Continuing our Preparation for Paris programme in partnership with WHOOP, the second webinar was delivered in February by Global Head of Performance, Principle Scientist at WHOOP, Kristen Holmes. Kristen, who works tirelessly to promote the importance of circadian health and wellbeing, introduced the programmes 52 coaches to the importance of circadian rhythms to optimising health and performing at ones best when it matters most. Kristen took the coaches through the fundamental workings of circadian health, and provided some key tips and tools in navigating the negative effects of circadian disruption.
“The travel schedules and job demands of high performance coaches introduce a lot of complexity related to managing mental, physical and emotional resilience. I hope the sleep and circadian strategies shared help to clarify how our coaches can better mitigate some of the negative effects of travel across time zones.”
Kristen Holmes Global Head of Performance, Principle Scientist at WHOOP
With less than 6 months to go before the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, our group of coaches are already experiencing the stressful world of extensive travel, qualification competitions and even global championships such as the World Aquatics Championships in Doha and the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow. Throughout, coaches have been sharing their WHOOP scores of sleep, recovery and strain, often demonstrating that jet lag, travel and long working days result in red recoveries and low HRV scores.
WHOOP accurately tracks the coaches sleep in detail, including duration of each stage of sleep as well as the time the coaches spend awake in bed not sleeping. The Sleep Planner feature calculates how much sleep coaches need each night (based on previous sleep and strain the body takes on) and monitors our coaches circadian rhythms in order to make daily recommendations for ideal bed and wake times.
Preparation for Paris coach Charlotte Fisher, who is currently coaching GB & NI Paralympian’s, said “Coaching lifestyles aren’t always healthy and wed are so good at putting our athletes first we forget that we do them a disservice by not looking after ourselves! I am getting so much from this programme and the WHOOP is definitely helping me to handle my fatigue! Thank you to FCN and WHOOP!”
