Overreaching

In contrast to excessive training, overreaching is a systematic attempt to intentionally overstress the body, allowing the body to adapt to the training stimulus beyond the level of adaptation attained during a period of acute overload. As with overtraining, there is a brief decrement in performance lasting several days to several weeks, followed by both increased physiological function and increased performance. Obviously, this is the critical phase of training – on the edge, leading either to improved physiological function and performance or to overtraining, if one goes too far. With overreaching, the period of full recovery from training takes several days to several weeks. If one overtrains the body, recovery can take many months or, in some cases, years. The key to overreaching is to push the athlete hard enough to accomplish the desired performance improvements but to avoid going into the stage of overtraining. This is not an easy task to accomplish!