We've worked with hundreds of athletes...
Different sports
Different levels
Different shapes
Different sizes
Across the board, there are common themes they all share, and in particular, the simple fact that they all need adequate recharge and recovery.
So let's talk about recharge and recovery in 3 different aspects:
Manage fatigue
Managing fight/flight
Managing mental health
Managing fatigue:
There are 3 kinds of fatigue as a result of training - mechanical, metabolic and neurological.
Mechanical fatigue refers to the amount you’ve accumulated in terms of volume and load. Metabolic fatigue refers to the biochemical processes required to deal with constantly producing and recovering from the usage of energy. Neurological fatigue refers to how intense your workout is or how much concentration was required.
Your workout tends to lean towards one over the other, but you can have all three. There are physiological processes involved in the recovery of each one. There are some ways you can naturally expedite your recovery, but the best way is to simply respect the process involved.
The amount of recovery required is hugely contextual and dependent on what you did compared to what you’re conditioned to do.
Keep in mind, recovering from fatigue induced by the strength and conditioning program, does not mean you can return to training when you are ‘mentally’ ready.
The best way to manage this recovery is to program it, and the best way to program it, is to work with a strength & conditioning coach who understands what type of fatigue they’ve just induced.
Managing fight/flight:
Training can be stressful... It’s either your competitive side OR it’s your perfectionistic side.
The competitive side comes out whether you’re racing against the clock or if you’re up against your training partner. The perfectionistic side comes out when you’re trying to master a skill or you’re in preparation for an event.
Either way, it’s stressful!
This fight/flight state is moderated by calming your nervous system down. Whether your tool is to use breathing exercises, meditation or supplementation, part of recovering well is moving from “fight/flight” to “rest/digest”.
Managing Mental Health:
Training is a great way to manage your mental health… It improves our thoughts, it changes our hormonal profile, changes brain activity, empowers us.
But, here we broach a crucial topic, that we see all too often...
So for people that NEED to train for their sanity, without understanding their mind, we see them heavily overtraining, and if they take a break, it causes them psychological adversity… so they become a slave to training.
More recently, we have also seen professional athletes suffer from psychological distress after the end of their careers.
Learning about yourself, and understanding how to manage your mind, is absolutely essential. It is absolutely healthy to seek psychological support from a professional. Understand yourself first, so you can stay in control of your exercise and your decisions about training.
If you need recommendations, let us know.