Overtraining can be quite complex and there are a variety of things that can cause it. When it comes to physical performance, overtraining can be defined as plateuing and/or a drop in performance levels. This means that you will not be able to meet the demands of the training load to allow you to progress on. However there are circumstances where you may experience a plateau or your performance doesn’t increase with the training load but this isn’t always classed as overtraining. If a plateau occurs but after an appropiate rest period your performance enhances to what it was previously this is known as overreaching and the body has super-compensated to the training stimulus. This is what we want from training, this is why it is critical to have a rest day where necessary to allow for this super-compensation phase. (Stone et al, 1991)

What causes overtraining?

One way over training can occur is monotonous program overtraining. This is where you continue to do the exact same program week in week out, month in month out with no variety. This leads to a plateau, not because of fatigue but due to the central nervous system adapting to the movements and training routine. This means you are not providing the body with enough stimulus to cause physiological adaptation. Another form of overtraining is overworking the body and this can be split into acute (short term) and chronic (long term). Acute overtraining is known as overreaching and with appropriate rest you will be able to continue to increase performance levels. However if rest is not taken and you continue to train this is where it becomes chronic. If you reach chronic overtraining then you will stop adapting to the training stimulus and not receive any beneficial physiological adaptations and your performance will decrease. This decrease in performance can then last for weeks if not months or until the body is recovered. (Stone et al, 1991)

How to avoid overtraining

To avoid overtraining you need to ensure you are taking recovery days and this is where you give your body a break, reduction or change of stress and stimilus that training puts on the body. The amount of recovery somone needs is very individual and is based on how your body reacts to the stimulus and how much stress your body in, in a specfic session. However recovery doesn’t just have to be time out from training it can be actively and you need to ensure it is pro-active recovery, meaning you are fuelling your body etc so it has what it needs to recover. (Kellmann, 2010)