Holiday break | Martial Arts Larry Foisy

The summer holiday period often comes at the right time to break the hellish cycle of training and racing. Sometimes we talk about tiredness, of which we no longer know whether it is psychological or physical. In any case, everyone will agree in recognizing a certain form of saturation. A cut therefore seems necessary to allow the athlete to regenerate.

Okay, the holidays are approaching. 15 days, 3 weeks, in the sun, your toes will open and your body will be ready to do it again. However, after a few days in the resort, you get the impression that the less you do, the more tired you are. The rest we’ve been waiting for doesn’t really feel restorative, so what’s going on? Especially because when you start again, it will take some time before you find all the sensations again.

At the risk of surprising some, it has now been demonstrated that a total break of 15 days or more does not generate phenomena of regeneration but of degeneration. On a biological level, training consists (among other things) of exerting constraints on the body to cause adaptations. These adaptations are multiple, they concern the osteo-articular system (strengthening of bones and cartilage), the musculo-tendinous system (strengthening of muscles and tendons), the functional energy production systems and finally the neuro-cerebral systems (technical ease). The athlete transformed all these systems through successive adaptations through training. This makes him a biologically stronger person than a sedentary person. A complete rest of 5-10 days has no real impact on these results; a longer interruption will cause harmful maladjustments which will destabilize and tire the athlete during rest and will make restarts more painful and difficult.

As you may have understood, you should not cut completely for too long. This does not mean that you shouldn’t rest from time to time, on the contrary (better infrequently than once for a long time). But during the summer holidays it is better to stay active, especially if you are tired. But it will involve practicing different physical activities (see article on cross training in SSPP magazine n°3). Perhaps then we will realize that the saturation was more psychological than physical.

Thierry Maquet: University of Paris 12
Christophe Richard/Corinne Bouvat:
Departmental sports service
General Council of Val-de-Marne