Bye Bye Fitness

Grieving Your Loss of Fitness in the Off-Season

Throughout the year, our fitness has peaks and valleys. Most athletes have a base, build, peak and recovery phase of fitness. A base phase is the level of fitness most athletes can maintain with minimal effort.  Build is when athletes tend to ramp up training with a race in mind. Peaking occurs around the race and recovery or off season is post-race when there is an extended period of time between events.

For many athletes, off-season can be difficult because they see their fitness level decline. After building fitness over the course of many months, peaking around the race and then hopefully having an exceptional race, letting go of fitness can be mentally challenging to accept. Some athletes even struggle with depression in off-season as a result to this decline. Loss of fitness is inevitable and a normal part of our training. Just because it’s normal, doesn’t mean it’s comfortable. Here are my tips on how to “grieve” your loss of fitness during the off-season.

1. Acceptance – Understanding that loss of fitness is okay and actually a good thing. Being in peak fitness all the time is not realistic or optimal for your overall fitness journey.
2. Grace – Allow yourself to have flexibility during off season. Now is the time that missing a workout isn’t a big deal. Spend time with family and friends. Tend to things around the house. Read that book that has been sitting on the shelf all year, or just relax.
3. Reignite your fire – One of the key reasons for off-season is creating motivation and being re-ignited to work in the next season. Off-season often sparks the fire that might have been dimming towards the end of your last training block.

Our 2022 year is coming to an end. I encourage you to spend some of your time in off-season assessing this year. Think about your goals (health, fitness, nutrition, etc) and ponder what you did well! Always focus on the positives first. Praise yourself for the achievement over the year because you put in the work and sacrifices to get there. Next think about the areas that you could improve. Do you need to improve your relationship with food? Do you need to fuel better during the day or fuel your workouts more efficiently? Do you need to work on mental health, sleep habits or body image? What habits would be beneficial for your health goals? I am not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions because I believe those often set us up for failure. Rather as you go into 2023, consider goals that are achievable, measurable, specific and sustainable. Goals that are sustainable are often lifelong and those lifelong goals create lifelong habits. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!