MEN'S HEALTH:Keeping a good recovery regime can be just as important as properly planning your training schedule
ACHIEVING THE right balance between the stresses associated with training and recovery is critical to maximising the benefits of training as well as optimising sports performance.
It is important to remember that the adaptations that result from any exercise routine, whether it be a seasoned athlete or a fitness enthusiast, occur in the period following training and not in the training session per se. To maximise the positive physiological adaptations associated with physical training, appropriate periods of rest and recovery need to be built into any structured exercise plan.
Recovery should be planned in the same way as training. Optimising the recovery from training can further enhance the benefits of future training sessions and over time lead to improved athletic performance.
Serious athletes by their very nature are highly motivated to train and have to train hard to be successful. Despite this, many ignore the importance of recovery. As a consequence they increase their risk of acute fatigue, overtraining, illness and injury.
There is a very fine line between appropriate and excessive training stress and in some cases “more is less and less is more.” By reducing the time spent training and focusing more on post-training recovery, performance in certain circumstances may actually be improved.
This may be particularly relevant to elite athletes training at a high level where the margins of further improvement in their physical conditioning are only likely to be very small. In this scenario, to elicit further training gains, a coach might be tempted to further increase the already high training loads, rather than vary the training stimulus and emphasise effective recovery.
Another common mistake made by coaches, particularly in team sports, is confusing the difference between “fitness” and “freshness”.
If the training load is kept too high in the days leading into competition then players will not be fully recovered. As a consequence, underperformance is likely.
The coach might fall into the trap of perceiving this poor performance as a lack of fitness on the part of the team and thereby increase the level of training further. This will lead to a downward spiral of fatigue, underperformance and potential burnout.
The risk of burnout, which is characterised by not only chronic fatigue but also a lack of motivation to participate, is particularly prevalent in young players and if not addressed it can ultimately lead to an athlete’s complete withdrawal from the sport.
Recovery following training and competition can take various forms and formats. The types of strategies best suited to optimise the recovery process are highly individual and depend on a number of factors, including the physical demands of the sport, the duration and intensity of training, the facilities available, personal preferences and traditional beliefs.
While some recovery practices are based on sound scientific principles, others can at best be regarded as mere training fads and in reality no more than gimmicks. The key challenge is to separate the fact from the fiction.
Next week we will look at some of the different recovery strategies commonly used by athletes as well as evaluating their effectiveness.
- Dr Giles Warrington is a sport and exercise physiologist and lecturer in the School of Health and Human Performance at DCU