Many athletes believe that by reducing caloric/carb/fat intake and increasing training intensity/volume, performance will improve. But sadly, the opposite occurs. Sport performance declines, the risk for injury increases, hormones get out of whack, metabolism suffers and the body becomes overly stressed.
Consider these tips to help keep your body in good health as you train to improve performance.
1) When training volume/intensity increases, your energy consumption must also increase. An extreme jump in training volume/intensity does not make you a faster, stronger or fitter athlete.
2) Stay on the path of your own developmental journey instead of jumping on the path of another athlete.
3) Loss of menstruation is not a normal part of training.
4) You do not have to achieve an ideal/specific body type to improve your performance or to experience success in sport.
5) Sport nutrition products are designed to help you adapt better to training. By using products appropriately, you'll improve health and performance. Sport nutrition products are considered healthy when used correctly during training/racing.
6) Your sleep can tell you a lot about your health, recovery and toleration of training stress. Restless or poor sleep is a sign that your body is not adapting well to training.
7) Recovery is everything that happens between two workouts. If you can't recover, you can't improve performance.
8) Your daily diet supports training. Missing links/cracks in the diet increase the risk for fatigue, injury, illness and burnout.
9) Performance does not immediately decline when you are living in an energy deficit state. Many times, it improves. However, this is only short-term as eventually, health and performance will eventually decline. Be proactive so you aren't forced out of your sport.
10) Sport should improve health, not destroy your body. Focus on ways to improve longevity in sport, rather than chasing short term/quick improvements.