Over Reaching and Over Training info

[John A. Casler]

This information can be found here:

www.higher-faster-sports.com/PlannedOvertraining.html

Well first lets define some terminology. What most of us call overtraining is really over-reaching. Overtraining is more like a disease then a temporary state. For 95% of us, "over-reaching" is what we're really referring to when we say overtraining.

Over-reaching-is pushing yourself into a mild state of fatigue with your training. Regression in performance sometimes does occur during an over-reaching period, yet performance rebounds back very quickly, usually above and beyond it's previous level, with a short period of rest or lowered volume (within days). It can be good or bad depending on how you use it.

Overtraining- occurs when you chronically over-reach for months or years on end. This leads to performance regression that can take months to recover from and is associated with multiple and sometimes permanent endocrine disruptions. Although there are some athletes who are chronically overtrained and don't realize it (distance runners, bodybuilders, and some basketball players come to mind), most athletes don't ever reach a true overtrained state.

Another important term is Under reaching.

Under-reaching- occurs when you intentionally "take it easy". This is like taking your foot off the gas in your training intentionally. It also can be good or bad depending on how you do it.

Now let's start with a few key claims I'm going to make. First, let me state that from my observations, the reason many people train hard and consistently and don't make the gains they feel they should, is because they spend too much time over-reaching and not enough time under-reaching. Notice I said "consistent hard trainees" there. That statement doesn't apply unless you train both hard and consistent.

[carruthersjam]

Here are some other useful comments from Loren Chiu (NSCA Journal):

We must be careful in labeling overtraining, as it typically requires a prolonged period of stressful training to reach (12, 64). Coaches and sport scientists should not underestimate the adaptive abilities of the human body (14). Most individuals will never reach a true overtraining state. Prior research in elite athletes has found an ability to tolerate twofold or threefold increases in training volume for periods of 1–3 weeks (14, 64).

With resistance exercise, recreationally trained individuals are able to maintain or increase strength with 3–5 d/wk of training with near maximal loads (>90% 1 repetition maximum [1RM]; 13, 16). Velocity-related performances, such as sprinting, decrease at this frequency and intensity of training. A training frequency of 7 d/wk for 2 consecutive weeks results in large strength decrements (15, 58). Thus training with excessive loads results in overtraining faster than training with excessive volume.
Similarly, overtraining resulting from load and intensity manipulations appears to resolve faster than overtraining resulting from excess training volume. Lehmann et al. (50) found performance impairments in overtrained endurance athletes as much as 1 year following reduction in training stress. Overtraining from increased loads or training intensity should resolve within a few weeks of rest (16, 45, 64).

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European Journal of Sport Science, March 2006; 6(1): 1/14:

Many recent papers have referred to the work of
Kreider et al. (1998) for the definitions of OT and
OR.

/ Overreaching: an accumulation of training and/
or non-training stress resulting in short-term
decrement in performance capacity with or
without related physiological and psychological
signs and symptoms of maladaptation in which
restoration of performance capacity may take
from several days to several weeks.

/ Overtraining: an accumulation of training and/
or non-training stress resulting in long-term
decrement in performance capacity with or
without related physiological and psychological
signs and symptoms of maladaptation in which
restoration of performance capacity may take
several weeks or months.

As stated by several authors (Lehmann et al.,
1999a; Budgett et al., 2000; Halson & Jeukendrup,
2004) these definitions suggest that the difference
between OT and OR is the amount of time needed
for performance restoration and not the type or
duration of training stress or degree of impairment.
These definitions also imply that there may be an
absence of psychological signs associated with the
conditions. As it is possible to recover from a state of
OR within a 2-week period (Lehmann et al., 1999a;
Halson et al., 2002; Jeukendrup et al., 1992; Kreider
et al., 1998; Steinacker et al., 2000), it may be
argued that this condition is a relatively normal and
harmless stage of the training process.......

OR is often utilized by athletes during a typical
training cycle to enhance performance. Intensified
training can result in a decline in performance;
however, when appropriate periods of recovery are
provided, a ‘‘supercompensation’’ effect may occur
with the athlete exhibiting an enhanced performance
when compared to baseline levels. This process is
often used when going on a training camp, and will
lead to a temporary performance decrement, which
is followed by improved performance. In this situation,
the physiological responses will compensate the
training-related stress (Steinacker et al., 2004). This
form of short-term OR can also be called ‘‘functional
OR’’. When this intensified training continues, the
athletes can evolve into a state of extreme OR or
‘‘non-functional OR’’, that will lead to a stagnation
or decrease in performance which will not resume for
several weeks or months. However, eventually these
athletes will be able to fully recover after sufficient
rest. ‘‘Non-functional OR’’ emphasizes that the
evolution on the ‘‘OT continuum’’ is not only
‘‘quantitatively’’ determined (i.e. by the increase in
training volume) but that also ‘‘qualitative’’ changes
occur (e.g. signs and symptoms of psychological and/
or endocrine distress).

In these
definitions ‘‘overtraining’’ is used as a verb, a process
of intensified training with possible outcomes of
short-term overreaching (functional OR); extreme
overreaching (non-functional OR); or OTS. By
using the expression ‘‘syndrome’’ we emphasize the
multifactorial etiology and acknowledge that exercise
(training) is not necessarily the sole causative factor
of the syndrome.