Moe Johnson Sunday, July 7, 2024 This past week the Olympic Trials were held in several sports for the big event in Paris at the end of the month. Being a sports junkie, I enjoyed watching the athletes compete for the coveted three spots on the USA Olympic team. Being an athlete competing in the Olympics is a very special honor and only a very few are ever selected.
The fact that the trials are at least three weeks before the Olympics means that those athletes that were chosen have to maintain that top performance level for the time between making the team and then performing in Paris. Training for an event whether it is a district, regional, state or national contest has to be a designed program to ensure the athlete that they are at the top performance level the week of the contest. Reaching a peak performance level in the first contest of the season will often mean that at the end of the season when the championships are decided the athlete may experience a “burn out” and not be able to compete at the same level as they did in that first contest.
The athlete will start the season with the program designed such that as the season progresses the times and level of competing should improve each week. This level of top ability is difficult to maintain for a long period. That is why it is important to build in a rest period to let the muscles and body recover after a hard training period reaching that peak performance.
The rest period has to be designed to let the body reco.
