Questions for Coach

QUESTION:
Dear Coach John,
I feel drained some days in training, but it seems to be more than just from the training itself. I mean, I always get tired from your classes, but I feel good afterwards. But other days, every so ofetn, it seems more than just physical exhaustion. For instance, my ability to focus towards the end of a class gets harder as does my desire to make a 100% effort as well. Like I said, this doesn’t happen all the time of course, but once every 2 or 3 weeks it does. Any ideas what may be the cause?
Thanks,
GH
ANSWER:
What a great question GH! And sorry to hear that you’ve incurred a stumbling block in your training, but you’re not alone with this type of challenge! I’ve had many-a-student of the years have this happen, as well as have it happen to me as well!

For me, I have 3 things that affect my training in a negative light: lack of sleep, poor food intake and over training. Lack of sleep is by far the biggest killer of my workouts! When I don’t get enough sleep I don’t have enough energy physically or mentally, my speed is diminished and my power is that of a 8 year old child. Over the years, there have been hundreds of studies conducted of the effects of lack of sleep and not one has shown anything positive from it! In fact, every area of life is negatively affected; even the length of one’s entire life span is shortened, simply from lack of sleep! The standard amount of sleep is 6-8 hours, perhaps you need more? Look into getting extra naps a few times; I know it has helped me in the past.

The second killer to my training sessions is poor food intake. If I either do not eat enough, or eat too much junk food, my performance slows down quickly. For instance, the past few weeks I have cut my carb intake by almost 50% and I can feel the effects in my workouts. I have the strength and power, but my stamina is diminished. So be sure that you are consuming healthy food daily to help FUEL your training sessions. 95% of what you consume should be as fuel, the other 5%... well, have fun.

The last thing that severally affects my training is - training too much! I love to train, but over the years I’ve learned to listen to my body about when to rest and when to push it. When I did over train, not only would I get gassed-out early, but so would my strength, power, focus and desire to keep going. Over training has been shown to be a leading cause of injuries for athletes of various sports and all ages as well. So be sure to take breaks from training, or create a training schedule that allows your body to recover for 24 to 48 hours between sessions. As you continue to train, you’ll know what will work best for your body.

There are a few other things that you want to look at as well with this challenge you’re facing: I’ve found some people go out and party all night, then work all day and come in for a workout. That will kill your training session fast. Some folks have extremely stressful jobs and demand a lot of mental focus through the day- which has just recently been shown to have a dramatic effect of one’s workout.

BUT YOU MAY WANT TO SEE A DOCTOR!! Listen, fatigue, lack of energy, lack of focus and desire can all be symptoms of larger and more problematic issues. Since you’re over 35, I would strongly suggest seeing your primary care physician for any under lying causes/issues. This way, if there is nothing big to worry about, then check out your sleep, food or training schedule.

Good luck-
Coach John