[Gerard Teague is a Kinesiology student at the University of Central Oklahoma and is an Athletic Development Intern at Athletic Lab.]

A properly designed warm-up can be an important subjective tool used for assessing overtraining. Before we talk about how to use the warm-up we must first understand the difference between fatigue, overreaching and overtraining.

Fatigue can be viewed as a normal part of the training process that happens when stress is applied to the body. As a coach, we have to understand the difference between day to day or acute fatigue and chronic fatigue which is long lasting and can lead to overreaching and overtraining (1).

A short-term decrement in performance due to either a planned phase of loading or a result of the accumulation of fatigue resulting form training can be viewed as overreaching. Overtraining on the other hand is a long-term decrement in training that can take weeks to months to recover on depending on the severity (1).

One of the many concerns with identifying overtraining is being able to assess many of the signs and symptoms related to it. The markers used to identify overtraining include hormonal, biochemical, immunological and neuromuscular tests, some of which can be time consuming and expensive (2,3).

To solve this problem, the athlete could use a performance test to assess how there monitoring fatigue before overtraining ever becomes an issue. Sprints and vertical jump tests can easily be incorporated after the warmup to assess fatigue. Both of which have been shown to be accurate markers of fatigue (1, 2).

While performing a dynamic warm-up one can easily incorporated a few sets of of three to five constitutive jumps or build-up sprints before going into and the workout to monitor one’s performance for the day.

After using the warm-up as a tool, the toughest question then becomes how to change the workout as to not have a negative affect on performance. The answer to this question can be difficult because of all the different variables involved. One quick solution could be to either the lower the volume or the intensity of the workout for that session, which is a judgment call that the coach has to make.

References:

1. Bompa, T. O., & Haff, G. G. (2009). Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics

2. Twist, C., & Highton, J. (2013). Monitoring Fatigue and Recovery in Rugby League Players. International Journal Of Sports Physiology & Performance, 8(5), 467-474.

3. Urhausen, A. A., & Kindermann, W. W. (2002). Diagnosis of Overtraining: What Tools Do We Have?. Sports Medicine, 32(2), 95-102.