Pattern Overload

Pattern overload isn't that well known, but it can retard your progress and become a cause of pain in your body.

Fundamentally, pattern overload occurs when you do too many repetitions of a particular motion. You don't necessarily need to use a lot of weight to have pattern overload occur; your own bodyweight is more than enough…as is a one-pound dumbbell if the number of repetitions is high enough. Typing can even turn into a problem if you never shift your hand/wrist/chair/keyboard position.

Pattern overload isn't something that is on a lot of people's radar. The reason is this: even when you're doing a high-rep activity such as running, swimming or cross-country skiing, every time your foot impacts the road or your hand moves through the water, your body is going to utilize a slightly changed "groove" to execute the movement. People who are highly trained athletes might be performing in more or less precisely the same groove for a while, but sooner or later, as they begin to tire, even their grooves will begin to become looser. While this means their efficiency of movement will decrease, it's one way the body tries to prevent itself from getting injured.

Regardless, certain types of exercise can be worse for pattern overload than others. And this can lead to discomfort in your tendons and fascia. One example is using gym machines to an excessive level. Individuals who work out with free weights have a significantly lower frequency of pattern overload than those who work entirely on machines. The reason: when you're exercising with a barbell or dumbbell the weight moves in accordance with your body, but when you're exercising on a machine your body moves along the machine's predetermined and fixed path. Even something like a Smith machine, which incorporates a slight bit of flexibility, is significantly more limiting and permits less "natural body adjustment" as you progress through your sets than a free weight barbell.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have Crossfit. Don't get the wrong idea; I don't hate Crossfit. I think that the fundamental idea of Crossfit - to do something different each day, and keep good track of your rest times - has a lot of merit, and certainly the training is fun. But there are some drawbacks as well, particularly when you view Crossfit in relation to tendon injuries.

Fundamentally, a Crossfit workout involves choosing two or three exercises for distaff bodyparts, and then performing a lot of those exercises using a predetermined weight for time. The rest time between sets is typically about ten seconds, and you alternate exercises. To give an example, one of the videos on the website shows three women doing bodyweight squats, then pull-up/presses on gymnastic rings, then hang cleans with a barbell.

If you just simply do too much of a movement, even if that movement is something completely "free", like swimming, you can produce tendon problems if you exercise so much that the amount outstrips your ability to recover from it. This is where I have a problem with Crossfit. I recognise that on their site they place a lot of emphasis on not doing too much, but in reality they use technically complex movements (like cleans) and push to the point where good form clearly breaks down.

Of course, you have to push yourself to some extent if you wish to make your body better. But you have to consider the degree to which you drive yourself. Without getting into a long discussion about exercise theory, the bottom line is this: the idea is to provide enough stimulation to create an adaptation response, but not so much that it becomes too difficult to recover from the workout. As the illustrious Lee Haney said, "Stimulate, don't annihilate." Unfortunately, Crossfit all too often crosses that line.

So if you're suffering from tendon pain and are using an exercise program (or doing some manner of work) that incorporates too much pattern overload, either through limited and unnatural movement or by merely having too much volume, think about methods that will allow you to reduce or get around the problem. You don't have to quit exercising, but you may well be better off if you find ways to modify your routine.


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Alex Nordach has been involved in the health and fitness industry for over 30 years and is an expert in the area of fascia and tendon structures. For cutting-edge information that isn't available anywhere else on the internet, click through to the Target Plantar Fasciitis blog at =>
www.targetplantarfasciitis.com