The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he
leads me beside quiet waters (Psalm 23:1-2). This short verse form the book of Psalm is closely
related to overtraining and recovery. Athletes are sometimes their own worst enemy because
sometimes it’s a matter of livelihood and keeping a job to them or their competitiveness can get
the better of them. Recovery is incredibility important for an athlete to achieve peak
performance. The stress someone endures during training is also a huge factor in how recovery is
going to be effective. In order to save athletes from themselves, it is up to coaches to monitor
their athletes. For this to be accomplished they both need to be educated about the importance of
optimal recovery and the potential impact overtraining can have on overall performance. In this
aspect much like the first couple of sentences in the verse. The coach acts as a shepherd or leader
and leads his athletes to green pastures to lie in or quiet waters, also known as recovery.
In the article recovery is defined by Kellman und Kallus as an inter-individual multi-level
process in time for the re-establishment of performance abilities. It is best accomplished with a
complete, multifaceted approach that addresses musculoskeletal, medical, and psychological
issues. If a recovery session as adequate, then the person can have an effective recovery period
and cope will with the stress endured (Kellmann, 2010). However, if recovery is inadequate, or
the session isn’t long enough then the performer will not recover and in turn is not going to be on
the level they need to. The recovery needs to match the stress in order to get back to peak
performance level. There is no “one size fits all” recovery for every individual. Different athletes
will adapt in different ways and some can cope with stress in shorter sessions than other athletes.
Overtraining and under recovery can be managed by training strategies. Nutrition, sleep, and
limiting exercise. Nutrition can be one that is the most neglected by many athletes because many
have had fast metabolisms all their life and may think they can still out train a bad diet. Optimal
nutrition plays an important role during post exercise recovery, where replenishment of
endogenous to reduce inflammation (Bongiovanni et al., 2020).
Two tools developed were the POMS and RESTQ-Sport. The POMS provides a self-
assessment for mood and affective states, which is used in psychological monitoring of training
sessions. It will not provide information on over training. The RESTQ-Sport assess the recovery-
stress state of an athlete. This indicates if an athlete is stressed more physically or mentally, and
if they are capable of using individual strategies for recovery. This assessment can also provide
an indication if the athlete is progressing but cannot tell if they have over trained(Kellmann,
2010).
The consensus on recovery according to this article is that many coaches believe that the
issue is more about inadequate recovery vs overtraining. Coaches and Military leaders train their
athletes and troops to push themselves to their limits, but need to make sure they avoid
overtraining. Leaders in the position can’t afford to let up on their training because that can
create a lower standard. Limiting training times a week, optimizing sleep, nutrition, and mental
health as well as implementing neuromuscular training (Load, Overload, and Recovery in the
Athlete, 2019).
American College of Sports Medicine, 2019. Load, Overload, and Recovery in the
Athlete. 18(4), pp.141-148.
Bongiovanni, T., Genovesi, F., Nemmer, M., Carling, C., Alberti, G., & Howatson, G.
(2020). Nutritional interventions for reducing the signs and symptoms of exercise-induced
muscle damage and accelerate recovery in athletes: current knowledge, practical application and
future perspectives. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 120(9), 1965–1996.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04432-3
Kellmann, M., 2010. Preventing overtraining in athletes in high-intensity sports and
stress/recovery monitoring. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 20, pp.95-
102.
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