“I want to create So much stimulus that adaptation goes through the roof”: high-performance strength coaches' perceptions of planned overreaching

BELL, Lee, RUDDOCK, Alan, MADEN-WILKINSON, Tom and ROGERSON, David (2022). “I want to create So much stimulus that adaptation goes through the roof”: high-performance strength coaches' perceptions of planned overreaching. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 4: 893581.

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Abstract

Functional overreaching (FOR) occurs when athletes experience improved athletic capabilities in the days and weeks following short-term periods of increased training demand. However, prolonged high training demand with insufficient recovery may also lead to non-functional overreaching (NFOR) or the overtraining syndrome (OTS). The aim of this research was to explore strength coaches' perceptions and experiences of planned overreaching (POR); short-term periods of increased training demand designed to improve athletic performance. Fourteen high-performance strength coaches (weightlifting; n = 5, powerlifting; n = 4, sprinting; n = 2, throws; n = 2, jumps; n = 1) participated in semistructured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis identified 3 themes: creating enough challenge, training prescription, and questioning the risk to reward. POR was implemented for a 7 to 14 day training cycle and facilitated through increased daily/weekly training volume and/or training intensity. Participants implemented POR in the weeks (~5–8 weeks) preceding competition to allow sufficient time for performance restoration and improvement to occur. Short-term decreased performance capacity, both during and in the days to weeks following training, was an anticipated by-product of POR, and at times used as a benchmark to confirm that training demand was sufficiently challenging. Some participants chose not to implement POR due to a lack of knowledge, confidence, and/or perceived increased risk of athlete training maladaptation. Additionally, this research highlights the potential dichotomy between POR protocols used by strength coaches to enhance athletic performance and those used for the purpose of inducing training maladaptation for diagnostic identification.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	** From Frontiers via Jisc Publications Router ** Licence for this article: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ **Journal IDs: eissn 2624-9367 **History: published_online 02-05-2022; accepted 11-04-2022; submitted 10-03-2022; collection 2022
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Sports and Active Living, overreaching, functional overreaching, overtraining, strength sports, strength training
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2022.893581
SWORD Depositor:	Colin Knott
Depositing User:	Colin Knott
Date Deposited:	06 Jun 2022 09:38
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2023 11:46
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/30288

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