How Sleep Became Part of the Training Plan
Elite teams spent decades perfecting workouts, diets and recovery. Then they started paying attention to what athletes did after they went to bed.
Athletes World
• Sleep has become an important part of the modern training plan, with athletes and teams paying closer attention to rest as a key part of recovery and performance.
For most of sports history, coaches worried about practice. By the late 1990s, some were starting to worry about mattresses.
Sleep consultant Nick Littlehales began working with Manchester United after spotting a strange gap in elite sports preparation. Clubs controlled training and nutrition, but players went home each night with little guidance about sleep. His work later extended to Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, British Cycling and other elite athletes and teams. (The Guardian, 2015)
The idea spread because the problem was obvious: athletes were spending enormous effort preparing their bodies, then sometimes undermining that work with late games, early practices and constant travel.
Sleep consultant Nick Littlehales began working with Manchester United after spotting a strange gap in elite sports preparation. Clubs controlled training and nutrition, but players went home each night with little guidance about sleep. His work later extended to Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, British Cycling and other elite athletes and teams. (The Guardian, 2015)
The idea spread because the problem was obvious: athletes were spending enormous effort preparing their bodies, then sometimes undermining that work with late games, early practices and constant travel.
