Day 15: Take a break from the old routine

By Darren Gorton on September 15, 2010 in Resources

This article is part of the series “30 days to being a better basketball player“.

"fatigue" by Palagret, via flickr

As we reach half-way through this series, its a good time to consider the importance of rest to your body and mind.

You can get too much of a good thing, and that’s why its good to take a small break every now and then.

Our bodies and minds are only built to take so much of anything. This holds true for basketball as well, where we need to be able to identify when its time to refresh and revitalise ourselves.

Have you ever experienced any of the following during the basketball season or your general basketball playing times?

Lack of motivation
Decreasing performance (eg can’t run as fast or jump as high)
Poor immune system (ie get sick often or quickly)
Poor appetite

If you have, it could be a sign that you’re overtraining.

If this is true, its highly likely that your body or mind needs to get away from it all. Change is as good as a holiday, so taking a break from your regular routine could be just what you need to get your game back on track.

There are some other good suggestions on recovering from overtraining in this article.

A break need not be very long, but should be long enough to restore your desire to play and for your body to feel fighting fit again.

Breaks can take many forms, but whatever you do, make sure its a real break. Otherwise you’ll just be fooling yourself

Here are some suggestions:

Decide on a suitable time period, such as a week, that won’t negatively influence your commitments (eg team schedule) and isn’t too long to be unbearable or unrealistic.
Make a complete break – don’t play at all (I know this will be difficult, but you won’t get the full effect if you’re only half committed).
Listen to your body and mind – get started again when you are ready (this could be sooner than you expected, but you’ll know if it is).
Use this time to rethink your game (strengths and weaknesses, etc) and your training schedule.
Use this time to work through the “30 days to being a better basketball player” points again 😉