DETECTION OF OVERREACHING AND OVERTRAINING DUE TO PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN HIGH LEVEL ATHLETES WITH USE OF CONTEMPORARY DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA (GEORGIA)

Abstract

The goal of training competitive athletes is to provide training loads that will improve performance. When prolonged, excessive training occurs concurrent with other stressors and insufficient recovery, performance decrement can result first in functional overreaching (FO), then extreme overreaching or non-functional overreaching (NFO) and overtraining. Chronic maladaptations may lead then to the overtraining syndrome (OTS). As it is possible to recover from functional overreaching within a period of 2 weeks, the recovery from NFO needs several weeks or even months. Athletes who suffer from OTS may need months or even years to completely recover (1). Early diagnostic of overreaching is of high importance for prevention of overtraining as well as for interruption of progression of NFO/OTS. The purpose of the study was detection of nonfunctional overreaching and overtraining with use of contemporary diagnostic criteria. Diagnosis of OTS was based on the checklist provided by the consensus statement of the European College of Sports Science (ECSS) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) (3). Examination of 348 high level athletes revealed 43 subjects with NFO/OTS, among them 37 with NFO and 6 athletes with OTS. Prevalence of NFO and OTS was seen in sporting disciplines with mixed high intensity workload-27(62,8%) NFO and 4 (9,3%) OTS, particularly, majority of NFO/OTS was revealed in wrestling: NFO – 19 (44,2%) and OTS – 4 (9,3%). Checklist criteria elaborated by ECSS and ACSM is efficient and flexible tool for diagnosing overreaching and overtraining in athletes. Most frequently NFO/OTS is seen in wrestling, which needs further investigation and regular medical monitoring.