this forum. I hope this message finds you well and allows you to checkout my other posts (if you have any mental clarity left after a hard afternoon in the gym) and make some connections of your own. Have you ever heard of the steel jacket technique. Or the chinese porverb 'a good sord stays in its scarab'?
Edited by Multivitz, 16 December 2015 - 09:17 PM.

You should mix it up, but training your weak points is better for all round balance. I tempered my fist and feet from puberty, but was careful not to disfigure my bones. I haven't trained for 15 years but had a go on a bag the other month, 2 minutes of solid attack and I weren't out of breath. The 25 year old whos bag it was, was lost for words! I had to stop because my muscles would have failed before my cardio! I'm unfit, but what defines fitness?

Perhaps you have ADD?

 

Have you ever tried a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor drug along with phenethylamine? That might help you!

Everyone knows you can't get any reliable results for Mag with a blood test.

That's not because the tests aren't reliable, but because our bodies aren't reliable unless we're supplementing.

Most logical explanation goes to elevated cortisol, what makes your consciousness clouded. Brain fog is typical if you are pushing yourself over the limits - maybe lower your caffeine intake and introduce combination of adaptogens (Rhodiola, ginseng) and nootropics (bacopa, noopept...). What other members suggested also make sense, since magnesium hightens the sensibility of receptors, but I recommend magnesium in a form magnesium-L-threonate. It has the highest bioavailability and promote neuroplasticity. 

It might be GABA depletion too which can be easily assessed supplementing it (at about 2500mg).

The problem with gaba is that it is hard to push it over the blood brain barrier. I feel the effect over 4-5g when not taking it or 6+ when taking it regulary. Studies has shown that it crosses at smaller amount, but in intense exercise (what again is nonsense - I try it and you cannot exercise with drowsiness). I think it is better to consider taking some gabaergic compounds and plants. 

Withania Somnifera enhances GABA signalling, lowers cortisol, increases testosterone, is proven to be good for the gym and also increases neurogenesis. So, it may help. 

 

https://examine.com/...ts/ashwagandha/

GABA is to be taken AFTER training, not before.

 

Not only because of the relaxing effect but because training leads to better brain barrier crossing.

 

I can feel its effect quite remarkably at about 2500mg immediately after training in the postworkout shake with whey. creatine and maltodextrine.

Anyone having this problem: first and foremost you need to look at your total training volume. You might be doing too much for your level of advancement (overtraining, or a better term for it is underperformance). Read this wonderful guide:

 

http://sci-fit.net/2...derperformance/

Yes, but overtraining is kind of different than GABA depletion.

 

Overtraining itself unlikely makes one feel dumb, it makes feel unmotivated etc... but dumb is different.

 

Towards the end of an heavy training session I kind of feel dumb as well, memory seems kind of impaired and brain kind of slower, words don't come to mind, reasoning is clumsy and those kind of things...

 

It is not a concern since to me the effect is quite mild, even if definitely noticeable, and sharpness comes back very quickly after training.

 

I am not overtrained and very experienced.

 

Anyway training does deplete GABA (especially if pushing hard but not necessarily) and in some it may do so more than in others,

 

I keep my suggestion to try supplementing GABA immediately after training to whom is experiencing dumbness and altered mood in general to see if works.

I was having the same issues so I had my blood checked and I found out that my Vitamin D levels were very low (<10ng/ml) my LDL was low too (39mg/dl), I think that this could be the cause of my excessive tiredness and extreme dumbness and mental fatigue after any physical effort. I'm going to supplement D3 and take a little sun and I'll let you know if I feel better or not. 

To me it seems like a workout induced glucose drop.

Also over doing it can release extra amounts of endorphins, which in mix with with a drop of glocuse could be putting you into a temporary mental stooper. You might be depleted in zinc as well.
https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/16648789
Edited by Ark, 01 February 2017 - 08:25 PM.

Click HERE to rent this advertising spot for EXERCISE to support LongeCity (this will replace the google ad above).

Good point.

 

Maybe if it is very short lasting is due to a glucose drop while if lasts longer is more likely GABA or anyway something neurotransmitters/hormones related.