Common Sportive Training Mistakes

Until lately, the fitness and bodybuilding worlds greatly affected much of what was done in the fields of strength and conditioning. Even though we’ve made significant progress in shifting the athletic world away from this type of “body part” and “aesthetics” training, it still occurs.

Athletes are frequently seen completing their “beach exercise” on the beach (chest, biceps, and abs). Postural imbalances, persistent injuries, biomechanical overuse patterns, and poor on-field performance will all be exacerbated by this type of activity.

According to research, as an athlete gets older, their physiology deteriorates, and the time it takes to recuperate grows. Some masters athletes refuse to believe that these changes are occurring and fight the inevitable.

They must listen to their body, train smartly, follow training principles, train hard but recover even harder, and cut back on training when life, family, and job get in the way.

Making blunders will undoubtedly hinder your training progress, whether training for a triathlon or your next ultramarathon. To train properly, you’ll need to be aware of the most typical blunders and how to avoid them.

Training Hard All the Time

Individuals frequently believe that if a session isn’t difficult, it is a waste of time. As a result, most of their workouts will be in the ‘moderately hard’ category. This type of workout should be avoided because it yields a poor fitness return on your training effort.

The ‘moderately hard’ category also causes high levels of weariness, making it impossible to exercise hard in a well-planned and disciplined manner. High-intensity training, such as VO2 max and anaerobic capacity exercises, is necessary to increase performance, but you will never reach these levels if you try to push yourself every session.

By working too hard, athletes miss out on the physiological benefits of training at a lower level. These lower-intensity sessions can also be paired with form and drill workouts, which is a great approach to make the most of your training time by achieving many goals at once.

Not Gaining Proper Nutrition

To sustain performance and avoid injury, training necessitates the right nutrition. This intricate aspect of training necessitates some trial and error to get it exactly right.

Athletes often focus too much on specific nutritional strategies with marginal gains, much like their training, and overlook the fundamentals. In the end, no amount of beetroot juice or intermittent fasting will be able to fix a bad diet.

Before moving on to a more comprehensive approach to sports nutrition, emphasize consuming enough calories in a well-balanced manner and consuming adequate hydration and electrolytes. Seek competent counsel and avoid following popular fads if you want to take things to the next level.

Hydration Issues

It’s important to stay hydrated on hot rides and the coldest winter days. Training is a great opportunity to determine your hydration needs and experiment with different drink mixes and concentrations to see what works best for you. Instead of trying new things on event day, consider setting up calculated amounts that you can add to the water provided at feed stations.

Not Following the Principles of Training

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s the importance of the ‘progressive overload’ idea. Many masters athletes, especially those new to the sport or who haven’t trained in years, train too hard, too long, or too frequently.

The end effect is usually exhaustion, overtraining, burnout, and injury. The goal is to gradually raise our workouts’ length, frequency, and intensity in that sequence.

Unrealistic or Poor Pacing

Your training will have taught you how to maintain a certain pace and intensity on the bike. Heart rate and power are objective and trustworthy measures of intensity, and you should use either one or a combination of the two to pace your workout.

Expect no miracles on race day, and stick to the heart rate or power zones you established in training right from the start.

Event Day Nerves

Nerves aren’t necessarily negative, but you must make sure they don’t interfere with your last preparations. The easiest way to achieve this is to ensure that all of your gear, food, and supplies are checked, laid out, and packed the night carefully before the event.

Work your way through the list logically, and go tonight knowing that everything is packed and ready to travel. Allow plenty of time in the morning and follow the same routine as you would before a long training ride. Avoid being caught in “who’s done how many kilometers” chats with other riders by believing in your training.

Finally, these suggestions do not suggest that you train more or for longer periods. It’s all about being more strategic in your training. It’s the difference between working out unstructured and training to achieve your goals in a well-planned and scheduled method. It’s all about making the most of your time spent training and doing what you enjoy. It will even make it more enjoyable!