Practice and rest balance

The most important in modern table tennis is to achieve the best proportion on training and rest in order to minimize the risk injuries and get the most from the players at the right moment. Several most important principles which are based on the explorations in connection with the periods of time which must guide the coaches and the players are the following:

Training must be made in cycle over a period of time (periodisation of training) and special attention must be paid to the regular exchange of the training and rest.
The resting intervals during the training session has to be pre-programed.
When the efforts overcomes the defensive mechanism of the body, the rest mechanism and relaxation fail to take place in most cases.
It is better to reduce the training load or to make some changes (mainly in the main session) in order to avoid disturbances in the players' body function.
Try to keep a steady pace during the training sessions.
Make a "global" but also a "personal" training for each player.
The competition period is the most crucial period of the year. It is the time that you want the players to do their best, so you have to plan a very well cycled organised program. (I have a full example in my table tennis book, describing the annual preparation in table tennis which divided into time periods).
Keep tracking of the records of your players' training sessions and competition results and compare them to find out the (+) or (-).
Put some relaxing exercises or other relaxing activities when you see the players bored or tired.

It is important that the consumption of energy are equally divided with the relaxation. If the cycles of heavy training are not equally exchanged with the rest periods, the top results become impossible, or almost impossible. It is dangerous to see that the mental strength of the player is diminishing. Overtraining symptoms are alsmost the same in each player. Some of them are: Increased heartbeats at the morning hours. Decreased performance. Decreased appetite. Unexpectedly lose of weight. Sleep disturbunces. Increased arterial pressure. Decresed physical strength. Inclination to illnesses. It is well accepted that the prevention is always preferable than the healing, so be careful with the training design to avoid difficult situations for you and your players.