- There are many ways to manage muscular tension and mental anxiety, including massage, meditation, yoga, hot baths, aroma therapy, and soothing music. Try to include time(s) during the day that involves you sitting down, closing your eyes, consciously relaxing all of your muscles, and focus only on slow and deep breathing for a couple of minutes, hell, even 30 seconds at a time will help.? Block out every sound and every thought.? Focus only on your breath for as long as time allows.? Then stand up tall, inhale, stretch your arms above your head, then exhale and extend your arms out wide.? Give your body a bit of a shake, then carry on with your day.
- Introduce recovery days and weeks. Every fourth week, for example, lower both the volume and the intensity of each training session. Or choose two days of the week, such as Sunday and Wednesday, in which you perform only a light recovery session.
- Identify nutritional deficiencies in your diet. Inadequate restoration of the body’s fuel needs after a training session can lead to a state of overtraining. Directly following any session or race, adequately refuel the body with a mixture of proteins and carbohydrates. As a basic component of the body’s hormones, cells, and tissues, healthy fat should not be avoided, but consumed in moderation. Consume high quantities of fruits and vegetables to avoid vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and be sure to drink water before, during, and after training.
- Introduce another form or forms of exercise.? This often helps athletes who are overworking certain muscles or suffering mental and physical fatigue.? If all your training consists solely of being on your bike then you definitely need to mix it up ? regardless of whether you?re overtraining or not.? Swimming?s great for cyclists ? it helps you stretch out from head to toe and works entirely different muscles and movement patterns.
- If you?re in a really bad way – stop exercising altogether (yep, you read that correctly!). This is easier said than done for most people who are prone to overtraining. By setting aside a few days, and sometimes up to two weeks, to allow for the body and mind to recover, you will enable yourself to return to an exercise program even stronger and more focused than before.
How to Prevent Overtraining Syndrome It’s often hard to predict overtraining because every athlete responds differently to certain training routines. It is important, however, to vary training through the year and schedule in significant rest time. The following tips may help you avoid overtraining.
- Keep a training log.? It is the best method to monitor progress. In addition to keeping track of distance and intensity, the athlete can record the resting morning heart rate, weight, general health, how the workout felt, and levels of muscular soreness and fatigue. The latter two can be scored on a 10 point scale. Significant, progressive changes in any of these parameters may signal overtraining.
- Warm up before you get on your bike. A proper warm-up can help prevent injuries.
- Avoid monotonous training and mix up your sessions with speed, duration, sprints, routes, and cross training.
- Maintain adequate nutrition. Ensure you?re eating plenty of fruit and veges in your daily intake.
- Refuel after training. Your body needs energy to recover and that comes from food.
- Vigorous exercise during the incubation period of a viral illness may increase the duration and severity of that illness. Athletes who feel as if they are developing a cold should rest or reduce the training schedule for a few days.
- Stretch. Tight muscles can often cause other muscles of your body to overcompensate, which can cause injury over time. ?Refer to my previous articles on how to perform stretches correctly.
- Get adequate sleep. My idea of ?adequate? will most likely be different to your idea of ?adequate?.? Just ensure that you get as much uninterrupted sleep that your body demands.?
- Set yourself challenging but realistic goals that push you without placing unattainable expectations
- Schedule recovery days into your weekly routine. Listen to your body. If you’re 10 minutes into your session and you’re feeling tired and unmotivated, go back home and rest or do a light yoga workout.
A premature return to training will negate much of the gains made throughout the recovery process and may set you further back, so listen to your body.? When you re-start training, ensure that you do so slowly. Don?t go rip, sh*t & bust straight back in to it. Well, that?s it from me for 2012.? I?d like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading my articles.? I hope you?ve enjoyed reading them as much as I?ve enjoyed writing them. Wishing you all a very safe, and happy festive period, and may 2013 be accident and injury free for you all. Stay fit & healthy, Sandra? – I Can Personal Training
