When it comes to playing any sport at a professional level, any physical activity or an exercise regime, a planned schedule or a programme is a must. Programming must be done to manage the fatigue that is caused by training, so that an individual does not train day in and day out at maximum intensities, leading to fatigue and inadequate rest and recovery.
We will take 3 examples here where we can understand how an individual or an athlete might not be managing his physical exertion.
- Any physical activity - Let's say we have an individual who is sedentary and has a desk job who decides to increase his physical activity levels by starting to walk. He decides to walk up to 5 km every day. He covers the distance on Day 1, but as he walks the same distance every day, he faces pain in his joints and stiffness in his foot and eventually has to stop all his activity due to a lot of discomfort.
- Any sport - An athlete playing at a professional level playing each & every game without rest, will lead to injuries at some point which will force him to sit out for a very long period of time. If the athlete manages to skip unimportant games, it will serve well for his fitness in the long term.
- Exercises - There is a trainee in the gym who has been working out for many years and has reached an advanced level of training. If such an individual lifts the heaviest weights that he can every day, he is going to get fatigued soon, and eventually, his performance will drop.
Among all these 3 cases, the individuals are said to be overtraining, if they don't manage their fatigue levels, that is not recovering enough after a difficult workout session or a hard game on the field.
Signs of overtraining -
- Mental fatigue - The nervous system or the brain is too tired to carry out any physical activity and just wants to rest.
- Physical fatigue - Where the muscles and joints tend to be sore, several aches and pains lead to an inability to perform any task efficiently.
- Lack of energy, which is different from lack of strength.
- An increase in appetite, where the body's physical exertion has been so much that it requires more food than normal to repair and rebuild its tissues and for energy purposes.
- Requirement of more sleep
- A disturbed mood due to fatigue/lack of energy.
When we talk about programming, we are discussing the increase and decrease of volumes and intensities to manage fatigue. Rest and recovery, i.e., adequate sleep, must also be taken into consideration, along with correct nutrition as per physical demands.
