In Part 1, I gave a detailed definition of overtraining which I’ve reproduced below.
Overtraining occurs when there is a long-term imbalance between the training load and recovery processes that, for a given athlete, leads to a decrement in performance that takes more than 2-3 weeks to return to normal.
Having examined the details of performance decrement/underperformance syndrome in Part 2, I want to back further up the definition and look at the idea of the balance between training load and recovery being the root of the issue (at least at a global level).
I also want to make the point that explicit training and recovery is not all that needs to be considered here. Finally, I’ll also look at the idea of underrecovery as a bigger issue than overtraining per se.
What Causes Overtraining?
A long standing question among sports scientists is what the actual “cause” of overtraining is. … Keep Reading