The Rest of the Story Part1

Success-driven athletes push themselves harder and harder in the weightroom, on the practice field, and in every other aspect of their lives. It's up to you to teach them that rest and recovery are essential parts of the performance equation.

By Dr. Terry Favero - Taken from Training - Conditioning Magazine Issue: 19.05 July/August 2009

Every athlete and every coach understands that hard work is a key to success. Athletes looking for an edge will train harder in an effort to outwork their opponents, teams going through a slump will try to "train their way out of it" by ramping up practices and workouts, and many athletes view working to exhaustion and beyond as a badge of courage and a sign of ultimate commitment.

But there's another component of athletic success that's too often overlooked, and that's recovery. When athletes do too much or coaches push too hard, the regimen eventually becomes counterproductive--the body wasn't designed to work without adequate rest. Evidence of this imbalance isn't hard to find: In a recent survey of published literature, I found roughly 30 articles championing various training methods for every one article about the role of rest and recovery in the adaptation process.

Planned recovery takes many forms, from improving sleep habits and eating patterns to scheduling days away from the gym that allow for regenerating tissue and rejuvenating the mind. Too many coaches spend their time scripting daily and weekly training programs, yet fail to strategize for recovery and regeneration with the same depth and precision.
Science has proven that proper recovery facilitates faster physiological adaptation and enhances performance. Ignoring recovery today leads to tomorrow's poor practice session and, eventually, poor recovery habits that are tough to break. It also reinforces attitudes that can lead to overtraining injuries. But by taking advantage of planned recovery and making it an integral part of a comprehensive training program, you can help athletes experience the gains that elude them when they work hard, but not smart.

STATE OF AFFAIRS

Most high school and college athletes understand at least the basics of appropriate recovery. If they haven't learned it from coaches, health classes, or other educational sources, they've at least felt the soreness after overworking their muscles, the fatigue from working out without proper fueling, or the overall misery of trying to function on too little sleep. And still, most athletes fail to follow an optimal recovery strategy.

Today's student-athletes must balance demanding training schedules with complex personal, social, and educational demands. The pressures of daily life are rarely factored into an athlete's total training or overall workload, but they're a major factor in the individual's health and well being.

What happens when an athlete has too many commitments and not enough time to meet them all? Recovery is usually among the first things to suffer. Rather than cut short a training session, they might skip a post-workout meal. Instead of missing practice to study for an exam or complete a class project, they'll sacrifice a few hours of sleep that night. In the long run, these decisions take a serious toll, both physically and mentally, and performance begins to decline.
To better understand the current landscape surrounding this issue, I recently conducted an informal survey of high school and NCAA Division I athletes, examining nutrition, sleep, and recovery behaviors. While not scientifically rigorous (the sample size was only 40 people), the results provide an interesting snapshot that's probably typical of many athletes in these age groups.

Nutrition.

I found no significant differences between high school and college athletes in eating habits--both were equally poor. Half the athletes skip breakfast at least once per week, while 20 percent said they miss it several times per week. Sixty percent reported missing other meals occasionally as well. Perhaps most troubling, only 46 percent of the athletes said they regularly eat within 60 minutes after completing exercise.

Sleep.

On average, most high school and college athletes get far less than the recommended eight hours of sleep per night. In fact, 38 percent of college freshman athletes in my survey get less than seven hours in a typical night. Sleep is one of the most frequently mismanaged recovery habits among athletes of all ages, and the consequences are immense.

Regular recovery activities.

My survey showed that in general, high school athletes do more in terms of recovery activity than college athletes, but only when directed to do so by their coaches. Essential recovery activities include (but are not limited to) a daily cooldown, especially following demanding workouts, active re-stretching or lengthening of the most active muscle groups, and post-workout rehydration. In addition, foam rolling and deep static stretching should occur at least twice weekly apart from normal practice times.

In the survey group, 52 percent of high school track athletes used a foam roller daily, compared with 18 percent of college track athletes. And 88 percent of the high schoolers stretched daily, compared with 53 percent of the college athletes. However, I found that in general, unless the coach leads a team through specific recovery activities, most athletes are consistently inconsistent in their recovery choices.

The above data should sound an alarming note: Recovery behaviors for both high school and college athletes need serious attention. Athletes develop training habits at an early age, and most carry these habits--good and bad--into college sports. College often provides a wake-up call, since talented and healthy athletes might not have experienced any real consequences for poor habits in high school or club sports, where practices are far less demanding, competitive seasons are shorter, and athletes can get by on pure skill even if they're not performing at 100 percent.

Terry Favero, PhD, is Professor of Biology and Conditioning Coordinator for the women's soccer team at the University of Portland. He has also worked with the U.S. Olympic Development Program, and can be reached at: favero@up.edu.