What can be considered as energy?
Energy can be thought of as all the mental and physical resources used by the Athlete. It is important to understand that every day is different, the shape of the Athlete varies.
Knowing yourself, becoming aware of your physical and mental state is essential to spend your energy in a relevant way.
The pressure generated by competition increases the consumption of mental and physical energy.
The more the body is tense, the more it solicits the muscles to be able to perform the movements. The Athlete will necessarily expend more energy than if released.
It is essential to do high-intensity training in order to cope with the pressure on the day of the competition. The well-trained Athlete will do the movements fully automatically (mechanically). He will be relaxed and save valuable energy that can be used in situations he may not have seen in training and which are inseparable from the competition.
Demonstration example
In order to understand this concept, we will use a hypothesis with 2 different situations.
The data is arbitrary and taken subjectively, the goal is just to understand the concept.
Undoubtedly depending on the sport, the duration of the competition and the duration of the warm-up, the energy consumed may be greater or less than this example. A marathon runner will consume his energy little by little while the boxer will have to use his energy in a much more explosive and faster way.
In the following 2 situations, we consider the Athletes consuming their energy in the same way (the number 100 being the maximum energy available and 0 being the minimum energy available).
They both start with an available energy of 85 as they used 15 energy during their Warm-up.
Athletes lose 15 energy every 30 minutes.
The last 30 minutes being the most under pressure, they waste 25 energy on the Athlete.
The break allows you to regain energy.
The break is represented by a small +.
The competition lasts 3:30 or 210 minutes.
Situation n ° 1 : Between games, the Athlete does not take a "break" either to eat or drink or to breathe, to refocus on his emotions, he continues the minutes of play.
Situation n ° 2 : Between games, the Athlete takes "breaks" to eat or drink and to breathe, refocus on his emotions, he recharges himself with energy between games.
In situation 1, between the 150th and the 180th minute, the Athlete has no more energy. The last 30 minutes, he spends them without any energy. Worse, he's in the negative, he's using resources he doesn't have. He created a deficit, traumatic for his body and his mind. There are risks of physical injury and mental instability. He is no longer in an ideal state of performance, his game is deteriorating and his results are poor.
In situation 2, thanks to his breaks, the Athlete has enough energy to perform for the full 210 minutes. Physically and mentally, he supports the consumption of energy to cope with the different situations of the game. His level of play is always high and he can perform well.
Conclusion
Each competition is different and the energy expenditure during the competitive period is not linear, that is to say, it is not perfectly regular (15 by 15 in this example).
At the start of a competition, depending on the Athlete's profile, some people will like to start very strong, take risks, they will consume a lot of energy; while others will prefer to start slower to get their bearings, to gain confidence by doing simple things they can master, they will consume little energy.
The moments of breaks, the moments of physical and mental energy recovery allow you to be in sufficient shape to continue to perform.
Think:
Physically, one action can consume more than another;
Mentally, one emotion can consume more than another;
Tactically, one strategy may be more complex to implement than another;
Technically, one move can be more complex than another to make.
So how do you manage your energy to always be in a state of performance?
You are consistently good or bad at the same times during the competition, understand why and adjust.
Am I asking the right things of my brain, my heart, my body at the right time?