Non-functional overreaching with Cyril Schmit | EP#159

Cyril Schmit, PhD, discusses non-functional overreaching for triathletes and endurance athletes. What is it, how can we identify it and prevent it and what are the biggest risk factors for it.

• What is non-functional overreaching, and how is it different from overtraining syndrome?
• How can it be identified using subjective and objective markers?
• How can it be prevented?
• What are the roles of training volume and intensity in causing non-functional overreaching?
• How important is the role of factors outside of training (life stress) in causing non-functional overreaching?
• The relation between heart rate and non-functional overreaching. 

5:25  -

• I began working in this research field 5 years ago at the National Institute of Sport in Paris, France. 
• I found it an interesting topic to work on with triathletes because it combines both physical and psychological aspects. 
• I try to diagnose overreaching syndrome to try and prevent it in triathletes. 

6:32 -

• Overreaching is a step on the overall fatigue process.
  
  There are steps before overreaching where the athlete exhibits characteristics of acute fatigue.
  
  There are also steps after overreaching such as overtraining syndrome.
  
  At the end of the continuum is death. 
• The functional part of overreaching can be interesting for coaches as it can be beneficial, but the non-functional part is risky. 
• The core standard is performance of the athletes. 
  
  If you are in a non-functional overreaching state you will produce a reduced performance on a standardised test. 
  
  If you are performing well, you are likely in a state of functional overreaching and the fatigue level is not enough to impact performance, even if it's pronounced. 
• We now know of several differences to help identify where the athlete is on the continuum.
• For example in non-functional overreaching we begin to observe changing in heart rate recovery, heart rate variability and sleep quality, which are not found in a functional overreaching state.
  
  When you look at your heart rate at a standardised speed, e,g running at 12km/hour, you can observe a heart rate change that is geneally 5bpm. 
  
  For heart rate recovery it's more pronounced, so the average is around 10bpm difference in the first minute post exercise. The range goes from 6bpm to 18bpm difference. 
• In a non-functional overreaching state, these differences pull the heart rate lower during exercise.
  
  In heart rate recovery, the amount of bpm you lose in the first minute after exercise is higher in a non-functional overreaching state. 
• Non-functional overreaching is also associated with higher perceived exertion. 

13:39 -

• Fatigue is a continuum, and as you go along the symptom there are similar symptoms overall.
• However, three things make the distinction between overreaching and overtraining. 
• First, the intensity of the symptoms is much higher in overtraining. 
  
  For example, the level of vigour are lowest when someone is in a state of overtraining.
• Second, the consistency of the symptoms is higher in overtraining. 
  
  You present with more illness, more poor nights sleep, a lower libido etc. 
• Thirdly, the duration of the symptoms is higher in overtraining.
  
  The deeper you go in the fatigue level the longer you need to recover. Overtraining can take years to fully recover from. 
• I think we should consider that each function of the body involved in performance we can subject to overtraining at their own level. 
• For example, at the muscular level when you increase the load the final step is injury. Similarly for temporal regulation, the final step is heatstroke. 
  
  Each time a main function of the performance reaches its own limit it endangers the athlete, and the performance. 
• When we try to increase overall load in an athlete at a sufficient level to induce fatigue without overtraining, it's important to consider how each factor will adjust. 
• Training is about periodisation of the performance related functions. 
  
  We have to take care not to overload each one of them. 

16:44 - 

• In studies we have found that 3 weeks of increasing training volume, without changing the proportion of training intensity, does not guarantee you will induce overreaching. 
• However we have also found that 3 days of competition are sufficient to induce the first signs of overreaching. 
• Basically there is no strict rule of the number of days needed to induce this state. 
  
  A few days are sufficient if you accumulate several factors associated with functional overreaching, such as higher volume at high intensity, plus lack of recovery, plus stress. 
• It's often the case for amateur athletes that 10 days are enough to induce non-functional overreaching if you make no changes to your training.
  
  Half of these days would also be sufficient to dissipate the fatigue and its effect. 
• However, this is only an average, and many factors will impact on how long it takes to achieve functional overreaching, or to move into non-functional overreaching.
  
  For example, in very well trained athletes, it may take a little longer. Conversely, lifestyle factors such as professional or family stress may make you reach non-functional overreaching sooner.  

22:44 - 

• The first thing athletes may notice are changes to sensations both at rest (mood, memory etc) and during exercise (pain, perceived exertion). 
• The second indicator is the reaction you have. 
  
  You will be more hungry, more inpatient, more aggressive. You may receive bad feedback from friends about your behaviour, which can help you diagnose this state. 
• The final step is the physiology, where you see heart rate changes, heart rate recovery and heart rate variability.
• The more of these you accumulate, the more you should consider your risk of overreaching. 
• If we consider non-functional overreaching as reduced performance and increased fatigue, I believe that 100% of amateur athletes have already experienced this. 
  
  This is because outside of training they accumulate professional stressors. 
• The reasons for overreaching in amateur athletes will be different for professional athletes, who normally only experience it as a result of increased training volume. 
• For amateur athletes, the frequent activation of the central nervous system during the day outside of training leads to nervous fatigue. 
  
  This leads to falling deeper into the fatigue continuum. 

26:51 - 

• 3 years ago, we did a study aiming to investigate what happens in the brains of athletes leading to functional overreaching after three weeks of overload. 
• The fMRI data showed a reduced activation of the frontal area of the brain. 
  ​
  This is the part associated with complex mental operations. 
• This was present only in non-functional overreaching athletes, not functional overreaching athletes. 
• The results were precisely the same for people who were asked to do a 6 hour task in the fMRI and those who attended a normal work day.
  ​
  This means that you can have a source of stress that could be different (physical versus mental), but it causes the same effect at a nervous system level.
  
• I think this is why amateur athletes will have experienced this state, because they are accumulating other stressors throughout the day. 
• This doesn't mean all athletes need to decrease their training volume, but they have to take care of the external parameters which may be increasing their stress load. 

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