To Train or Not to Train

By Trista Francis, ATC

As athletes, we have a deep desire to discover our full potential. We strive in every run, every ride, every stroke, to unleash some kind of unfamiliar strength that might be trapped within. We sacrifice time, a vital part of life, in an attempt to understand what lies in the soul within us.

Training is what takes us to this understanding. Some athletes are so driven by this that often decisions in regards to training can be clouded. Effective training happens when there is balance between work loads and recovery. Our bodies can physically absorb so much. If we are beyond this point, we benefit more from allowing our bodies to recover than to push through a workout that one feels is just going through the motions. The body needs to be put into a state of overreaching but then given the time needed to recover, repair and strengthen. Determining this balance is critical in successful athlete/ coach relationships.

Many have heard the term “overreaching”. Overreaching occurs when athletes, either accidentally or deliberately, push their bodies harder than usual during training by increasing training intensity, volume or both. Overreaching is characterized by muscle fatigue, possibly caused by muscle damage and/or insufficient metabolic recovery and low stores of energy-rich phosphates (creatine phosphate and ATP). Overreaching is quickly reversible with a few days of rest and/or lighter workouts, during which the body has time to recover. While performance the day or two after overreaching may be somewhat lower, adaptation occurs quickly, and performance continues to improve.

Brehm explains that when sufficient recovery does not occur, and athletes keep working just as hard, overreaching can gradually turn into overtraining. Overtraining syndrome, or staleness, includes physiological, psychological and behavioral symptoms. Its early symptoms, such as fatigue, depression, muscle and joint pain, and loss of appetite, may be disregarded as normal side-effects of heavy training. Other symptoms include changes in heart rate at rest and during exercise, gastrointestinal disturbances, amenorrhea, general apathy, emotional instability, flu-like illness, more frequent infections, delayed healing of wounds and difficulty sleeping.¹

Overtraining Physiology

For some time, researchers have been interested in the physiology of overtraining and, in particular, the factors that disrupt exercise adaptation.^2-4 After all, for every individual, there is a fine line between the training levels that lead to optimal adaption and those that lead to deterioration. When does training that is supposed to give you an edge put you over the edge?

Exercise scientists have many explanations for the symptoms associated with overtraining syndrome. Some theories suggests that overtraining syndrome begins with a mild to moderate injury that is induced by heavy exercise.⁴ The mild trauma that normally occurs with exercise is usually adaptive, but when recovery time is not taken, this trauma can accumulate and become more serious. While the mild inflammatory response that is a normal part of training encourages the body to heal and become stronger, inflammation that surpasses some sort of threshold might trigger a systemic response that encourages athletes to rest, so that healing may occur.

Brehm states “Cellular messengers such as cytokines, which are specialized immune cells, allow the immune system to communicate with the central nervous system. Such messengers may help to trigger the neural and endocrine changes that are observed in overtraining syndrome. These changes lead to the symptoms, such as depressed appetite, depressed reproductive function, increased pain and fatigue, that aim to cause "sickness" behaviors, such as resting. In this way, overtraining syndrome is considered adaptive, in that it interrupts a training program that is causing too much physical damage and is threatening an athlete's well-being.”¹

Lehmann and colleagues bring up a very important point. "Athletes and coaches must learn that performance incompetence and severe fatigue are symptoms to be respected, not problems to overcome."³

This all takes us back to absorbing our training. As we move forward in an attempt to unleash our inner strength, if our bodies are not “absorbing” the training, we are better off taking the time to recover. The benefits of recovery are much greater than pushing through a workout that might just push us over the edge. Finding that balance will allow us to discover the potential that lies in the soul within us.

References

• Barbara A. Brehm, Ed.D,. Overtraining; Adapting to Overload; Fitness Management
• Kuipers, H. Training and overtraining: An introduction. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 30(7): 1137-1139, 1998.
• Lehmann, M., C. Foster, H.H. Dickhuth and U. Gastmann. Autonomic imbalance hypothesis and overtraining syndrome. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 30(7): 1140-1145, 1998.
• Smith, L.L. Cytokine hypothesis of overtraining: A physiological adaptation to excessive stress? Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 32(2): 317-331, 2000.