Post by Jamie Smith, MPT, Performance Coach
In today’s busy world, we are running to softball practice, softball games, dance class, basketball practice, basketball games, swim lessons, swim meets-and that is just one child in one week. WOW!!! How can the parents keep up, let alone the child? At what point are we over-training? You have to put the body under a certain amount of stress to increase its physical abilities, but to what degree without having burnout?
What are some of the signs that a child is over exerted? The re-appearance of deficiencies that seemed to have been corrected, poor concentration levels, inability to correct errors, disrupted flow of movement, decreased competitive qualities, irritability, decreased coachability, oversensitivity, etc…
Take a quick 24 hour assessment; if you score less than 13/20 points on the Total Quality Recovery scale, your recovery from activity is insufficient. (Kentta and Hassmen, 2002)
Breakfast(1 point), Lunch(2 points), Dinner (2 points), Snacks(1 point), Carbo reloading(2 points), rehydrate throughout the day(1 point)/during/post workout(1 point), good night sleep(3 points), daily nap(1 point), mental/muscle relaxation after training(2 points), relaxed state throughout the day(1 point), proper cool down after training(2 points), stretching exercised muscle groups(1 point)