Ever since I joined a club a year ago, I have been playing badminton 4 days a week, 4 hours a day (at night, until gym closes at 11pm). Every night before games, I stretch for a couple minutes, rally for 5-10 minutes, then, depending on the people there, play a dozen fun, relaxed, and/or intensive games. My level is low-mid intermediate; each doubles game lasts perhaps 10 minutes or less, with short breaks (or long waits, if crowded) every 2-3 games. I love but rarely (have a chance to) play singles. Lately, I have been feeling more tired, especially the next day at work. I also start to feel discomfort (no pain) at my knees. Strangely, I twisted my ankles a lot less than couple years ago when I played only 1-2 times a week. Am I doing it wrong? Not enough stretching? Not enough muscle strengthening exercise? Not enough nutrition? Wrong time of day? Or this age thing has caught up with me and I should reduce my play? How do you prolong your badminton life?
First of all, how old are you? Your age shouldn't be catching up with you if it starts with a 1 or a 2. Second of all, it sounds like you're doing the right things. You're warming up, you're taking some breaks, and you're exercising with reasonable moderation. It sounds like you're overexerting yourself, and not giving yourself enough time to recover properly. Your body will take 24-48 hours to properly recover depending on your age. If you're playing consecutive days, this may be causing problems. Your sessions are also quite long, at 4 hours a day. You're bound to feel some fatigue from this. You are also working, and by the sounds of it, might be staying up too late for your schedule (if your gym closes at 11 and you're playing until then!). Nutrition wise: With your current play schedule, you need to eat some protein after you play. Whether you decide to get this from powders and drinks, peanuts, or meat, is your choice. Really you want a mix of long and short protein molecules for the best healing process. You should also be eating plenty. You're playing a lot, and you're also busy during the day. When training, I like to try and make sure I eat at least 3,000 calories per day, with a target of 3,700. I would take a look at your sleep and diet, and see if you need to make any changes there. If you're satisfied with these, maybe you should drop down to 2 hours sessions, or play for 90 minutes and take an hour break before playing for another 90.
Floor is good I assume, mat type? Shoes good too? With good cushioning? If over a year old, they'll need changing because the cushioning will be gone from so many hrs of play. No flat feet? If so, you'll need supportive sports orthotics. Sleep at least 7 hrs? Try to space out your sessions throughout the week with a day off after an intense day. Finally, you may want to visit your doctor, just in case to rule out any systemic illness like anemia, thyroid, diabetes, etc.
Feeling tired the next day - do you have good sleep at night? If you finish your games at 11:00 p.m., this could be considered quite late, if you go to sleep in the next 1 hour or so. One shouldn't be doing anything too stimulating just before sleep. So, perhaps start paying some attention here with the number of hours, and quality of your sleep. I suppose when you said you feel tired, that is what you meant - sleepy. Or do you mean your muscles are sore? Also, stretch after such long games would help, both in recovery, and in relaxing your muscles and helping you sleep (better) too. I find that after games, sometimes if I don't stretch, it could bother my sleep. During the summer time, esp. when the weather is hot (this coming weekend is hot, I heard), you could lose more minerals in your sweat, causing you to feel fatigue earlier. Replenish yourself with some electrolytes. I used to have this kind of problem during the games too. Suddenly, I could feel so tired as if all my energy disappeared, and didn't want to play any more. Ever since I discovered this electrolytes thing (I learned about it via the Marathon folks at work), this is no longer a problem.
