The Problem of Fatigue in Exercise

No discussion of physical exercise, whether in training or actual sport participation, would be complete without an attempt to analyze fatigue. Any severe exercise will result in fatigue of the muscles and with them the heart and nervous system. This will produce in the body a lack of co-ordination so that there is reduced ventilation and transport of oxygen and improper removal of waste products. It may be that fatigue will produce only lack of response or a slowing down in the muscles alone, but can also cause faintness, giddiness and often sickness.

There is little doubt that exhaustion of the more serious kind is more often found in the young athlete than in the experienced one. This is found to be solely due to lack of proper training and preparation and inadequate feeding. There are, of course, unfortunate cases in the boxing world where youngsters have been worked to death fighting several times in a week and in a little while are 'punch-drunk' from sheer nervous and physical exhaustion. Happily, this is rarer nowadays than it was twenty years ago. Very little severe exhaustion has been noted in the experienced athlete. Exhaustion of some kind is common to all games and sports and in cross-country running, marathons and after boat races there has been perhaps more notable examples. Very often examination has shown a marked acidosis in the blood which has led to the feeding of glucose during games and often in training.

I feel sure that controlled training, fundamentally, by a specialized team would reduce to the barest minimum any state of fatigue in athletes. In particular the young athlete needs careful handling, and in my opinion it would be a sorry state of affairs if because of a good heart and lots of enthusiasm the young athlete were to burn himself out before maturity. This has happened and is going on happening and it will take very little to put to a stop one of the principal causes of physical fatigue in the athlete. How can fatigue be prevented? In my opinion very simply, firstly, by the provision of sound scientific training and conditioning, which I have already dealt with in a previous chapter and which I will go on stressing, and secondly, by ensuring that the athlete, during training and participation, has an adequate diet with a sufficiency of carbohydrate reserves, which can be fortified with vitamins and salt intake. Training should be gradual and the athlete must not be in a hurry to reach his peak. He should build up for it by graduated exercises. Training should always be directed to the end in view. It is important to preserve and increase wind and endurance and no better method can be found than that already outlined.

There should not be any recourse to artificial stimulants. No drug should ever be used on an athlete to push him beyond the limit of his own endurance and no responsible trainer should contemplate it.

Research work done on many famous athletes, especially long distance runners, shows that by good training and diet, and an adequate salt intake, these men adapted themselves to a high physical pitch together with wind and stamina. At the close of their work they were comparatively fresh and the work was actually done with ease. These athletes all showed that they possessed a high oxygen intake and a low acidity and developed extraordinary efficiency in both heart and circulation. When an athlete is tired he goes 'stale'. In addition to his fatigue he is irritable, he has little appetite and cannot sleep, and more often than not develops an acute state of sensitivity. He easily gets the 'jitters'. When this happens it is advisable for the trainer to give him a complete break from training and playing. His fatigue is physical and mental and can be compared to a nervous break-down. The only treatment is a rest, absolute and complete, from all participation. But if the fundamental rules outlined are followed with common sense and efficiency I am sure that this state would never happen./p>

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