Ancient Wisdom, Modern Athletes

Balancing the Yin and Yang of Sports Training

As athletes juggling sports with work and family, we live a truly demanding lifestyle. We train hard, log big workouts to build fitness, and still maintain busy careers and relationships with friends and family. It’s amazing how we manage this! This kind of multi-tasking, super-productive, results-oriented personality is especially prevalent in my sport—triathlons. In many ways, the sport itself (swimming, biking, and then running, all in a row) is symbolic of our busy, hectic lifestyle.

The truth is, during my nine years as a triathlete, I have seen numerous athletes come and go. New athletes often take the sport very seriously, train hard, and then get burned out or injured. If there is one major issue plaguing our sport, it is that many athletes hold onto a constant charge-forward (or borderline obsessive-compulsive) attitude—leading to eventual burnout. We often forget the importance of balancing training and recovery, work and rest. Some of us may even feel guilty if we must skip a workout due to illness! Does this sound familiar to you?

Whether you view it from the Eastern or Western perspective, it is important to understand that optimal health, athletic longevity, and sports performance comes from a balanced lifestyle. The body can only grow strong with balanced doses of stress and recovery, work and rest, yang and yin. During a hard workout (yang), the body is broken down and depleted from the workload. Then, during recovery (yin), it adapts to the stress and builds back up stronger and fitter—i.e., it is during the recovery phase that the body gets stronger! Fitness gains can only happen if there are balanced doses of both stress and recovery. 

For endurance athletes, a periodized training plan with scheduled cycles of stress and recovery is a good starting point. However, smart athletes and great coaches recognize that each individual has a unique balance-point that is optimal for him or her. Furthermore, the body’s balancing is a dynamic, everchanging process. For this reason, the best individualized training programs are derived from mindful observations and a continual dialogue between athlete and coach.