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Overtraining
By
Dr Grant Wilkinson D.C, B.Sc, M.Sc *
Overtraining occurs when a person experiences stress and physical trauma from exercise at a rate that is faster than her or his body can repair the damage. Put simply, overtraining occurs when
athletes try too hard to improve performance and train beyond the body's ability to recover.
Many athletes, not just those in surf life saving, often feel compelled to exercise longer and harder in order to
improve performance. A problem arises, however, when you are exercising beyond what your body tells you is acceptable, and you still feel as though you need to do more. Performance enhancement requires a balance between
overload and recovery. Too much overload and/or too little rest results in overtraining. This causes a state of physical, chemical and mental imbalance.
So what is the result of pushing yourself too hard?
Both athletes and coaches alike often think that poor performance in competition comes from a lack of fitness or physical capacities such as anaerobic threshold or VO2Max. Most commonly though, it is the athlete
who is overtrained who can suffer from underperformance in competition.
Overtraining is a response of the body to high volume, high intensity training over an extended period of time, without the required amount of
recovery time between sessions and or seasons. It has been reported that an increase in training volume and intensity, above 5-10% per week, is enough to cause the body to fall into an overtrained state.
There is no quantative test for overtraining, but some of the signs and symptoms are:
·Elevated morning resting pulse rate
·Increase in injuries
·Chronic muscle soreness
·Weight loss
·Frequent minor infections
·Appetite loss
·Increased Blood lactate
·Decreased Vo2 Max
·Decreased anaerobic threshold
·Increased blood pressure
Performance components linked with overtraining include:
·Decreased performance
·Delayed recovery from training
·Intolerance to training
It must be remembered though that apart from the physiological factors of overtraining, there are often several many more subtle psychological factors that will ultimately cause a decrease in
performance as well. An athlete who is not mentally and emotionally prepared for competition will almost always under-perform no matter how well conditioned they are physically.
Psychological signs of overtraining:
·Fatigue
·Reduced concentration
·Reduced motivation
·General apathy
·Insomnia
·Irritability
·Depression
A classic psychological sign of overtraining is a considerable decrease in motivation to train and compete and an indifference or general apathy towards poor results in competition.
This psychological component of overtraining is extremely hard to measure and sometimes hard to also distinguish and is one where a coach needs to have excellent communication skills with the athlete.
The psychological
implications can be far more damaging than the physiological ones and can lead to longer term recovery. Physically, an athlete can potentially recover after several days or weeks rest and by increase fluid and food intake
and only perform occasional training sessions that require minimal physical exertion only.
Mentally however, it may take much longer to recover from being overtraining and this can have devastating long term consequences
on the athletes self confidence and general motivation to stay involved with the sport.
How to Avoid Overtraining
For a coach designing a training program, one of the
easiest ways to avoid the detrimental effects of overtraining is to make sure that there is plenty of variation in the training.
Aspects such as varying training locations and styles are any easy way to keep athletes mentally fresh.
Regenerative and recovery sessions likewise are also an easy way to keep athletes both physically and mentally
fresh.
Due to the nature of our sport, this is one of the easiest components to include in an overall training program as all a coach has to do is tell their athlete to "go catch some waves and have some fun". Including other physiological aids that can help an athlete recover such as regular treatment and therapy from a chiro, physio, or massage therapist can also easily be included as a regular part of the training schedule.
Preventing Overtraining
Overtraining in most athletes is easily preventable. Unfortunately, both athletes and coaches have a tendency to wait too long before realizing
it's time to do something about it. An important component of exercise is to objectively measure your training direction and modify it before damage is done.
For coaches, that means individually tailoring a training
program for each athlete based on their age and body type, their years in the sport and most importantly what he or she can handle both mentally and physically.
Coaches wishing to get the best out of their
athletes need to sit down before pre-season training begins and map out the goals for the season and training schedules for each athlete. Drawing up draft training programs for 4, 6 or 8 week blocks that are constantly
altered and modified to suit any given situation is also a good idea as all of these will help keep your athletes fresh and at optimal performance levels.
