Overreaching and Overtraining in Strength Sports and Resistance Exercise Training

Overtraining (OT) is both a process and an outcome. As a verb, OT describes the imbalance between training demand and recovery that could result in diminished performance or an improvement above the baseline. In this sense, OT can be intentional (e.g., a prescribed period of planned overreaching (OR), training camps) or unintentional (e.g., through poor programming decisions, miscalculation of training and recovery, training hard during periods of high non-training stress). As a noun, OT (known as the overtraining syndrome; OTS) is defined as an accumulation of training and/or non-training stress resulting in a decrement in performance capacity in which restoration of performance capacity may take several weeks or months. Before this doctoral research programme, resistance exercise OT was under-represented in the research and there was limited evidence-based information available to coaches to enhance their training decisions and avoid the deleterious effects of excessive training or inefficient recovery. This thesis has published research that has led to a more detailed understanding of the relationship between resistance exercise training and OT. Evidence collected and synthesised during the doctoral programme indicates that OTS is an unlikely occurrence following resistance exercise training. Indeed, this thesis has demonstrated that when appropriately implemented, a short-term period of highly demanding resistance exercise can result in performance improvements relative to baseline. However, caution must be taken when undertaking such training as there is still a possible risk of a maladaptive response if the balance between the training stimulus and recovery is miscalculated.