Coaching experts Jim Kiltyand Liam Hennessyon one of the underrated components of good training: sleep.

ONE OF the most important principles of training that tends to get overlooked is recovery. Recovery needs to be planned into the programme if adaptation or improvement is to occur.

Research shows, however, that recovery strategies are actually poorly applied. In a study conducted after the 1996 Olympics 12 per cent of Olympic athletes reported that not getting enough rest or overtraining was the number one factor in poor performance.

The most important of all recovery strategies is sleep. Without good sleep athletes and players cannot adapt to the demands of training and without good sleep they will never attain the levels of performance that are possible. One of the many advantages of being a full-time athlete is that afternoon naps can be planned as part of the athlete’s training programme.

A short nap during the day is excellent at helping the athlete to recover and getting ready to complete a second training session in the day. However, few of us have the luxury of being able to take an afternoon nap as part of a training programme.

We should therefore ensure that a good night’s sleep takes place every night. Many top athletes monitor the quality of sleep. This can be done by using a 1 to 5 scale. A very poor night’s sleep can be scored as 1 and excellent sleep as 5. Keeping a log of the quality of sleep is a great way of ensuring that this vital recovery strategy is optimised.

During sleep metabolic activity ceases and growth hormone secretion occurs. So sleep is really a time where the body takes a break and also sets about repairing much of the damage that training and exercise has naturally caused.

Experts tell us that athletes require more sleep than normal when training volume increases. A study showed how athletes spent a greater amount of time in deep or slow wave sleep compared to their non-training counterparts. The environment needs to be peaceful and comfortable and for best sleep light should be shut out.

Thus it is very important for the athlete and player to pay attention to the quality of the bed and also to make sure that noise and light are minimised.

After all, we may spend a third of our lives sleeping – that means a total of 25 years sleeping for a 75-year-old individual! During the year when training volume varies, sleep duration may also vary.

So what is the optimum duration of sleep for players and athletes? Way back in the 1930s Ireland’s Olympic gold medallist Bob Tisdall wrote that his preference was for eight hours sleep and suggested that all athletes should strive for this each night. Also he stressed the need for getting to bed well before midnight. However, we now know that the duration of a good night’s sleep will vary among athletes and players and some very successful athletes have managed to operate on a relatively short sleep of between 5-6 hours.

Studies also tell us that not getting a good night’s sleep the night before an important competition may not be harmful. This seems to be okay for most athletes and players but should the pattern continue then training and performance will be affected.

These notes are contributed by Dr Liam Hennessy and Jim Kilty of Setanta College, the Institute of Strength and Conditioning Studies. (www.setantacollege.com)