Many athletes live by the mantra "no pain, no gain." It is true that not all physical activity is easy, particularly if you are trying to improve your condition and skills through rigorous training. But there can also be downsides to pushing your body to its physical limits. Understanding the potential gains and losses of training while fatigued can help you improve the quality of your conditioning.
Muscle Fatigue and Overexertion
Fatigue is a routine part of exercise. But as the muscles lose their strength, the small fibers that comprise them tighten and lose their elasticity. The longer you push your body through this exercise, the more likely you will be to tear these muscle fibers and develop a strained or even partially torn muscle. This can take days, and sometimes weeks, to heal properly. In the meantime, you probably won't be able to use the muscle as desired while exercising, and you may be sidelined entirely.
Reduced Mental Capacity
Exercise wears on the muscles, but it can also inhibit your ability to think clearly and coherently. When your body goes into oxygen debt and is trying to catch up, every part of you suffers, and the brain may be slower to process thoughts, reactions and other responses to stimuli. In a sport where reaction time and fast thinking are important, such as in basketball or football, this can be a detriment to on-court performance. One way to combat this is by developing coping skills through training.
Coping Skills Development
One of the greatest benefits to training while fatigued is your ability to develop coping skills that can benefit you in competitive situations. Many people find it harder to do routine tasks like shooting a basketball with the same efficiency when tired as they do when rested. Part of this can be attributed to that individual's lack of practice in shooting a basketball when fatigued. By exercising when fatigued, you can get a sense of your body's abilities when the muscles are tired, and you can train yourself to know intuitively how to compensate for the fatigue.
Endurance Increase
Repetitive exercise and forcing yourself to push on through fatigue can help combat tiredness and exhaustion in the long run. By performing exercises that tax the body and induce muscular fatigue, you stimulate the body to improve its muscular endurance and oxygen intake and use, making for a more efficient body that can perform at high intensities and for longer periods after the training has been put in.
