Fatigue is the one roadblock that is almost impossible for everyone to avoid, yet is ignored by a massive population of anyone that takes their physical health seriously. A training program can be perfectly designed with every set, rep and exercise executed exactly as planned, and while all that is great and contributes massively to progressing toward your goal, training fatigue management will ultimately determine your response to that program.
It’s unfortunate that the norm these days, especially in high performance sport, is to shrug off any feelings of exhaustion even if it isn’t physical. A lot of professionals will preach about how everyone will find excuses for skipping the gym, but not a lot talk about how important it is when you need to take a day off. I myself am guilty of pushing through days, or even weeks, of mental exhaustion just because I thought I needed to “toughen up”.
As experience sets in and looking at overall performance from a wider perspective, I have come to realize how important recovery truly is in development and adaptation. Below I discuss what fatigue is, how to recognize it, its causes, and ways to combat it.
What is fatigue?
To examine fatigue we have to understand that there are numerous types and many reasons why they might be brought on. Starting with a general division of training fatigue, there is usually a division between local and systemic fatigue. Local fatigue may be more understood as it is more commonly and frequently experienced by not just athletes but anyone that has done any form of resistance training. You may recognize local fatigue post training through sore muscles or muscle groups, you may even feel this fatigue during a training session when performing the following set and your muscles just can’t move the weight they are supposed to. This form of fatigue is common and easily treated through additional rest, proper nutrition, hydration and possibly supplementation.
Systemic fatigue is a little harder to recognize but can have an equally, if not more prominent effect on performance due to having an effect larger than just sore muscles. This form of fatigue can be thought of as a sort of widespread exhaustion, involving both physical and mental components. This is usually the result of cumulative stress, overtraining, over working, or illness. Systemic fatigue gets its name from the various systems of the body it impacts, from the nervous system to the musculoskeletal to the immune system.
A common way the type of fatigue could build up to detrimental levels would be if an athlete constantly overshoots their training loads, or repeatedly trains to max out on lifts. As soon as the athletes feel soreness dissipate from their muscles they may repeat the process, unfortunately the fatigue done to other systems of the body may still carry some fatigue. The process could eventually lead to unproductive training, and in the worst case injury.
What does fatigue look like?
An important first step in addressing fatigue is knowing what it looks like in an individual. This can apply to multiple different types of fatigue, be it local, systemic or otherwise. From a micro perspective physical fatigue can be seen more easily by examining an athlete’s ventilation, body language and performance from beginning to end of a training session. In this respect it is more of a subjective experience.
Systemic fatigue in an individual becomes more difficult to recognize and differentiate because of the multiple factors that play a role, but places a large deal of risk on an athlete. This being said there are some signs someone is experiencing this type of fatigue or is beginning to be affected by it.
Systemic fatigue can be seen through:
Reduced focus or brain fog
Athletes often need high concentration and mental clarity during games, practice or training. When experiencing high degrees of accumulated fatigue they often seem scatter brained or empty headed. This can even be seen in their reaction time and decision making.
Reduced physical recovery
The recovery process slows between training sessions significantly. Athletes may find themselves not ready for consecutive training sessions or practices that they could have previously maintained before fatigue had set in.
Decreased motivation
It is often a product of systemic fatigue that athletes lose motivation to continue physical activity. Would you feel very motivated if you were always tired, always hurting from training sessions, and never making progress. Unfortunately this symptom only makes the effects of fatigue even worse.
Performance Plateau
Due to the continued stress on the body in a fatigued state, athletes are unable to receive the benefits of training adaptations. This means that training results will either show no improvement over time, or potentially decrease due to being in a state of distress.
Frequent Sickness
Due to systemic fatigues’ effects on not only the musculoskeletal but also the immune system, any added stress like sickness is very hard to defend. For this reason athletes are more prone to sickness, or may even behave like they are ill.
What may be causing it?
Over training
One of the primary causes of high-performance fatigue is overtraining. When athletes consistently push their bodies beyond their capacity to recover, without proper rest or periodization, they risk burnout. Overtraining doesn’t just affect physical performance—it takes a toll on the central nervous system and mental capacity, making it harder to focus and perform under pressure.
Lack of recovery
Recovery isn’t just about taking a break after a workout. It’s about ensuring that your body has time to rebuild muscle tissue, replenish energy stores, and allow the central nervous system to reset. Without proper rest, both active and passive, fatigue accumulates and becomes chronic.
Chronic stress
Performance demands—whether in sports or other areas of life—can lead to chronic stress. The body operates in a constant fight-or-flight state when under stress, producing cortisol and other stress hormones that, if not managed, can lead to long-term fatigue. This stress, compounded by the need to constantly perform at a high level, is one of the main reasons fatigue becomes so overwhelming.
Poor nutrition
Fueling the body is half the battle (if not more) when it comes to performance. For that reason staying on top of nutrition is essential to avoid long term fatigue. Whether that means appropriate nutrient intake or timing, proper fueling can play a big role in avoiding fatigue and maintaining energy levels.
Bad sleep habits
Sleep is the cornerstone of recovery. High-performance athletes often suffer from insufficient sleep, either due to training schedules, travel, or mental stress. When the body doesn’t get enough quality sleep, recovery is impaired, leading to ongoing fatigue.
Don’t be a tough guy
A very strong characteristic of athletes is their ability to persevere and stay determined, with a never ending hunger for success. In most cases this attribute could be the driving factor for championships, it is also what prevents athletes from dealing with fatigue.
Since athletes feel the need to be “always grinding”, it is hard for them to take a step back and realize they are experiencing some of the effects of systemic fatigue. But what all of us need to realize is that failing to take the proper amount of rest in whatever form is required will place us further from progress and wastes precious training time, as well as keeps us highly responsive to training effects.
How to deal with fatigue
Since some of the longer lasting and mentally taxing forms of fatigue place a heavy burden on the nervous system, active recovery days are highly encouraged. This could include anything from walking, light swimming, to low intensity biking. The goal behind this is to increase blood circulation and help muscle recovery without overloading the central nervous system with more high intensity work.
One of the simplest and most effective ways to combat high levels of fatigue is the tried and true method of additional rest. While there are better ways to implement rest into a training program, sometimes in severe cases of fatigue taking some time off of training completely can have positive effects. This is usually limited to a week or 2 at most with no heavy or light training, just proper sleep and hydration.
Providing sufficient rest is important, but should be used in the correct dosage. Rarely would I suggest to completely cut all forms of physical activity out of someone’s life to combat fatigue. A strategy to manage the fatigue placed on the athlete is reducing the training frequency, an example of this would be reducing a training schedule from 4 days/week to 3 days/week. This increases the rest allotted per week and lowers the total demand placed on the athlete.
Additionally, another method of lowering the demand on athletes during training sessions is to decrease the training volume on accessory exercises. This would mean either lowering the total amount of accessory sets, reps or cutting out certain exercises.
Since some of the longer lasting and mentally taxing forms of fatigue place a heavy burden on the nervous system, active recovery days are highly encouraged. This could include anything from walking, light swimming, to low intensity biking. The goal behind this is to increase blood circulation and help muscle recovery without overloading the central nervous system with more high intensity work.
Takeaway
As much as we may think and treat our bodies like machines, the reality is we are made of flesh and bone. Be kind to yourselves and understand that peak performance is not about pushing harder, running faster, being tougher every single day. The best performance comes from balancing intense effort with well intentioned recovery.
