Too much of a good thing can be bad! Olympic Gold Medalist Peter Vidmar talks about the number one reason for burn out in sports!
In this video, Peter shares how his relentless gymnastic training schedule led to fatigue and how he came back from a slump with some simple relaxation.
If you want to know whyOver Training Can Lead To Burn Out In Sports all you have to do is to read on! We’d really appreciate your comments, let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.
The low point came around my sophomore year in college. I started gymnastics formally at age eleven. Kind of late, but that is when I started. It was all out from then on. I loved the sport. I drank it in. I ate it. I breathe it. I slept gymnastics. It was everything to me.
Work outs, as hard as they were, were still fun. I loved learning something new. The thrill of acquiring a new skill and the thrill of having success in competition just fueled me. Then I remember my sophomore year in college I was on the U.S. National Team, as well as on the UCLA team.
I had to travel for all of our dual meets on the weekends, and I had to intersperse that with travel competing for the United States going to England for a week, going to Germany for a week, going to Japan for a week.
I remember coming back about a week before final exams totally unprepared because I had missed so much of my classes. I felt that burden and that having to deal with pressure of having to excel academically and still having to maintain really good form for the big and important competitions coming up that all of a sudden everything was crashing down on me.
For the first time in my life, gymnastics wasn’t fun. I remember it was a chore to get motivated to go to the gym and that had never happened to me before. I thought there was something wrong with me inside. Have I lost it? Am I ever going to get it back?
I remember going up to my coach, and you got to understand I never took days off. I took one day a week off. That was it. I never went on vacation. I just did gymnastics year round. I’ll talk about that later. I don’t know that is wise.
I remember walking up to my coach and saying, “Hey, Marco! I was wondering if after USA Championships if maybe I could take just a few days off?”
I had never asked for that before. We were in this thing together. We were training hard. He never took a day off, so I didn’t feel like I had the right to ask him for a day off for myself.
Yet when I asked him that question, I think deep down inside he knew I would have never asked that question if I didn’t think I really needed it.
He said, “Sure. Take a few days off.” I was thrilled so I took three or four days off. To me, it felt like a month.
I remember my wife, who I was dating at the time; we went to Disneyland one day, I went to the beach for a whole day, no gymnastics. It was carefree fun for a few days, when all of a sudden it was time to go back to the gym.
I went back and got back into it. It was a slow process. I had to get everything back together, but slowly and steadily all the pressure was gone. Finals were over and I had done well at the U.S. Championships.
I think I had won that year, so I still had some good things to think about and some pressure was off my shoulders.
Then all of a sudden I was back to the routine of loving the sport, learning new skills, and having a fun time.
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Peter Vidmar, the highest scoring American gymnast in Olympic history, is a leader in the Olympic movement today. He has worked for many years as the gymnastics commentator for CBS Sports and ESPN.
Peter is also a powerful and entertaining speaker at corporate meeting and trade shows. With over 2 decades of experience, he helps people throughout the country realize their full potential with his message of Risk, Originality and Virtuosity.
Click here to get his amazing book.