Even experienced athletes at a very high fitness level repeatedly find weak points and optimization gaps during their workouts or mistakes that creep in repeatedly. Constant checking and improving the technique can help you take your training to the next level and to make it more effective. A good way to consciously focus on execution, posture and body tension and to optimize them, is to complete exercises with low repetition rates as technique training.
Stimulus for training Keep boredom at bay!
We therefore recommend to dare to attempt workouts and exercises which you have never done before or to take into consideration increasing levels of difficulty, volume, changing workouts and training workloads and thus put you on the fastest route to achieving your objective.
Regeneration – Strength is born of rest!
If the body is not given sufficient time for regeneration, the systems involved muscles, metabolism, lung, nervous and cardiovascular systems constantly find themselves in a slightly depleted state and thus unable to perform optimally. A reduced training workload as well as taking longer breaks between workouts will give your body the time it needs to process the stimuli of high intensity training.
Sleep – when the body is running on overdrive
Closely related to the theme of regeneration is the topic of sleep. The above systems regenerate during sleep. If you sleep irregularly, restlessly or simply too little, the hormones essential for regeneration cannot work effectively. This may result in weak performance, sluggish development and low stress tolerance, but also in negative effects on mental performance.
It is therefore advisable to accustom yourself to a regular sleep pattern by trying to go to bed and rise at the same time, and to get about 7.5 hours of good sleep to best take advantage of sleep cycles.
Those suffering from sleep disorders of any kind should avoid training shortly before bedtime, because it increases ones body temperature for several hours after training and impacts the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Having a big evening meal may also complicate falling asleep and the onset of the desired recovery processes, as the body uses too much energy on the process of digestion.
If you suffer from severe sleep problems, which do not improve despite the above recommendations, you should search for the cause and, if necessary, consult a doctor. Achieving a good sleep pattern is necessary for good athletic performance and the quality of life in general. Also overtraining with inadequate recovery breaks can vice versa manifest itself in insomnia.
Nutrition – the right fuel is decisive!
Do I absorb too much or too little of a nutrient type? Is there a mismatch of macro-nutrients? Is the quality of the food I consume high enough or do the little sins take over? Do I absorb sufficient micro-nutrients from fresh fruit and vegetables? Is my water intake adequate?
Changes in athletic and physical development are accompanied by changes in nutritional requirements. What worked well at the start may later on show only small effects. The reason is that your metabolism is adapting too. The good news: Especially in the field of nutrition, you may sometimes have to adjust only a few small screws, which will then drive you to new peak performances.
So if you have the feeling of not getting ahead or if you feel weak and exhausted in any way, other factors may often be the cause not the training itself. Physical and athletic developments or performances do not distinguish an athlete, but mental strength does: the decision not to resign but to identify weaknesses, to work on them, and to continue to develop. In this, each person starts at his own level and will have to find inner strength: be it a beginner who improves his performance in a workout by several minutes from today to tomorrow, or be it an advanced athlete who struggles for weeks to improve his performance by a few seconds: Sweat, effort, and the absolute will to continue and to improve yourself steadily will make a Free Athlete out of every one of us!
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