Top Endurance

The term overtraining (also known as underrecovery) causes a lot of controversy and confusion. People generally accept that the most important cause of improved performance is the training that athletes undergo, particularly for events that require endurance or superior physical conditioning. Some coaches and athletes believe that there is no limit beyond which training becomes counterproductive. However, there is a limit to an athlete’s capacity to withstand and adapt to intense training. Once this threshold is crossed, the athlete fails to adapt, and performance declines.

Overload is a planned, systematic, and progressive increase in training with the goal of improving performance. A zone of positive training adaptation exists where athletes can reap the benefits of their training. However, this has a scale effect; if too little of an acute overload is introduced (known as underreaching), some training adaptations will occur but will only yield small increases in performance. If the athlete maximizes full training adaptations by following a planned overload program that also includes timed recovery periods, performance can increase significantly. Overreaching occurs over the short term when an athlete either has too much training volume or intensity or does not allow adequate recovery. If this situation is not recognized by the athlete or coach, then the short-term overreaching can transition into overtraining. Athletes need to find the balance between underreaching and overreaching, and they should constantly focus on high-quality training sessions within a recovery-based training model. This will yield consistent improvements in performance without the risk of overtraining.