Overtraining occurs when a person exceeds their body's ability to recover from strenuous exercise. Overtraining can be described as a point where a person may have a decrease in performance and plateauing as a result of failure to consistently perform at a certain level or training load; a load which exceeds their recovery capacity. People who are overtrained cease making progress, and can even begin to lose strength and fitness. Overtraining is also known as chronic fatigue, burnout and overstress in athletes. It is suggested that there are different variations of overtraining, firstly monotonous program over training suggest that repetition of the same movement such as certain weight lifting and baseball batting can cause performance plateau due to an adaption of the central nervous system which results from a lack of stimulation. A second example of overtraining is described as chronic overwork type training where the subject may be training with too high intensity or high volume and not allowing sufficient recovery time for the body. Up to 10% of elite endurance athletes and 10% of American college swimmers are affected by overtraining syndrome.
Signs and symptoms
Listed below are some of the common effects and cited signs of overtraining. Overtraining may be accompanied by one or more concomitant symptoms:
It is important to note the difference between overtraining and over-reaching; over-reaching is when an athlete is undergoing hard training but with adequate recovery, overtraining however, is when an athlete is undergoing hard training without the adequate recovery. With over-reaching, the consequential drop in performance can be resolved in a few days or weeks.
It is also important to remember that the effect of overtraining is not isolated only to affecting the athlete's athletic ability but it can have implications on other areas of life such as performance in studies or the work force. An overtrained athlete who is suffering from physical and or psychological symptoms could also have trouble socialising with friends and family, studying for an exam or prepping for work.
Cause
Like pharmacological drugs, physical exercise may be chemically addictive. Addiction can be defined as the frequent engaging in the behavior to a greater extent or for a longer time period than intended. It is theorized that this addiction is due to natural endorphins and dopamine generated and regulated by the exercise. Whether strictly due to this chemical by-product or not, some people can be said to become addicted to or fixated on psychological/physical effects of physical exercise and fitness. This may lead to overexercise, resulting in the "overtraining" syndrome.
Mechanism
A number of possible mechanisms for overtraining have been proposed:
Microtrauma to the muscles are created faster than the body can heal them.
Amino acids are used up faster than they are supplied in the diet. This is sometimes called "protein deficiency".
Exertional rhabdomyolysis is an extreme form of overtraining that leads to a break down of skeletal muscle which makes its way into the blood. Many molecules such as potassium, creatine kinase, phosphate, and myoglobin are released into circulation. Myoglobin is the protein that causes the lethal reaction in the body. Early detection of the syndrome is essential in full recovery. A serious late complication of rhabdomyolysis which occurs in 15% of the population is acute kidney injury, and in some cases it can lead to death
Clinical Presentation Sauret, John M., George Marinides, and Gordon K. Wang. "Rhabdomyolysis." American family physician 65.5 (2002): 907.
Muscle pain
Tenderness
Swelling
Weakness
Bruising
Tea Colored Urine
Fever
Malaise
Nausea
Emesis
Confusion
Agitation
Delirium
Anuria
Crossfit and Rhabdomyolysis:
As CrossFit has become more and more prevalent and popular among many athletes and individuals, speculation has occurred leading many to believe that spikes in rhabdomyolysis cases leaves CrossFit to blame. According to a study performed in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, unless performed incorrectly and in harmful environments, CrossFit presents no serious physical threat to the human body, and research is inconclusive to prove that rhabdomyolysis cases and crossfit are correlated.
Prevention
Passive recovery, instead of active recovery, is a form of rest that is recommended to be performed by athletes in between rigorous, intermittent exercise. With active recovery, time to exhaustion is much shorter because the muscles are deoxygenated at a much quicker rate than with passive recovery. Thus, if avoiding overtraining means preventing exhaustion, passive recovery or "static rest" is safest.. If active recovery is performed during intense exercise, an athlete may find themselves in a state of being over trained. The gradual variation of intensity and volume of training is also an effective way to prevent overtraining.
