Theory: Importance of rest and recovery

Evaluating your rest and recovery

Evaluating your rest and recovery

To perform on your top level you’ll have to be properly rested. Your brain, very much like you muscles, use the time off to recover and get stronger. Self-managing your training, competition, education and physical training with your other life domains is an art for competitive athletes. 

Here’s what you can do. 

• Use an app or a smart watch to monitor your heart rate every morning and evening and discuss the results with your coach or sport psychologist. 
• Complete the Rest & Recovery questionnaire (RESTQ). RESTQ examines 17 subscales relating to how you have felt the last three days of your training schedule (Kellmann & Kallus, 2001). You can complete this questionnaire on-line at www.mindeval.com.

Getting to know yourself a bit better will definitely help you plan your training better and lead to better results.