Don't overexert yourself when exercising!

The mantra of “no pain, no gain,” is a motivator for some, however, it can be dangerous when taken to the extreme.

Doing cricket coaching from last 12 years, I have come across many players who overdo exercises. By taking tips from well-known fitness trainers in India, I prepare a schedule for them. But despite that, they have a myth that they need to train more to improve their strength and this results in injury or muscle pain.

Players need to understand that overtraining regularly allows the body to drain quickly. And it starts going otherwise. The part of the body which we want to increase starts decreasing. Generally, we think that doing a double workout can help us to increase power and strength. Although, it results negatively.

90 minutes of exercise every day is enough for a player to improve mental health, but anything over this threshold is worse for mental health than no exercise at all, this what researchers had found recently.

For regular exercisers, reducing or stopping exercise suddenly – or even missing one single workout – can result in depression, stress and anxiety. So, all of them maintain their schedule regularly and follow the guidelines of their fitness trainers. But some people are more attached and dedicated towards their exercise and it can result in overtraining, missing family obligations and social gatherings because of an intense “need” to exercise, and a worry that fitness will be lost or weight will increase within a day of missed exercise. The pursuit of exercise turns from a way to experience the beauty of nature or spending time with friends to a feeling of going to work or being stuck in a rut.

Here is what, young, dynamic and upcoming players and fitness trainers feel, "If you go by the research works conducted across the world, you will find, it is better to focus on disciplined sleeping pattern than overexerting without a plan. Over exerting only hampers your match performance. It does no good in achieving new performance levels," said Pratik Siddharth, sports journalist and Australian Strength and Conditioning Association Level-1 coach.

"If adults get 8 to10 hours of sleep and adolescents and teens athletes take around 10 hours of sleep, their performance on the field will improve," he added.

"In one of the studies conducted by Cheri Mah, a scientist specialized in sleep and performance in California, she followed a university tennis team of women's, where players attempted to get 10 hours of sleep each night for 5 weeks. Those who added hours to their sleep time ran faster and hit shots more accurately than they did with usual sleeping hours," said Pratik before adding, "there are many research works that are available online including this one. All can refer and get better."

"When I started playing cricket I was not aware of this fitness schedule and diet plan. As I got injured and went to a physiotherapist, they all suggested me to follow a disciplined plan for fitness," said Suniket Bingewar, Ranji player of Vidarbha.

Suniket also runs a gym name 'Aspire the fitness hub' in Nagpur. So being a player and fitness conscious he has a good idea of fitness training. And knows about the strength and power needed for a pacer to remain injury-free.

"Being a pace bowler, I had to keep my body fit and strictly I had to follow my schedule. Now, during lockdown also I am following my fitness schedule and doing a workout at least for 45 minutes regularly. And I keep myself hydrated and make sure that I give my body good rest," he added.

One of my good friend Yash Kashikar, Doctor and Sports Journalist has interviewed many prominent sporting personalities, told me that he frequently asks players to share their fitness tips for their followers. And from those tips, he came up with a common point that, "Fatigue after a good workout is the one which makes an athlete feel refreshed to some extent rather than overly exhausted. Over exerting will eventually result in underperformance and uncalled injuries."

A challenging workout is good to burn the muscle, but if you are feeling some pain in your body it might mean that you are not working properly.

Exercising according to your body's need will surely help you to progress your career graph in sports.