[ingar]

ingar on May 26, 2005 at 12:02 pm #10917

How badly can overtraining affect performance?

If say, you have a consistant sub-11 100m-runner who is severly overtrained with a great deal of small injuries, how (bad) will he run? Does anyone know what is common, and is it easier to perform within ones standard in the 200 when overtrained than the 100?

[Daniel Andrews]

Daniel Andrews on May 27, 2005 at 8:10 pm #45956

All forms of your running will suffer from overtraining. Your body is stressed and fatigued when overtrained and the only way to recover is with some active-rest. The active part should be very short and to keep your legs used to running/sprinting.

If you are severely overtrained, just resting 2-3 weeks would be best.

[Mike Young]

Mike Young on June 4, 2005 at 7:10 pm #45957

I agree that overtraining can severely hurt performance (maybe up to 0.3s in the case you mentioned) but I disagree that complete rest is the best option for recovery when athletes are really overtrained. I think active rest is always the best option. Higher volume low intensity work such as weight circuits, GS circuits, and extensive tempo will all help aid recovery by enhancing circulation and blood endocrine profile.

ELITETRACK Founder

[lorien]

lorien on June 4, 2005 at 8:52 pm #45958

I mostly agree with Mike, however, serious overtraining sometimes ???spill over??? to the mental side, especially when an athlete keeps pushing for results with no avail for longer period of time. I this case, total de-attachment from any training might be a good option: Perhaps total rest for a week (going fishing or something) followed by a week or two with low intensity training? Recovery from serious overtraining is not always purely physiological.

[Derrick Brito]

Derrick Brito on June 4, 2005 at 11:08 pm #45959

it very hard to take complete rest after being very active. its a serious shock to the body.

[lorien]

lorien on June 5, 2005 at 2:38 am #45960

[i]Originally posted by cockysprinter[/i]
it very hard to take complete rest after being very active. its a serious shock to the body.

Perhaps?… but a healthy one.

Personally, I think the ???shock??? would be more mental than physiological anyhow; hence helping in recovery from the lethargic feeling that sometimes comes with overtraining when you start craving for exercise again. This again, would be an addition to physiological recovery. This of course in the most serious cases, not the norm, where low intesity training is enough.

[Mike Young]

Mike Young on June 8, 2005 at 12:11 pm #45961

Good points Lorien. I agree with what you said about overtraining often being psychological in nature. In fact, several studies on overtraining have indicated that there are many factors (including psychological and motivational) which influence whether an athlete is overtrained.

Having said that, if such a complete rest were needed in-season, I’d probably still suggest the athlete do quite a bit of fitness related activities (like swimming, cycling, etc.) to maintain their fitness for when they were ready to compete again.

ELITETRACK Founder