By Lindsay Woodford
Overtraining can have catastrophic consequences on performance.This article is adaplted from its first appearance in Athletics Weekly, January 18, 2018.
Overtraining syndrome can be devastating since highly motivated athletes are forced to cope with the frustration of reduced performance and taking extended periods off training and competition.
What sets high performance athletes apart? Exceptional physical features, together with high commitment and motivation are important attributes, but so are unique mental and emotional states.
And when faced with frustrating setbacks, the same qualities of commitment and motivation that elevate athletes above the pressures of competition can make them their own worse enemies.
It is not uncommon for elite athletes, especially younger athletes, to push themselves too far, to overreach and experience extreme fatigue on a regular basis. Such excessive training loads coupled with insufficient recovery can mean they never reach their full potential. So, what are the warning signs and what can be done to prevent this catastrophic cascade of events?
Why we need recovery
Recovery following vigorous training is essential for improving athletic performance. In normal circumstances, most athletes will experience some level of fatigue, depression, feelings of burnout, anxiety, irritability and difficulty concentrating or sleeping when participating in heavy training or competition.
They may also experience muscle soreness, decreased coordination, reduced libido and frequent colds. This training state is known as “overreaching” and these symptoms are an expected and accepted effect of vigorous training. If the athlete then follows with a period of lighter training the associated symptoms and reduced performance capacity will quickly be resolved. It is during this tapering period that the athlete’s performance capacity will increase beyond his/her pre-training baseline. This is known as “supercompensation”. Training programs should be designed in a cyclical way (periodization) to allow time for Recovery with progressive overload.
Pushing too far
While overreaching is a vital part of training for improved performance, if it continues for too long and recovery does not occur within two weeks, an athlete is at risk of developing overtraining syndrome. The exact prevalence of overtraining syndrome is not known, but reports suggest that the risk is higher for females, elite athletes and those participating in individual and endurance sports. Overtraining syndrome can be devastating since highly motivated athletes are forced to cope with the frustration of reduced performance and taking extended periods off training and competition.
Get to the root cause
There is much debate in the sport science literature regarding the etiology of overtraining syndrome. Various physiological mechanisms have been proposed to influence an athlete’s vulnerability to the overtraining state. These include low muscle glycogen, decreased glutamine, central fatigue, oxidative stress, imbalance in the autonomic nervous system, hypothalamic dysfunction and elevated cytokine levels. However, no single marker can be taken as an indicator of impending overtraining syndrome. Until a definitive diagnostic tool for overtraining syndrome is developed, regular monitoring of a combination of performance, physiological, biochemical, immunological and psychological variables seems to be the best strategy to help identify athletes who are failing to cope with the stress of training. The checklist on the next page will help athletes, coaches and athlete support personnel to identify the warning signs for overtraining in the hope that they can prevent it and also exclude other possible explanations for underperformance.
Diagnosis
Despite overtraining syndrome being well documented in scientific literature, there is no reliable and practical diagnostic test for the condition. Likewise, the underlying mechanism for the performance decrements have not yet been identified. Further research is desperately needed to provide evidence based diagnostic, treatment and return to play approaches for this complex condition. Monitoring and treating a persistently fatigued athlete can be challenging, as the root cause of the fatigue is often not recognized until months of poor performance have passed. Making an accurate diagnosis can prove tricky as there are often numerous other medical and psychological conditions that present with similar symptoms. Overtraining syndrome can only be diagnosed once all of these other causes have been excluded.
Treatment
If an athlete is diagnosed with overtraining syndrome the current recommended treatment is rest. In some circumstances, “relative rest” is advised, with the athlete building up his training volume prior to intensity, starting from 5-10 minutes daily until reaching one hour. Given the psychological implications of the syndrome, athletes should consider involving a sport psychologist.
If stress, depression and/or anxiety are increased with full rest, relative rest with well-defined training parameters should be provided. Due to the complexities surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of overtraining syndrome, early identification and prevention is of the utmost importance.
CHECKLIST: IDENTIFYING OVERTRAINING SYNDROME
- Decrease in performance that lasts several weeks or months
- Persistent fatigue
- Muscle fatigue
- Increased sense of effort in training
- Loss of competitive drive
- Sleep disturbances
- Elevated resting heart rate
- Mood disturbances – increased irritability, anxiety, depression
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss
- Loss of libido
- Excessive sweating
- Recurrent infections
- Cervical lymphadenopathy (swollen glands, sore throat)
- Increased fall in blood pressure and increase in heart rate on standing
CHECKLIST: PREVENTING OVERTRAINING SYNDROME
- Keep a training diary to monitor performance during training and competition
- Avoid excessive monotony of training—cross train
- Individualize the intensity of training
- Periodization
- Optimize nutrition, hydration and sleep
- Be aware of external stressors that can add to the physical strain of training (work/home problems, house moves etc.
- Take the time to recover after illness or injury
- Treat early signs of OTS with relative rest and a phased return to training
Lindsay Woodford is a chartered sport and exercise psychologist at The Sporting Mindset and lecturer at the University of the West of England, Bristol. For more information on sport psychology please see thesportingmindset.com.