Ride the Waves!

Whether you are an athlete or a sport and fitness professional, you know about intensity. Rigorous practice schedules, providing various services to clients, teaching classes, staying on top of current literature in your field, motivating clients or teammates to keep going, and engaging in your own self care are all examples of things that require intensity. This intensity is something that may come and go, wave-like. The waves may vary widely in their height and frequency.

Sometimes you may get caught in the down part of the intensity wave, fearing that you won’t or can’t get back to the high. This down in the wave may signify feeling stale with usual routines, or being entirely burned out. In order to navigate and appreciate the natural cycles of the ups and downs of intensity, think of “riding the waves.”

If you have ever been to the ocean, you likely have seen someone attempting to swim in waves. Some people naturally float along in the water, see a big wave coming, and get excited while remaining relaxed, gracefully gliding along the crest of the wave, and still smiling once the wave dissipates back to flat water. Others, however, see a big wave coming, and immediately get a panic face. They tighten their bodies and brace for the big wave as it approaches. This tightening makes gracefully riding the coming wave nearly impossible, and usually these folks take in water, cough, and flail with arms wildly swinging. They may even lose their swimsuit! The wave eventually flattens, but the wave fighter has lost a lot of energy and had no fun simply because they fought the wave, rather than rode it, and now must spend more time recovering.

This “wave-fighting” is exactly what athletes and fitness professionals do when they resist stress or temporary downs that come with high intensity activity. They want to just keep going, work harder, keep moving, when there is need to stop and rest. Resisting natural lower energy phases leads to staleness or burnout, requiring even more recovery. Staleness, due to high intensity activity and excessive training loads at maximum capacity over time (a.k.a. overtraining) is signified by lows like apathy, lethargy, mood changes, and weight loss. There is good overtraining (leads to positive adaptation and improved performance) and bad overtraining. The bad kind puts you at risk for decreased performance and the big burnout, with signs like low motivation, lack of caring, lowered affect (feeling blah), and anxiety. If the continual push to practice harder, workout harder, teach more, or serve more clients is creating burnout, “more” is not conducive to improved outcomes, better performance or better business.

If you are experiencing staleness or burnout, you can shift your perspective and remember that this low energy or stress state is temporary. Remembering that it all “comes and goes,” the idea is to not fight the “big” waves of things like competitive pressure, extended bouts of hard physical exertion, job dissatisfaction, or poor relationships with teammates or co-workers. Gracefully flow with “it,” and your recovery will be much easier, you may even have fun when you see that you are just playing with these issues, rather than fighting them.

Following basic guidelines of recovery and stress management, rest and listen to your body for cues that it’s time, or not, to go back up to intensity. If you’re completely stuck and can’t manage the onslaught of waves, no matter how much you embrace the idea of wave riding, you may be in some deeper water, such as burnout related depression. Self regulation skills such as goal setting, imagery, self-talk, and relaxation may be extremely useful in gently embracing the low and then moving back to intensity.

If self regulation skills and usual support systems aren’t helping you get back to desired intensity, then maybe it is appropriate to get a life preserver, and ask for some help. It may be a good idea to consult with a psychologist who specializes in sport and fitness psychology. Think of that person as a “lifeguard” who has some specialized training in managing the water, who has a broader perspective of your issues from a different vantage point, and who can assist you when it’s hard to assist yourself. The waves will keep coming, but you’ll see them differently and learn to be more skilled in managing them and your intensity levels.

Remember to “Ride the Waves!”