Monitoring of Training, Warm Up, and Performance in Athletes

Abstract

Overtraining syndrome is a serious disorder, equivalent in severity to many orthopaedic injuries, and often sufficient to end a competitive season. Although various therapeutic approaches have been tried, overtraining syndrome is generally refractory to treatments other than an extended rest from heavy training and competition. Accordingly, prevention of overtraining syndrome is of critical importance. Although widely studied, the ultimate causes and pathophysiologic nature of overtraining syndrome are not fully understood .There is a general understanding of the factors likely to cause overtraining syndrome relative to the structure of the training program, with large increases in training load, training monotony, travel, frequent competition and social factors all thought to increase the liklihood of developing overtraining syndrome. Despite extensive study, the diagnosis of overtraining syndrome still remains a diagnosis by exclusion of other pathophysiologic abnormalities. Further, even with extensive laboratory facilities available, there are no universally agreed upon markers which signal the impending development of overtraining syndrome. Beyond this, the length of time involved in the analysis of complex hematological or hormone variables creates a feedback loop which is too long to be of significant practical value to coaches and athletes. Certainly, at the present time, there are no simple indicators of impending overtraining syndrome that are available to coaches and athletes. Given the nearly universal tendency for coaches and athletes to respond inappropriately to temporary training or competitive incompetence by doing more training, simple markers which might signal impending overtraining, or at least deteriorating overreaching, would be most useful.