Overtraining In Athletic Training

Introduction

The goal of any athletic training is to provide sufficient training loads that improve and athlete’s performance ( Meeusen, 2006, p.1) Due to training methods, athletes will experience minor fatigue and acute decline of performance (Halson, 2004, p.967). Creative new training methods, developed by coaches, athletes and sport scientists, are aimed to help improve the quality and quantity of athletic training ( Kellmann, 2010, p.1). However, these methods have encountered a consistent set of barriers including overtraining ( Kellmann, 2010, p.1). When training stress and adequate recovery time is disproportionate, overtraining will occur ( Halson, 2004, p.967). Due to these barriers, the need for physical and mental recovery in athletics brought an increasing attention in practice and in research ( Kellmann, 2010, p.1).

In order to fully understand the impact and effect of overtraining, defining and establishing the difference of what overtraining is from other conditions, such as overreaching, is necessary. Overtraining is defined as the accumulation of both training and non-training stresses producing a long-term effect on the athlete’s performance capacity, with or without physical and psychological overtraining signs and symptoms in which recovery of the performance capacity will take weeks to months (Halson, 2004 p. 969). Overreaching, however, is defined by the accumulation of training and non-training stresses with a short-term effect on the athlete’s performance capacity, with or without physical and psychological overtraining signs and symptoms in which the performance capacity will take days to weeks to recover ( Halson, 2004, p.969). The differential of overtraining and overreaching is implied to be the rec...

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...very (Meeusen, 2006 ,p.1). Without sufficient recovery, the body will abnormally adapt to training, having negative impacts on various biological, hormonal, metabolic, physiologic, and lymphatic systems ( Meeusen, 2006, p.1). Implementing sufficient and adequate recovery is the most important step in acquiring positive adaptations to intense training. Recovery allows the athlete to remove training stresses and allow the muscle to properly heal and recover from previous training ( Smith, 2004, p. 194).

Recovery from overtraining syndrome typically last a few months, however there are cases in which an athlete never fully recovers from overtraining and the condition becomes chronic (Smith, 2004, p.190) . An athlete, with overtraining syndrome, should only partake in training at a slow pace and only when function and desire to train present (Smith , 2004, p. 190).