Overtraining

Unfortunately, the word “overtraining” is a very common term heard around the pool deck.  Overtraining frequently occurs when athletes train beyond the body's ability to recover.  Athletes often exercise longer and harder so they can improve.  But without adequate rest and recovery, these training regimens can backfire, and actually decrease performance.

I’d be willing to bet that every collegiate swimmer has felt the effects of overtraining at one time or another during his or her career.  This brings up several important questions:
1.    How often does it happen?  
2.    What type of swimmer experiences it the most?
3.    Can it be prevented?
4.    If we know that overtraining can lead to decreases in performance, why does it still occur?
5.    What to do if you feel as though you’re being overtrained?

How often are swimmers overtrained?  Well, I think it depends on what level you’re at (age group, high school, college), and the type of program you’re in.  If you’re in a high volume program, you’re probably at a higher risk than if you’re in low volume program.  Typically, the more you swim, the greater risk you’re going to be at for overtraining.  For this discussion, though, I’m going to talk about collegiate swimmers.  I’d guess (from what I’ve seen and heard) that over 75% of all collegiate swimmers will be overtrained at some point this year.

What type of swimmer experiences overtraining symptoms the most?  Again, I think it all depends on the program, but I’d say sprinters.  
First off, sprinters aren’t built to handle very much.  So, if they are forced to swim 6,000 or more a practice, twice a day (which many are), they are going to become overtrained a lot faster than a distance swimmer.  Distance swimmers are built to handle large amounts of swimming, whereas sprinters are not.  Second, most of the time, sprinters have more muscle mass than middle distance/distance swimmers.  As a result, sprinters tend to “break down” a lot faster than the other two types of swimmers.  This occurs because the swimmer is no longer able to recover fast enough to keep up with training schedule.

Can it be prevented?  This is a really tough question.  Coaches are always trying to push their swimmers to do bigger and better things in practice, and it can be difficult to determine how much is too much or how far is too far.  I suppose the best coaches at spotting overtraining are the ones with many years of experience.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that they will alter their training if overtraining occurs, though; it just means that they can spot it.  

I think overtraining can be prevented although most of the time, it’s not.  First, a coach needs to be able to spot overtraining before it occurs, which sometimes can be difficult.  Second, once the coach sees this, he or she needs to make an adjustment in training.  The problem is that some coaches stick to “their training plans” no matter what is happening in the pool.  The team could be missing send offs, their strokes are falling apart, their heart rates won’t go down as quickly, and there are some coaches that will let this continue forever.  There are just too many coaches that live by the philosophy that “more is better”—regardless of the type of swimmer you are (sprint, middle distance, or distance).  And this is the training philosophy that most often leads to overtraining.  

My club coach gave me the “cliff” example many years ago, which pertains to overtraining.  He said that we wanted to get as close to the cliff as we could without actually falling off the cliff.  As he put it, if we happen to go too far, and fall off the cliff, there’s no turning back because we’ve fallen off the cliff.  His point was that once we go too far, it’s going to be very difficult to get an overtrained swimmer back to his or her original state.

If we know that overtraining can lead to decreases in performance, why does it still occur?  Some coaches don’t know much about overtraining, so they can’t see it when it occurs.  Other coaches see it, but choose to look the other way because they don’t want to get away from the training schedule.  It’s not an exact science—it’s very difficult to determine when one of your swimmers is just tired or overtrained.   It still occurs because no one truly knows where the overtraining “line” is, and what to do when it occurs.

What should you do if you feel as though you’re being overtrained?  I would talk to your coach.  Some coaches will make some adjustments for you -- others will not.  But you’ll never know unless you speak with him or her.  I’d tell your coach why you feel that you are overtrained, and for how long you’ve felt that way.  Communication is the key here.  But the first step is speaking with your coach.  

I don’t think that some coaches realize that swimming is all about recovering.  If you can’t recover, then you can’t train.  And if you can’t train, then you probably aren’t going to get much better.  Overtraining occurs because your body can no longer recover fast enough to keep up with the demands of training.  Before I got my first coaching job, I spoke with my club coach for hours about swimming and coaching, and one thing he told me still sticks with me to this day.  I consider it to be the most important thing I’ve learned in swimming.  He told me to use my eyes; and if you like what you see, keep doing it; if not, you need to make some adjustments.  


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