How to spot and banish athletic burnout

Have you ever got to the point where you are sick of your sport? Recent Netflix documentaries profiling Mark Cavendish and Johnny Manziel have shone a spotlight on the dangers of athletic burnout. I look at how to spot the signs of burnout and the steps athletes, coaches and parents can take to prevent it.

Read time: less than 3 minutes

What we mean by athletic burnout

Firstly, let’s address a common misconception… athletic burnout is not just an outcome of overtraining. Whilst overtraining can make burnout more likely, there’s a lot more to it. Athletic burnout is a form of excessive disillusionment towards a sport an individual takes part in which negatively impacts their physical and psychological wellbeing.

Burnout is likely to lead to people feeling pretty rubbish about themselves, make them perform poorer, and in extreme cases, it may cause them to walk-away from their sport either temporarily or altogether!

It can impact anyone

The additional pressures, stakes and demands of elite sport may make burnout a more obvious risk in professional sport. The personal reflections of Naomi Osaka and Adam Peaty may suggest that burnout impacted their decisions to step away from competing, despite being at the very top of their sports. But whether you’re an Olympic champion, Park runner or 28 golf handicapper, burnout could impact any of us, old or young. Somewhat depressingly, in 2016 research in the States suggested that 70% of children drop out of organised sport by the age of 13 with burnout related reasons being the most cited causes. So, what as individuals, parents and coaches do we need to look out for?

The warning signs of athletic burnout

There are three main symptoms to look out for which, if they’ve been occurring over a prolonged period of time, may be a sign that someone is experiencing burnout.  These are:

1. caring less about their performance than previously,

2. having a reduced sense of accomplishment or enjoyment from their sport,

3. being left physically and emotionally exhausted from their sport.

Preventing athletic burnout

The good news is that there’s some steps we can take to greatly minimise the risk of athletic burnout from happening. It's important to make sure that the sporting environment, the social relationships we have and the way we review our performance supports a healthy relationship with our sport.    

Here are some tips which will help you feel like you ‘want to’ compete in your sport, rather than feeling like you’re ‘having to’.

Keep it fun.

This might sound obvious, but when we get caught up in performance gains or competition we can easily lose sight of why we took up our sport in the first place. Think back to enjoyable times you’ve had in training or competing and focus on how you can keep that element of fun in your sport.

Seek out supportive people.

Do not underestimate the power of social support. Hanging out with people you like and being with supportive people can buffer the effects of stress and make burnout less likely. Try to seek out a training environment where, ideally, you have some control of what you’re doing and where you’re more likely to receive positive feedback.

Mix it up.

Having a variety of interests, sporting and otherwise, has been shown to support better mental wellbeing. If you’re starting to become sick of the sight of your running shoes, tennis racket or the football pitch then consider replacing one training session a week with another sport. Or something completely different altogether! You might find that it doesn’t just help protect you against burnout, but helps you become a better athlete.

Take control and alleviate stress.

When assessing your performance in competition or training, try to focus on the aspects which you can positively influence in future. Having a sense of control not only helps alleviate stress, which feeds burnout, it can act as key motivator and help you make proactive steps in achieving viable improvements.

Watch for harmful perfectionism.

Striving for perfection can help drive you towards your goals, but unhelpful perfection tendencies have been related to increasing the likelihood of burnout.  If you’re someone who is loaded down with concerns about making mistakes, being compared negatively against peers, or perhaps continually feeling like you’re not meeting your performance expectations you’ll be more susceptible to burnout.

Be kind to yourself, reframe your thinking and try and catch yourself if you’re in the habit of continually thinking negatively about yourself.