Most athletes believe that training harder improves their performance, but this isn’t always the case. It turns out that enough rest is just as important as enough training. Muscle strength and cardiovascular and respiratory fitness improve in response to the stress of exercise training. Initially, training can cause fatigue and weakness, but during rest periods, the body rebuilds to become stronger. If not enough rest occurs between exercise sessions, there is no time for the body to rebuild. Fitness and performance do not improve.
In competitive athletes, excessive training without enough rest can lead to overtraining syndrome. This involves emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms that last for weeks to months. The most common symptom is fatigue that not only limits workouts, but also is felt even at rest. Some athletes experience a decrease in appetite and weight loss as well as muscle soreness, increased frequency of colds and other viral illnesses, and higher incidence of injuries.
They may become moody, easily irritated, or depressed. They may have altered sleep patterns or lose their competitive desire and enthusiasm. Although overtraining syndrome occurs only in serious athletes who are working out extensively, rest is essential for anyone who is trying to improve fitness.
Low iron stores are one of the most common nutritional problems seen in athletes. The condition is particularly common in female athletes. If it progresses to iron deficiency anemia, it can impair athletic performance as well as reduce immune function and affect other physiological processes. Low iron stores may be caused by:
Female athletes’ iron needs are higher than those of male athletes because they need to replace the iron lost in menstrual blood. In athletes of both sexes, inadequate iron intake often contributes to low iron stores.
Dietary iron intake may be low in athletes who restrict food intake to keep body weight low, or in those who consume a vegetarian diet; red meat is an excellent source of an easily absorbed form of iron. If iron deficiency progresses to anemia, the body’s ability to transport oxygen and produce ATP by aerobic metabolism is reduced.
Iron needs may be increased in athletes because exercise stimulates the production of red blood cells, so more iron is needed for hemoglobin synthesis. Iron also is needed for the synthesis of muscle myoglobin and the iron-containing proteins needed for ATP production in the mitochondria. Prolonged training also may increase iron losses, possibly because of increased fecal, urinary, and sweat losses. Iron balance may also be affected by the breaking of red blood cells from impact in events such as running.
This rarely causes anemia, because the breaking of red blood cells stimulates the production of new ones. Although a specific RDA has not been set for athletes, the DRIs acknowledge that the requirement for iron may be 30% to 70% higher for athletes than for the general population.
Some athletes experience a condition known as sports anemia, which is a temporary decrease in hemoglobin concentration during exercise training. It occurs when the blood volume increases to improve oxygen delivery, but the synthesis of red blood cells lags behind. This reduces the number of red blood cells per milliliter of blood. This phenomenon is an adaptation to training and does not seem to affect the delivery of oxygen to tissues.
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