I was too general in my statement about dropping the weights. (Unless we are talking a specific injury we tend to talk in general terms!)

When it comes to those ‘itis’ injuries yes some field/ice work should at times be reduced in favour of more rehab recovery work should be included.

side question- if its a biomechanical issues does the volume even matter?

Now speaking on the CNS, when you hit a point of ‘over-volume’ this is where I’m talking about dropping weights.

Example- a high level long jumper, will have track practice followed by the weight room. If she starts to hit a point of CNS fatigue you must reduce or some times even drop the weight room to see continued progress in jumping distance.

PS- Who are these hockey players you speak of, I have met few hockey player who didn’t like to lift!

In my experience working in hockey, soccer, and rugby, athletes simply do not do enough strength training. This leaves them with imbalances and injuries which could have been avoided if simple strength and dryland movement programming would have been implemented in the first place. Many injuries we see in the athletic therapy field are repetitive strains mostly due to biomechanical issues. Had the volume of overall sport practice been decreased and supplemented with patterning and recruitment exercises coupled with strength training the likelihood of injury would have decrease dramatically.

When injury has occurred in tissue or structure, the best component of training to decrease is the volume of training altogether. But with injury so specific, one must look at all the surrounding factors; movement specification is usually the deciding factor as to which component of training needs to be adapted.

One thing you should mention, its isn’t always sickness that occurs, most of the time it’s little nagging injuries that creep up. The micro tears don’t get a chance to heal and it become a larger issue, such as a pulled muscle or tendinitis.

Another thing I’ve found in myself when it comes to CNS overload is in my ability to handle bright lights or muscle twitching- usually a dead give away.

Initially, this will impact the muscles ability to contract completely and the athlete will see strength levels diminish. Next we’ll experience a decrease in muscle control and coordination - the athlete may fall, fail to accomplish tasks that are easy for them due to poor motor movements or not feel or be able to control their body. Sleep and mood problems will then begin to surface given that the nervous system fatigue is general and not just systemic. A week or so later, the athlete will get sick and need to rest which will allow the nervous system to recover causing a rebound in performance once they get back to their sport.