How to Avoid Burnout as a Collegiate Student-Athlete
Burnout: A feeling of disinterest or dissatisfaction that many student-athletes feel at some point during their athletic career. As unfortunate as it sounds, burnout is a common feeling that athletes commonly face. For some athletes, burnout may be an ongoing feeling, but for others, the emotion may only last for a short period of time. Burnout is often caused by performance anxiety, overwhelming stress, the decision to continue in your sport even if you have lost your love for it and the feeling of having to live up to high performance standards. Even though burnout may come unexpectedly, read below for tips on how to avoid it the best you can.
Rest
Rest and recovery are not only important for your body physically, but mentally, too. Taking valuable time to gain your energy back after each training session is vital for your performance and mind. Due to how physically demanding the sport of swimming can be, athletes need to rest so that they do not become overly fatigued when it comes time for the next practice. Going into each workout with a fresh mindset is crucial for swimmers so that they stay motivated and enthusiastic during each training session.
Make Time For Your Interests
What are some of your hobbies? What do you enjoy doing in your free time when you are outside of the water and classroom? One of the biggest ways to avoid burnout is by scheduling time in your day to do something that you enjoy outside of your sport. Maybe you enjoy reading, watching TV, crocheting, listening to music, going on walks, etc. Whatever your hobby may be, make time in your day to do it! This is the best way to shift your focus from the stress of your sport to something relaxing that you love to do.
Mix Up Your Training
As collegiate athletes, it is not often that we get to mix up our strokes or training. If you are somebody who swims a variety of events, make sure to change up your strokes when practicing so that you can focus on your other events, as well as avoid the stress of constantly training for the same one event all the time. For those who primarily only train one stroke, it’s never a bad idea to mix in another stroke just to switch things up for yourself and avoid the potential of getting bored or plateauing. Training different strokes will also help your body and muscles get stronger by moving them in different ways.
Make Training Fun
Another key tip to avoiding burnout is by surrounding yourself with people who are positive and motivating, even during the hardest of practices. We all know what it is like to swim a really challenging or boring practice. Days like those are what make the feeling of burnout sometimes grow stronger. Being around driven people who treat every day as an opportunity to get better will play a huge impact on the way that you train, too. The people you surround yourself with will start to rub off on you, making your mindset shift and training habits a natural change. It is important to do what you love, and love what you do. Crack jokes and have fun during training! This will help keep the environment light, all while working hard.
Set Goals and Remind Yourself of Them
Goal setting is the best way to avoid catching the burnout blues. Setting goals, and of course writing them down, will give you something to focus on throughout your season. Your goals should keep you concentrated and motivated as you go into each practice. When your mind starts to drift away and you feel yourself losing sight of why you do what you do every day, remind yourself of the goals that you wrote down at the beginning of your season.
Burnout is not something that any athlete strives to experience. Unfortunately, the feeling may come and go, but as long as you take the necessary steps needed to regain your focus and find the fire inside of you, you will find your way out! I hope you found these tips to be helpful.