Laura S. Conley

Female Athlete

What Testing Can Help Determine Whether You Have Overtraining Syndrome (OTS)

Whether you are a cross-country runner, a triathlon athlete, or a strength trainer, understanding OTS is critical to avoid long-term overtraining problems. Nearly every extreme athlete has at one time or another experienced at the very least a mild form of overreaching. However, OTS is much more serious and can lead to complications if left untreated.

If you’re worried you have OTS, here are a few ways you can test yourself for it.

Symptoms of OTS

First things first, identify the symptoms of OTS and burn them into your brain. If you’re serious about your training, you need to arm yourself with information to prevent serious problems. A few of the most common symptoms to be on the lookout for include:

  • Frequent infections (a sign of a weakened immune symptom)
  • Poor or inadequate sleep
  • Unexplained and out-of-the-norm heavy, stiff, and sore muscles
  • Mood swings
  • A lack of energy
  • Decreased sex drive
  • Lack of appetite

These are some of the most common symptoms, but if anything seems out of the norm for you, check with your doctor first.

What it Isn’t

To clear the air, remember that all athletes go through dips in their training. For some, these dips cause a complete halt to training. It’s normal during these ‘dips’ to feel drained, have a lack of drive to train, and even to suffer from colds or other illnesses. These are just signs to slow down, and usually clear up in two weeks or less. OTS doesn’t allow for that quick of a recovery.

How to Test for OTS

Here are a few simple steps you can take to test yourself for OTS.

Step 1. Recognize the Symptoms

In addition to the symptoms mentioned above, a few others might include:

  • Decreased performance, and struggling to get moving because of a “dead legs” feeling.
  • Clinical depression
  • Constant injuries, aches and pains.

Step 2. Track Your Resting Heart Rate

Another thing you can do to identify training issues is to track your resting heart rate. Do this by lightly placing two fingers on the inside of your wrist to locate your radical pulse. You can also do this on your neck by finding the carotid pulse. Count each beat for 10 seconds, then multiply that number by 6 to find your beats per minute. Do this before you get out of bed in the morning for the most accurate result.

The average adult’s resting heart rate is anywhere from 60-80 per minute. Highly conditioned athletes may have a resting heart rate of as low as 32! What you’re looking for is elevation. If your average number jumps up by 5-10 bpm, you may need to scale back your training.

Step 3. Take a Stress Test

Have your MD perform a stress test for a comprehensive look at where your body is and compare that with your mental state. When you take all of the testing above together, you are in a good position to determine if you’re suffering from OTS.

Want More Information?

Still not clear on what you can do to figure out if you have OTS? Then we want to help. We’ll help you find the resources you need to gain a better understanding of your training program and how to avoid OTS.

What is the latest scientific thinking around Overtraining Syndrome – (a summary of the latest peer reviewed research)

Overtraining Syndrome (OTS) is a common, but often misunderstood topic among athletes…and medical professionals. Because of the nature of this syndrome, it is worth investigative study.

As a result of several recently released peer-reviewed studies, scientists have come to a few important conclusions regarding overtraining. If you train hard, are planning a marathon, or spend a good deal of your time in the gym, this information is critical to your health and happiness.

Overreaching Isn’t Bad—Until It Is

For starters, recently reviewed studies show that successful training does involve some overreaching. After studying hundreds of athletes, researchers came to the conclusion that athletes can experience short-term performance improvement without long-term psychological or physiological symptoms. Known as ‘functional overreaching’, this strategy can actually lead to improved performance with enough recovery time. Avoiding inadequate recovery is a must to avoid the damaging side-effects of overtraining.

For athletes training to increase performance, increasing training loads is the only way to achieve the desired results. However, these increased loads are only tolerated by the body when proper rest is in place. Scientists recommend athletes view rest as a part of the training process, not something to work around.

When overreaching goes overboard, and is coupled with an additional stressor, OTS can result. In the end, overreaching that is followed by the appropriate amount of rest can increase performance—which is precisely what athletes are looking for.

Finding Balance is Important

All athletes go through bouts of minor fatigue and severe reductions in performance thanks to the training process. Problems develop when training stress and recovery aren’t in balance. These researchers stress balancing rest with training for the best performance, physical and physiological results.

Recent research shows that OTS may be caused by systemic inflammation and effects on the central nervous system leading to central fatigue, depressed mood, and neurohormonal changes. All of this can only occur when the body is placed under extreme stress for extended periods of time. Failure to find balance between training and rest causes a failure of the body’s most important systems.

Unfortunately, there is no hard evidence to show whether overreaching precedes overtraining, nor evidence to show that overtraining symptoms are more severe than overreaching symptoms. This in turn has caused some confusion regarding the key markers for overreaching and overtraining within the sports and athletic field. Some researchers are calling for more critical analysis of research before markers are proposed.

More Information Is Needed

Despite research studies, OTS as a clinical diagnosis is typically defined by investigative research on overreached and not overtrained athletes. In most cases, overreaching develops as a result of intense training and is generally seen as ‘normal’ for extreme athletes, and takes approximately 2 weeks to recover from. Recovering from overtraining, on the other hand, can take months to years. This distinction hasn’t gone unnoticed, but is largely misunderstood by the scientific community.

Your Take Away

Developing a training program that incorporates adequate rest is the first step towards better performance and finding balance. While the jury is still out on what defines each of these syndromes, playing it safe with plenty of resting and recovery time is the best plan of action.

Need more information about Overtraining Syndrome? Curious as to how you can avoid it? Then follow us, we provide accurate information about OTS and much more.

What is Overtraining Syndrome (OTS)?

Some believe it’s a myth. Others take it so seriously they are conscious not to challenge their bodies past a certain point – they work hard to understand the breakpoint between healthy exertive stress and destructive overtraining.

Overtraining Syndrome (OTS) is a real condition. It affects countless athletes and amateur gym goers every single day.

Whether you’ve been lifting weights or competing in triathlons for years or are new to fitness related pursuits, it’s important to be aware that overtraining can lead to serious physiological, neurological, and hormonal issues. In extreme cases, it can even cause death.

Unfortunately, most people who suffer from Overtraining Syndrome don’t know they are. How can you prevent overtraining, and what are the signs and symptoms you need to look out for? Let’s take a closer look at these questions and what they can mean for you.

The Ins and Outs of OTS

According to a study published by Jeffery B. Kreher, MD and Jennifer B. Schwartz, MD, OTS is a maladapted response to excessive exercises without adequate rest, resulting in changes to the neurological, endocrinologic, immunological systems and mood.

There are three stages of OTS, these include the following.

Stage One: Stress Adaptation

  • Plateauing performance
  • Early Stage adrenal gland dysfunction
  • Poor recovery
  • Elevated Cortisol Levels
  • Diminished libido
  • Depression
  • Increasing resting heart rate
  • Increased insulin levels
  • Low sodium levels
  • Irregular menses

Stage 2: Sympathetic Overtraining

  • Often referred to as overreaching
  • Plateaued performance
  • Poor recovery
  • Early stage adrenal gland dysfunction
  • Elevated cortisol
  • Irregular periods
  • Dip in libido
  • Mild depression

Stage 3: Parasympathetic Overtraining

  • Plateaued performance
  • Poor or limited recovery
  • Early stage adrenal gland dysfunction
  • Clinical depression
  • Low resting heart rate
  • Increased insulin
  • Low sodium

What Can You Do to Avoid Overtraining?

It’s important to recognize that overtraining does offer some benefits, particularly stage 1. You can see significant gains during this period if you take plenty of time to rest after heavy trainings. Decrease the stress you’re putting your body through or over-rest. The key is to strike a balance between the two. A few simple ways you can do this include:

  • Cut training by 75-100% if needed
  • Eliminate high-intensity anaerobic training
  • Replace with a low to non-impact activity

Unfortunately, if you find yourself in full overtraining mode, complete with elevated cortisol levels and depression, you will need more than rest to fully recover. The next step is to see a specialist who understands how overtraining damages the body and what can be done to reverse the process.

When To Seek Professional Help

If you’re suffering from the symptoms listed in stage 2 and 3, it’s time to seek the help of a real professional. Medical doctors can help, but what you require is someone who has helped others suffering from similar training issues. That’s where we can help. We work with OTS patients on a regular basis and can guide you as you recover.

Tips For Making Tapering Less Torturous – Tips For Pre-Race Preparation

One of the things many athletes dread and can get into trouble with is tapering before races so I have found some great tools to help you make the process less torturous.

The key is to distract yourself from thinking about the race, tapering, and the preparation process in general.

As a first step, start scheduling plenty of other.  Before a race is the time where you can actually hang out with your friends (when they’ve asked you so many times to go out at night and you’ve turned them down due to training plans the next morning.) Go grab some coffee or lunch with them and catch up on everything going on in your lives.

Step two is to go see a movie or watch movies at home. Catch up on the latest season of television. This is actually one instance where binge watching is encouraged.  I also enjoy  diving into a good book. Just make sure you get a captivating book that can keep your mind occupied.  One benefit of these types of activities is that while you’re enjoying these diversions you can also keep your legs elevated or use the latest recovery tools like electro stim or ice compression.

Step three is to cultivate your creative side.  Divert your mind and energies to whatever creative endeavors you enjoy whether it’s playing a musical instrument, listening to music, writing or journaling, painting or drawing, or sculpting clay. All of these activities are excellent pre-race preparation because they require total attention and require you to be fully creative/present in the moment.

The pre-race period is also the time to go to the store and purchase all the supplies necessary. Stocking up on supplies will also take up extra time that you now have since you’re not training.

Number four is to get a massage or do your own self massage with a foam roller or lacrosse ball. Just make sure not to go too deep and causes more soreness. You can get plenty of nice soft massages to relax your body and mind before your big event.

And finally number five is to catch up on that thing you’ve been needing to do all year. You know that one thing on your to do list that just keeps getting pushed out all the time.  Well, now is the time to finally scratch it off the list. So, maybe it’s cleaning your house or organizing your closet. Or, maybe it’s cleaning up all the files on your computer or organizing all of your photos. Before my last race I actually got all of my taxes and financial budgeting organized and calculated in one neat file.

You’ll be surprised how great it feels to finally get that one thing that’s been haunting you off of your list.

So, those are just five of my top pre-race helpful hints. Anything that gets your mind off of your pre-race anxiety  and lingering desire to train will end up being the best investment in pre-race preparation.

Ideally, you want to do tasks that will still make you feel accomplished while not overexerting yourself.