Overtraining

Overtraining is a heavily used term in the endurance sport and athletic world. There is much debate over what quantifies overtraining, if it actually exists (it does), what the causes are, and what symptoms arise. There is no single objective criterion or blood marker that quantifies overtraining, which is why it is difficult to diagnose and often referred to as overtraining “syndrome” (OTS). A syndrome is “a group of symptoms that consistently occur together”, which is fitting for overtraining in the sporting context. Overtraining can develop from any given training load, but it begins the moment you continue to train despite a broken stress/rest balance.

The term overtraining carries a pretty negative connotation, and when some poeple hear it, it tends to bring thoughts of doom and gloom, but it might be better to look at it more objectively versus taking it personally...In my experience, overtraining is a term to describe a misbalance between stress and rest, and it can occur in the short or long term depending on how long you ignore the signs and symptoms. In the right context, stress plus rest equals growth, but in the case of overtraining, stress without adequate rest equals disaster. I will get into why I use the term “stress” as opposed to “training” below.

The body is designed to handle and adapt to stress. Stress comes into our lives in many different forms every day, and training stress is just one kind of stress that we try to adapt to as athletes. We are familiar that we don’t get better as athletes without adequate stress (training), but it is the resting part where our bodies can actually acquire the resources to be stronger. Other stressors that our bodies are faced with on a daily basis include temperature (hot or cold), meeting deadlines (work /school schedules), social pressures, caffeine intake, financial pressures, lack of sleep, relationship stress, or insufficient nutrient intake. All of these stressors on any given day add up to one big stress “bucket”, and the human body can only take so much no matter who you are. It is important to recognize that overtraining can develop due to an over accumulation of too much stress no matter what the source of the stress is. This means that it is not training in isolation that can lead to overtraining.

When our bodies experience any stress, our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) response is activated, and hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol, and glucagon are released by the adrenal glands, kidneys, and nerve endings. Training is a physical stressor that dumps these stress hormones throughout each training session. If appropriate rest is incorporated after stressful training bouts or life event, then the body can adapt to that stress, learning to lessen the stress response to that stressor. In similar future stress bouts, the body will release less stress hormones in response to the same stressor. When you first start training, it may feel very hard and stressful, but with positive adaptation, you can do more in the future with a lower stress response. This is how we get better as athletes and grow our capacity to do work as humans.

Things go wrong when the balance of stress plus rest leans too far in the stress direction. When too much stress is placed on the body, the stress response from the nervous system and adrenal glands becomes fatigued, and the body can no longer elicit the stress response that allows you to tackle challenging tasks or training sessions. Initially, your stress response actually ramps up due to the exposure to an increasing training load beyond what you can handle, so you might feel superhuman for a little while as overtraining develops. This superhuman increase in sympathetic (fight or flight) activation is a bit of a red flag though, as it causes you to train much harder than what you can actually handle, and you will break your body down much more than you realize thanks to the hormones flooding your system acting as natural painkillers. In reality, you are becoming very catabolic, meaning that you are breaking the body down. The breakdown is exacerbated when you do not allow sufficient rest to recover from that stress. After the sympathetic system is in overdrive, if you continue to push hard, it exhausts and becomes depleted. At this stage, you are left heavily broken down, without the resources (stress response and hormones) to continue training. We need to balance out the catabolic states with anabolic states (that build the body back up). Being overtrained means you are not getting the anabolic response that you need to recover from the catabolic events you are exposed to.

When your nervous and endocrine (hormonal) systems are depleted, it becomes almost impossible to complete your training sessions like normal. A big reason for this is that the stress hormones that are normally present in training mobilize fuel and act as pain killers for exercise. Without these hormones present in the exhaustion stage, you are unable to mobilize fuels normally and your RPE (rate of perceived exertion) will increase. Cortisol is an important hormone that is released during exercise that helps mobilize fuels and activate the fight or flight response. When the sympathetic nervous system is over-aroused in the early stages of overtraining, the excessive training and cortisol can lead to inflammation, excessive water retention, and weight gain. When cortisol is depleted, it may lead to simple sugar cravings to make up for the lack of energy mobilization from the hormone.

It is also worth noting that the neurotransmitter dopamine (in the brain) plays a massive role in motivation in sports. You have dopamine to thank for all that excitement, drive, and ambition you feel as an athlete to take on copious amounts of training to achieve a big goal, and it too helps hard training sessions feel easier. Training hard can be a very dopamine-driven process, and like the stress rest balance, dopamine also has a balance. If dopamine becomes depleted after periods of high dopamine activity, this can also leave you feeling tired, burnt out, and make your training sessions much harder to complete.

Key markers of overtraining include excessive training followed by exhaustion, muscle soreness, increased susceptibility to injury or illness, and decreased performance. Other symptoms include loss of motivation for your sport, extreme tiredness despite getting sufficient sleep, excessive or absent appetite, craving simple sugars or salty foods, a depressed HR during training, an inability to execute training intensity, increased RPE, over reliance on stimulants for energy, depression, anxiety, and an increase in negative self-talk.

It is important to know that there are stages of the training process that can lead to the overtraining syndrome. The first stage is called functional overreaching (FOR) which is actually where positive adaptation can occur from stress. FOR occurs when we take on a training session, become fatigued, and bounce back within 1-2 days to train hard again. The next stage is called non-functional overreaching (NFOR). NFOR occurs when we do not bounce back from a stressful training session within 1-2 days, and may take 1-2 weeks to recover from. The last stage is overtraining (OT). OT occurs when performance continues to decline despite training or rest, and may take months to years to recover from. Yes, recovery can take this long! You may be able to train at a certain level after being overtrained, but your health and performance will have taken a hit.

So, overtraining is simply a misbalance between stress and rest, when things lean too heavily on the stress part of the equation without adequate rest. The key thing is to listen closey to what your body is telling you on a day to day basis. It will take some learning to figure out where your line is and when you should back off the training to avoid crossing it. Yes, we need to train hard and push our bodies beyond their current abilities to become better athletes, but more is not always better. It is key to stay in the sweet spot where you are bouncing back with sufficient energy within 1-2 days of your training sessions, and if you or your coach have to hold yourself back, this is a GOOD thing. It is best to try to slowly increase load over a longer period of time by allowing more recovery between sessions than it is to cram training and risk over training. If you are requiring more than 1-2 days easy or off from training to bounce back, this is another big red flag and you should consider lowering your training load.

If you notice any of these signs and symptoms as you go about your training, it is time to add in rest to the equation ASAP:

• Excessive and abnormal muscle soreness (you can feel it walking up stairs or when lying down)

• Excessive or absent appetite (feeling more or less hungy than normal)

• Weight gain or loss

• Loss of motivation for your sport or daily activities

• Increased anxiety

• Increased sleep time without feeling refreshed

• Decreased sleep time and waking up earlier than normal

• Negative self-talk

• Brain fog and trouble concentrating

• Craving simple sugars, especially around training

• Feeling like you need stimulants or sugar to keep your energy levels up

• Struggling to feel motivated to execute normal training sessions you typically enjoy

• In the early stages, feeling like a superhuman who can take on anything and everything!

• Mental burnout

• Starting a session feeling like you should be resting

• Struggling to hit training intensity targets

• An excessive suppression of HR during training (your HR won’t increase despite putting out effort)

• An elevated resting HR (+5-10bpm)

• You look at the training on your calendar and want to do less than prescribed

In summary, overtraining is a term to describe a misbalance between stress plus rest. It occurs when stress overpowers the rest part of the equation, and the body breaks down in excess of it’s ability to repair and adapt positively. The end product of overtraining is decreased performance, and a whole host of symptoms to recover from. To prevent overtraining, it is important to listen to your body closely, and incorporate adequate rest and easy days into your training regimen and life. If you do find yourself overtrained, take a few days completely off of training and patiently wait for your vitality to come back around. More training will never improve overtraining symptoms, and rest/sleep are arguably the most important remedies to alleviate symptoms. You should avoid doing hard days back to back, and always incorporate easy days between hard days. Follow up periods of high stress with periods of rest in somewhat proportional quantities. An undertrained athlete will likely outperform an overtrained athlete, so do your best to learn your body’s signs and heed its call!

KEY MARKERS OF OVERTRAINING TO MONITOR ON A DAILY BASIS: PREVENTION!

• Did you desire to train more or less today? If you wanted to train less, that’s a red flag.

• Is your appetite abnormally high or low? It’s best to listen to your hunger/fullness cues

• Is your sleep getting disrupted? (Trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, sleeping longer or shorter than normal, feeling restless despite a full nights sleep?)

• Do you notice a sharp drop in motivation?

• Are you abnormally sore? Are you struggling to recover from workouts?

• What leve of fatigue are you experiencing?

• Do you notice your mental state and mood declining?

• Do you have a complete loss in libido, menstrual function, NPT, or sexual dysfunction?