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smcat
Question:
Does missing a few days of conditioning really hurt you?
My step-daughter is a very accomplished high school 800m runner. She practices all year long, almost to excess. She claimed that missing 3 days will make you loose 10% of all you have worked for up til the break in routine, when she was unable to workout recently due to a scheduling conflict. I would like to know how much truth there is in the statement.
Asked by smcat - 3 answers - 40 weeks 1 day ago
robrobson
No, not at all.
I'm not a physiologist, but a sport psychologist, but I don't need to be.
As kids we have the importance of training drummed into us, and rightly so, but it is easy to get a bit obsessive with it. I can remember being the same as a youth. The rest will do her some good, as long as she doesn't go taking a few days off every week!
Regards,
Submitted 39 weeks 6 days ago by robrobsonRob Robson, Sport Psychologist, Warwickshire, UK
alan_ruddock
There is no truth in the statement at all. I would be suprised if 'performance' did not improve after 3 days off!
There is a wealth of both research and anecdotal evidence indicating that recovery is essential.
The first question you should ask yourself when planning a high school athletes training programme is 'How much rest/active rest can I plan?'. This includes rest at micro, macro and mesocycles.
The young athlete's body is extremely adaptable and as long as a training stimulus exists and there is adequate rest progress will be made.
It seems that she is focusing on the short-term in terms of performance, try and shift her focus to long term progressive physical development.
In short, training too intensely will compromise her performance and health.
Submitted 39 weeks 4 days ago by alan_ruddockkpisle
There are some recent studies that have shown evidence that fast twitch muscle fibres do deminish in explosive power as quickly as 24 hours but that becomes most evident after an injury which causes complete imobilization of the limb/muscle group.
other then that, there really is no huge loss in muscle performance, so the answer is no, missing three days of training will not significantly effect her performance and like alan ruddock said, it could indeed help her out if she is over training.
Submitted 39 weeks 1 day ago by kpisle