MAINTAING GOOD HEALTH IN SPORTING CAREER

The Exercise, Training and Immunity Story

What are the limiting factors in high-level sport?

Some coaches will argue for fitness, some for skills, techniques and strategies, and others for motivation and arousal. All these factors are important, with their individual contribution depending on the sport, event, age and experience of the athletes, and the coach’s own experience and knowledge. One factor often overlooked is the threat of illness.


Moderate to severe illness at the wrong time can compromise training and competition performance and possibly derail the best laid plans. Coaches, athletes and medical personnel are seeking guidelines on the ways to reduce the risk of illness in athletes preparing for high level competition. The aim of this article is to outline some strategies for reducing the problems of illness and infection in athletes.

Illness and sporting performance

The most common illness observed in athletes is a mild and self-limiting viral infection of the upper respiratory tract, ie the common cold. The symptoms of the common cold are well known and include mild headache, sore throat, nasal congestion, cough and mild fatigue . It occur throughout the year although seasonal peaks are usually observed in the autumn and spring.

Preventing illness – maintaining performance: the 5-point plan

The body's immune system which protects host tissues against illness and infection is influenced by a wide range of physical, environmental, psychological, and behavioural factors. Examination of the relevant medical and scientific literature, the results of scientific research conducted with Australian athletes, and the experience of coaches, athletes and support staff, has lead to the development of a 5-point-plan to the reduce the risk of illness.

The five basic points are:

Managing physical training loads
Managing psychological stress
Limiting environmental stress
Reinforcing basic self-management skills
Medical considerations
Managing physical training loads

Research and practical experience confirm that exercise and prolonged training can stress athletes leading to fatigue, injury and illness. In terms of the training program, careful management of training loading patterns is required to maintain the fine balance between maximizing fitness and maintaining health . While fitness and physical conditioning is a central part of the preparation in individual sports, even team game athletes can feel ‘run down’ and experience health problems.

In individual endurance sports such as running, cycling, rowing, swimming and triathlon, training consists largely of high volume-low intensity work. Improvements in performance are primarily achieved through systematic increases in the volume and intensity of training. The training loads of these endurance athletes can be very high and seemingly 'over-the-top' to some outside observers.
However the collective experience of coaches and athletes over many years indicates that these large volumes of work are necessary to build a proper endurance base and competitive fitness . While these loads are necessary to be competitive, the other side of the equation is the rest and recovery that an athlete needs.
An imbalance between training loads and recovery is a major contributor to the onset of fatigue, overtraining and illness in highly trained athletes.

One of the biggest changes in recent years has been the increasing sophistication of recovery programs (massage, water running, hot and cold water therapies, ice therapy, and low-intensity recovery days).

Sudden increases in either training volume or intensity, or both in combination, may place additional pressure on immunity and health. The risk of overtraining is increased by monotonous training without alternating hard and easy training days, a lack of a complete rest day once per week, increasing loads when the total load is already high, and too many competitions.


Athletes often appear to succumb to illness in the periods immediately prior to, during and after the competition . While the stress and risk of illness may be influenced by the psychological stress of competition, athletes should be cautious when boosting their training loads prior to competing. A common mistake is including too many quality sessions immediately before competition: this may be just enough to push the athlete over the edge and into problems with health and performance.


There can be striking individual differences in how athletes respond to training. Most athletes should be able to train with high loads provided their program includes strategies devised to control the overall strain and stress. Athletes should be encouraged to undertake intensive training knowing that variations in performance and fatigue are symptoms to be respected, and not necessarily problems to overcome.


The links between nutrition, supplements and immunity generates considerable discussion in sporting circles. Most athlete's diet generally has sufficient calories and range of both macro- and micro-nutrients to maintain health, and an athlete would require a very radical diet before immune function and resistance to infection would be compromised. There are two major groups of athletes who are most at risk are: those who voluntarily restrict caloric and nutrient intake to make weight limits or for aesthetic reasons (more commonly female athletes), and those who consume excessive calories and/or nutritional supplements in the expectation of performance improvements and muscle bulking (more commonly male athletes).


Athletes should be clearly advised that immune responses can be effected by both deficiencies and excessive intake of certain nutrients . Many athletes falsely assume that higher levels of nutritional supplementation will automatically have a beneficial effect on health, immunity and performance.

Practical recommendations (Self-Management Skills):
Ensure a balanced diet of macro- and micro-nutrients

Use throat protectors such as honey-lemon drinks, steam baths
Avoid exposure to large crowds and infected individuals
Emphasize personal hygiene practices


All team members including athletes, coaches and team staff should be educated on the ways of managing training, health and lifestyle to maximize training and competition performance. The 5-point illness prevention plan outlined here provides a framework for minimizing the risk of illness in the athletic setting. A cooperative environment should be encouraged so that the athlete and coach can jointly monitor progress and adjust training before fatigue, illness or injury interfere with performance.