Overtraining

Overtraining
Overtraining or overtraining syndrome is a physical condition which gradually develops because of stress placed on the body that it is unable to cope with. It is different from the routine stresses of training and daily variations. Overtraining presents itself as prolonged fatigue and decreased performance. 

There are a number of contributing factors to overtraining:
  • Excessive training overload (either frequency, intensity, etc), workloads are being increased by too much without adequate time for recovery
  • Disturbances to daily routines because of demanding competition schedules
  • Poor nutrition that does not allow proper maintenance of the body
  • External psychological stressors (difficulties in an athletes life that cause emotional/mental problems)
  • Anything else that causes insufficient recovery such as lack of sleep

Symptoms of Overtraining
Any prolonged change in an athlete is usually a sign of overtraining. Common sense can be used to think of signs of overtraining. Psychological symptoms are usually first to appear, so it is important to keep a training log to detect these. Below is a table of some common signs:

Physiological symptoms

Psychological symptoms

-       -  Prolonged fatigue

-       -  Chronic muscle soreness

-       -  Increased resting HR

-       -  Increased HR during sub-maximal exercise

-       -  Consistently decreased test results

-       -  Loss of appetite

-       -  Swelling of lymph nodes

-       -  More frequent sickness (e.g. flu)

dss  -  Slower HR recovery after exercise

-ss   - Weight loss

-       -  Slow recovery from strains/bruises                 


--

-       Decreased concentration

-       Decreased motivation/arousal

-       Irritability/anger

-       Decreased confidence

-       Depression

-       Loss of competitiveness

-       Disturbed sleep

-       Increased sensitivity to emotional stress

-       The tendency to give up, being easily beaten or    intimidated

-       Lack of enjoyment in exercise

Preventing overtraining
  • Training programs should provide adequate recovery
  • The principle of progressive overload should be kept to
  • Training should include variety and avoid monotony, periodisation should occur.
  • Nutrition should meet the demands of the athlete for growth and repair
  • The athlete should be monitored physiologically and mentally (a training log is helpful) with abnormal variations being a possible sign of overtraining
  • Athlete's shouldn't train hard if they feel sick
Treating overtraining
Treating overtraining usually requires complete rest for physical and psychological regeneration. The athlete can set short term goals to manage their recovery. Stressors should be removed from an athlete. Recovery techniques such as massage and hydrotherapy can be used. The longer the period of overtraining, the more recovery time needed by the athlete. When returning to training, this should be done slowly with careful monitoring.

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