Challenges Athletes Face When it Comes to Improving Their Performance

When it comes to exercising, a lot of people tend to do sports to be in good physical shape. Some want to have bigger muscles so they can look more attractive. But there are also those, who want to improve their performance as athletes.

Those who are part of any type of sport, already know how important it is to be prepared mentally and physically. Whether you are swimming, playing soccer, hockey, or baseball, it’s important to stay in top physical condition to improve your athletic performance and protect yourself from injury.

In this blog post, we’ll take a look at some of the most common challenges athletes face, and offer some tips for overcoming them. Stay tuned!

1. Overtraining

Overtraining could most simply be defined as a reduction in performance due to an imbalance between training and rest, which is preceded by intense training. If overtraining occurs, it is always a sign of incorrect training. From this emerge the three most common reasons why an increased training load causes overtraining:

  • too long training sessions
  • excessive intensity training
  • too much training in a short time

2. Lack of sleep

Depriving of sleep decreases concentration, impairs appetite, and causes irritability. Due to their intense practice, athletes experience a lack of sleep which then results in bad consequences. Therefore lack of sleep negatively affects the body and performance, and sports efforts do not give the best possible results. Lack of sleep is one of the main issues athletes face. It has been proven that lack of sleep affects glucose metabolism – on which muscle recovery depends.

Equally, if you are in the preparation phase and training, the need for sleep is increased. CBD has been found to help significantly when it comes to sleep, so if you’re an athlete facing insomnia or restless sleep, this is worth a try. CBD is widely available in many different forms at Grasscity, however, as an athlete, you should consult your doctor to determine the proper dosage.

Lack of sleep in such circumstances can endanger the immune system, which has already been challenged by strenuous training. Recent research has proven a link between chronic lack of sleep and weight gain.

3. Poor diet and nutrition

Not only the state of health of the athletes depends on the regularity of the diet, but also the results they achieve in the competition. Poor diet and nutrition have bad consequences on the overall performance of athletes. It reduces strength, concentration, and the ability to focus on tasks. Three basic characteristics are common to all sports that should be taken into account when planning the nutrition of athletes: energy needs are higher than those of people of the same age, body mass, and height, who do not play sports;

due to the intensive work of the muscles, the accumulation of metabolic products of the acid reaction leads to a decrease in the alkaline reserve in the blood and tissues, and there is a decrease in the functional abilities of the organism

4. Stress and anxiety

The natural tendency of a strong person who encounters an obstacle is to keep pushing harder. Unfortunately, with stress and anxiety, putting more pressure on these feelings only worsens the condition.

Therefore, athletes need a new set of skills to deal with stress and anxiety.

So, instead of resisting the rush of adrenaline, tell yourself that you have a high level of energy that you can use while exercising. Feel the energy flowing through your veins with the confidence that you can use it to improve your performance.

5. Injury

Physical activity contributes to a better general condition of the body and is one of the ways to prevent many diseases. Recreational and professional sports sometimes bring with them sports injuries that need to be treated. An injury is a broad term and they can occur due to a different set of reasons such as age, place, type of sport, and so on. If an athlete is not being cautious, they can easily get injured.

6. Mental blocks

The fact is that almost all athletes feel some positive nervousness before the performance, the well-known “butterflies in the stomach”. There are also those whose nervousness is increased and drags them down. Both positive and negative anxiety and mental blocks are completely natural and normal reactions of our body and psyche. Unfortunately, mental blocks can sometimes have a negative impact on the performance of the athlete.

 

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Author: Ben Burd

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