Fatigue and Overtraining Flashcards
What are the 3 phases General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
- Alarm phase
- Resistance phase
- Exhaustion phase
Describe the Alarm Phase of GAS
the initial phase of training.
Lasts several days or weeks.
Athlete may experience; severe soreness, stiffness and decreased performance
Describe the Resistance Phase of GAS
Second phase of training. Body adapts to stimulus and returns to more normal functioning.
Body can withstand stress for an extended period by making various adjustments that = increased performance.
*aka super-compensation.
Describe the Exhaustion Phase of GAS
The athlete loses the ability to adapt to training stress.
Soreness, Fatigue etc. reappear. Performance can be decreased and overtraining can occur.
What is overreaching?
- accumulation of stress resulting in short-term decrement in performance capacity
- may take several days to several weeks to restore performance
What is overtraining?
- accumulation of stress resulting in long term decrement in performance capacity
- may take several weeks or months to recover
Describe the negative spiral in response to poor performance caused by over-reaching and/or over-training
Decrements in performance leads athlete/coach to adjust training to same or higher to improve performance. Which causes a further decrease in performance, coach/athlete increases training load to compensate. This leads to an increase in training load which results in overreaching. Followed by a ruther decrease in performance, and further increase in load to compensate, which results in overtraining.
List the 5 physiological signs/symptoms of overreaching and overtraining
- Impaired or unexpected performance
- decreased muscular strength and power
- decreased aerobic capacity and power
- decreased HLa- during maximal exercise or in relation to RPE
- Altered CV function: HR variability and HR recovery decreased
List the 6 psychological signs/symptoms of fatigue
- Mood state disturbances
- Depression like symptoms
- Disturbed sleep
- Difficulty in concentrating at work and training
- Decreased ability to narrow concentration
- Restlessness and irritability
What are the underlying mechanisms of overtraining?
- stress adaptation and central fatigue
- hormonal imbalance
- immune function and possible role of cytokines
What are the hormonal imbalances that can lead to overtraining? (6)
- Cortisol: blunted response to exercise or effects on mood/emotion
- Testosterone: may decrease
- Testosterone:cortisol ratio : 30% decreased
- Growth hormone: blunted response to exercise
- Adrenocorticotropic hormone: decreased
- Catecholamines: decreased
What is the effect of exercise on immune function?
immune system is suppressed temporarily during training
List some ways of preventing overtraining? (6)
- periodise training
- individualise training
- programme recovery sessions into training
- identify susceptible athletes
- monitor diet
- minimise inadequate recovery
What is internal training load?
the physical loading experienced by an athlete; subjective.
i.e. how an athlete copes physiologically and psychologically with the external load
What is external training load?
The quantification of work external to the athlete. i.e. total session load
