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Tiredness is a normal part of life. After doing physical activities, our bodies can feel worn out and sore. There is also mental tiredness, but when people talk about fatigue in fitness, they usually mean a stronger sense of being tired. When we feel tired physically, it can cause our muscles to ache and shake, make it hard to move, cause nausea, and even lead to feeling faint. Although these feelings are not pleasant, what if we could use them carefully to improve our fitness and increase our stamina, thus raising our limits for fatigue even more? I first learned about “training in fatigue” when I interviewed Peter Hartley, who was once the captain of Jamshedpur FC, for a feature about how he prepares to win in the ISL. During the interview, Hartley shared that he likes to do a light leg workout the day after a game. Many casual fitness fans might struggle to picture doing a leg workout after playing a top-level football match, but Hartley is following what has become a recognized approach to training.
However, it’s crucial to understand how far to push fatigue. There are two types: peripheral and central. Together with muscle damage, which is the good kind that heals to become stronger with the right nutrition and care, these define what we generally feel as fatigue. “During a workout session and across a training week, there is a necessary number of ‘effective reps’ or ‘effective training’ that must occur to encourage adaptation. This implies that a certain level of peripheral fatigue is essential in each session for it to be most effective. Should we, then, take every set to the point of complete muscle failure? It’s not quite that simple. In theory, doing so would increase the effective reps, but there's a downside to going too far,” explains an article called “The Mechanisms of Training Fatigue” on beyondbodybuilding.com.
Experienced bodybuilders utilize concepts like maintenance volume, minimum effective volume, maximum adaptive volume, and maximum recoverable volume to plan their training. However, for those who are at an intermediate stage, discovering the right balance of fatigue generally comes from experience. For beginners, the aim should be simpler: regularly push through a bit of fatigue to keep making progress. What does this look like? Try doing a few extra reps when you're close to your limit if you have the energy left. If you can, challenge yourself on the 15-rep rule. While running, try to go an extra 20 meters. Gradually, this healthy way of surpassing limits can improve endurance, strength, and stimulate growth. One thing you'll notice when you're fatigued is that both flexibility and eccentric strength decrease. For instance, both can decline after doing many heavy bicep curls. This is when it's essential to be wise about how far to take a set or how much to push past fatigue. Continuing an exercise when your body is completely giving up is not helpful.
There are additional benefits to using fatigue wisely as you progress in your fitness journey. One that stood out to me was highlighted in a research paper named Injury Prevention Training in Football: Time to Consider Training under Fatigue? This study indicates that exercises focusing on balance and preventing injuries may actually be more beneficial when done while tired instead of when one feels completely fresh. “For injury prevention training, the usual method is to carry out drills at the beginning of the session, often when not tired. The reasoning is that athletes can exert themselves in a ‘fresh state’ which allows their muscles to respond correctly for maintaining stability, balance, and control of the body. We suggest that some injury prevention training may be more effective when completed after fatigue takes over rather than before. The truth is that during a game, players have to perform specific tasks when both rested and tired. Therefore, training in both situations could help players,” the research paper mentions.
Some preparatory exercises can be beneficial when done after a workout for those looking to enhance their performance while in a tired state. For example, doing glute bridges or knee-strengthening workouts after a leg day, floor angels after a back workout, or a brief balance exercise after any session that tests stability can be good options. There are many combinations to explore.
Another illustration comes from trainer Darcy Norman in an article for Outside named Training When You’re Tired Will Make You a Better Athlete. “Bricks are workouts where you execute one kind of exercise, such as cycling, and then immediately transition to another that engages different but related muscles, like running. This challenges your body to adapt quickly,” explains Norman, who has experience with renowned European teams like AS Roma and Bayern Munich. When fatigue is paired with thoughtful workout planning, along with recovery and nutrition, it can encourage the body to adapt, heal, and grow in ways that enhance various aspects of physical training.
