500 words in current APA format.
Briefly explain the key points of the article and state what you thought of the article. Emphasize
how the results play a role in determining the monitoring, prescription, and recovery for athletes.
The provided article must be used as a main resource in writing each reflection assignment;
however, you must include at least 2 references from other scholarly sources as well.
Review
Preventing overtraining in athletes in high-intensity sports and stress/
recovery monitoring
M. Kellmann
1,2
1
Department of Sport Psychology, Faculty of Sport Science, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany,
2
School of Human
Movement Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Corresponding author: Michael Kellmann, Department of Sport Psychology, Faculty of Sport Science, Ruhr-University of
Bochum, Stiepeler Str. 129, 44801 Bochum, Germany. Tel: 149 234 3228448, Fax: 49 234 3214245, E-mail: michael.1
kellmann@rub.de
Accepted for publication 8 February 2010
In sports, the importance of optimizing the recovery–stress
state is critical. Effective recovery from intense training
loads often faced by elite athletes can often determine
sporting success or failure. In recent decades, athletes,
coaches, and sport scientists have been keen to find creative,
new methods for improving the quality and quantity of
training for athletes. These efforts have consistently faced
barriers, including overtraining, fatigue, injury, illness, and
burnout. Physiological and psychological limits dictate a
need for research that addresses the avoidance of over-
training, maximizes recovery, and successfully negotiates
the fine line between high and excessive training loads.
Monitoring instruments like the Recovery–Stress Question-
naire for Athletes can assist with this research by providing
a tool to assess their perceived state of recovery. This
article will highlight the importance of recovery for
elite athletes and provide an overview of monitoring instru-
ments.
During the past decade, physical and mental recov-
ery in sport has received increasing attention in
research and practice (e.g., Kellmann, 2002a; Mon-
tgomery et al., 2008; Richardson et al., 2008; Vaile et
al., 2008). The opening of recovery centers in the US
Olympic Training Centre (Colorado Springs, USA),
the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra, Austra-
lia), and more recently the Queensland Academy of
Sport (Brisbane, Australia), highlights the impor-
tance of, and financial investment in recovery. As a
further evidence of this, the Australian Institute of
Sport and the US Olympic Committee provided
portable recovery facilities for their athletes to re-
cover during and after training and competition at
the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing. This initiative
aimed to optimize athlete performance. However,
competing at a major event is often the final stage of
a successful long-term training program that is con-
ducted over several years. Furthermore, often ath-
letes can only compete at these events when they have
had a training–recovery balance maintained
throughout the duration of the training program.
Stress from training, competition, and lifestyle fac-
tors has been acknowledged as a major cause of
overtraining and underperformance in sport (Leh-
mann et al., 1999). Equally important is the role of
recovery in the stress–recovery–performance rela-
tionship.
Coaches and researchers suggest that enhanced
recovery allows athletes to train more, and thus
improves their overall fitness (aerobic, strength, and
power), technique, and efficiency. Although most
coaches recognize that recovery is crucial within the
sport setting, they often have limited knowledge of
what recovery modalities and monitoring tools are
available (e.g., Simjanovic et al., 2009). Moreover,
recent research has indicated that elite coaches are
seeking more evidence-based research into recovery
activities for athletes (Williams & Kendall, 2007).
That is, coaches are seeking guidance in designing
recovery techniques to maximize training and sub-
sequent performance. However, it is often difficult
for researchers to conduct research that is ecologi-
cally valid, due to limited access to elite athlete
populations (Kellmann & Beckmann, 2003). It is
important, however, to identify the special needs
and techniques of high-performing athletes.
The balance of stress and recovery
The avoidance of overtraining and the achievement
of optimal performance can only be realized when
This article was written when Michael Kellmann was a staff member
at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Scand J Med Sci Sports 2010: 20 (Suppl. 2): 95–102 &2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S
doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2010.01192.x
95
