Overtraining from the job

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  • #58916
    kayleighnmill
    Participant

    Hi, I posted about wildland fire earlier this year but didn’t receive a response, thought I’d try again with a more specific question.

    This season was a butt kicker and I would definitely say the level of activity was detrimental to my fitness. Starting in June, there was not time to properly recover until late in the season. My question is, now that my season is over, how long should I rest before beginning training again? Or is starting with the transition period immediately just fine?

Posted In: Tactical

  • Inactive
    Anonymous on #58935

    Apologies for missing your post the first time around!

    This is a great question, and to be completely honest the answer ultimately boils down to “it depends.” But having said that I’ll try and paint a broader picture for you.

    From a tactical perspective, I can say that I encounter a lot of the same scenarios with guys that I have coming back from deployments. They may be fried mentally, physically, or both, and the questions around training usually boil down to what makes the most sense for each individual athlete. For some, taking a break for a few weeks and focusing on doing something besides training for the job can be a real boost. For others, too much time away from a structured plan actually creates more anxiety, so it’s best to reintroduce training early in those instances.

    The Transition Period would be a great place to start, and if you’re feeling a bit more beat up than normal I’d recommend trimming volume a bit and basically drawing the period out a bit just to allow yourself a slightly more gradual ramp-up phase. Try to keep that subjective level of effort relatively easy across the board (strength, endurance, etc) and only progress when you feel ready for it…not because a training template gives you some arbitrary date. Cases like these are when individual variation wins the day.

    Hopefully that helps. Feel free to follow up if I’ve left some stones unturned.

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