How To Not Over-Do It
How To Not Over-Do It
By Daniel Ferguson
You can't put too many eggs into too many baskets. As an athlete over-training and overdoing can be a common problem. In the modern world, with social media, it's very easy to stumble across videos expressing sleep is for the weak, you must constantly be working and you can never rest. But, the value of rest is highly important. In terms of over-training, you may train twice a day everyday, have no days off or you may have no recovery between training sessions. It's important to think about life outside of the hard work and dedication. You may over-do: as a younger person, or even an adult, you could be involved in too many sports, or too many hobbies and activities outside of sport you rarely get a chance to rest. A lady once said to me in the gym, "don't play too many sports when you are younger, you will regret it when you are older." Listen, being active is vital to your life, however, in this blog we will focus on where too much activity becomes unproductive; where rest will be your best friend.
Causes
There are a variety of reasons an athlete may overwork, here are a few examples:
- Perfectionism
- Unreal expectations
- "Grind" culture
- Work addiction
Symptoms
- Stress headaches
- Nausea
- Fatigue
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Trouble disconnecting
- Lost passion (lack of fulfilment)
- Suffering personal relationships
- Bad moods
Consequences of overdoing it also involve a reduction in creativity, decreased quality of training, more chance of errors and reduced output. This could be a lack of creativity on the football pitch, which is important when making an influence on the game. There may be a decrease in quality of your training: less reps, slower times or reduced mobility. In a game of tennis, you discover you are making more errors (i.e, hitting the net or ball out more than usual). Finally, overall your output decreases as a result of overdoing it in your sport(s) - similar to a decrease in quality (i.e, slower times). Whatever sports you're involved in, the consequences of overdoing it will negatively affect your performance levels.
The effects of over-training your body
Researchers have discovered athletes that over-train have reduced glycogen levels in their muscles. Glycogen is a stored form of glucose, so it breaks down to create energy. Reduced glycogen levels result in heavy legs and muscle fatigue. A way to help combat this is a focus on the diet: consuming plenty of carbohydrates and fruits such as bananas, apples and oranges help replenish the body. Often training levels and intensity can rise too high, which decreases performance levels. It's important to have demands on yourself as an athlete, but don't take these expectations too high to the extent you don't recover: meeting those demands involves recovering after a good, strong session. Tapering and slowing things down a little before competitions is also useful to be at your best.
Can you play too many different sports?
When it comes to playing multiple sports, whether it's beneficial or not depends on what stage of your development you're at. The player development project have researched this topic. In early childhood, taking part in a variety of sports can be very beneficial. Here are some benefits:
- increased opportunities for informal play
- increased mobility and variation in movement
- improved creativity and decision making
- improved social skills
- a greater value of new experiences and higher sense of identity
Listen, it's important children aren't involved in multiple sports to the extent it becomes a burnout, where they lose their love for sport early on, However, taking part in a couple different sports a week, multi-sports classes and different sports throughout growing up (not all at once) with a sensible balance between sport, rest and enjoyment, benefits a child greatly. Former Manchester United fitness coach, Tony Strudwick, believes every under 12 child should play more than one sport to develop all-round athleticism and prevent injury later on in life.
As an athlete grows older, determining what sport they want to focus on becomes more important, where things can be refined to help that person develop further in the sport which suits best.
The importance of rest
To rest is to refresh. Auckland physiotherapy provides information on why it's so important. They state there are four types of rest:
- Physical - this could be lying down or sitting: relieving muscle tension and fatigue
- Mental - break from continuous brain activity: walking, hobbies and breaks from work tasks improve creativity and focus
- Emotional - break from emotional stressors: emotionally recharging by journaling, time in nature and emotional support from loved ones
- Sensory - relief from sensory stimulation: especially in the modern digital world, a break from gadgets and lights is sensible by spending time somewhere peaceful, dimming lights, reducing light before sleep and deep breathing can help calm the nervous system and improve well-being
Rest must be done right. This involves active rest: scrolling on your phone between work tasks or sets in the gym isn't rest. Active rest could involve a walk or socialising with a friend in the gym between sets. Align rest to your personal needs. Discover what works best for you.
- aids recovery
- reduces injury
- supports a healthy immune system
- manages stress levels
- lowers blood pressure
Tips to avoid over-training and over doing
Being an athlete does require hard work and dedication, here are some tips that can be utilised alongside the hard work, to prevent the consequences of over-working yourself:
- Preventing Fatigue: isolate your time in the sport from personal life, organise tasks effectively by prioritising those that are more beneficial to you, drink plenty of water, be conscious of caffeine and alcohol intake
- Sufficient Sleep: avoid large meals two hours before bed, meditate, switch off before going to sleep and a solution to prevent training too late at night could be going to bed and setting an alarm in the morning to train then instead
- Feeling Distracted: good nights rest (at least 7 hours), to do lists or training schedule (I find having a weekly to do list or daily list of tasks increases my focus - short term goals prevent long term problems), reminders and timers for tasks (i.e, training times)
- Bad Moods: time away from the sport (with family and friends), listen to music you enjoy and certain scents can be helpful, for example, the smell of lemon calms thoughts
As an athlete, be dedicated, be hard-working. But, support your training and self by recovering and resting. Relax your mind and body, to be more productive when putting in the work. It's not always about working 24/7: it's about maintaining a healthy balance where rest is relative to work time, health is prioritised by caring for the mind and body, and what happens outside of work and training time, is worked on itself. Looking after yourself, staying healthy and being productive with work and rest is beneficial to being the best athlete you can be.
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