Overtraining, and how to avoid it..

I received an email recently which made me think about over-training, and how, if it occurs in athletes who are regularly overseen by qualified coaches, the likelihood is a lot of people training by themselves may be succumbing to, or running the risk of it.

What is over training?



Over training (often referred to as burnout, overfatigue and chronic overwork) is defined as excessive frequency, volume or intensity of training that results in reduced performance, fatigue, illness or injury. These symptoms are often as a result of insufficient rest and recovery, and also inadequate nutritional support. There are various stages of anaerobic overtraining, with the initial decrements occuring in the neural system, then the endocrine system (reduced testosterone and insulin like growth factor and increased cortisol (stress hormone) levels), and then all of the body's systems (neural, endocrine, muscular, cardiovascular, metabolic, immune and psychological).

In the short term, over training is referred to as 'overreaching' and is a practice frequently utilised by the S&C community to promote significant strength and power gains. Indeed, a planned phase of over work (designed to suppress performance and build tolerance) followed by a period of rest to rebound performance levels, is often purposefully factored into athletic training programmes. It should be noted, however, that this is very different from prolonged periods of over work, which cannot be recovered from in a matter of days.

Over training syndrome brings about a feeling of reduced motivation, plateaus or reductions in performance, and lethargy, and is often caused by too high a rate of progression (ie. too rapid an increase of either volume or intensity, or both).

Whilst in laboratory research into overtraining is thin on the ground (not that many people want to purposefully train to the point of feeling crappy and significantly under performing) field studies have indicated that the overtraining state is specific to individuals and their genetics, training status and individual responses i.e the same stimulus can over train one person but not another.

So how can we avoid it?

If you're training under the guidance of a good coach, the chances are they will be monitoring your energy levels, strength, aerobic and anaerobic development and mood, and prescribing you programme accordingly, so you can probably rest assured that over training won't be an issue for you. If you are training on your own and feeling below par, however, it may be worth consulting an expert to discuss your current program and whether it is structured appropriately to get you to your goal, or whether you are just going to run yourself into the ground.

Optimal performance (and by that I mean functioning at your best whether it be for fat loss or an olympic medal) depends largely on the careful manipulation of work, rest and nutrition in order to promote adaptation without pushing the body too far over the edge and at risk of injury or illness. The more experienced an athlete is, the closer to this mark they need to train in order to stimulate a positive response.

Periodisation (the breaking down of your programme into annual, monthly (-ish, weekly and daily components) allows us to ensure that all of the essential components of an individual's requirements are covered whilst also allowing sufficient time to rest, recover and adapt.

At the end of the day, the key to avoiding overtraining is in the preparation.

Are you allowing sufficient time to recover from neurologically fatiguing workouts (ie strength training)?

Are you allowing sufficient time for psychological rest?

Is your diet supporting your body, or making life hard for it?

If in doubt, seek expert advice. It doesn't matter how slim you are if you feel like death and get injured all the time.

Train well!