OVERTRAINING AND THE ROLE

OF PHARMACOLOGY
By Dr. Kaidu Meitern

Dr .Kai duMei tern,whoi sthemedi caladvi soroft heEstonianRepubl i

c’strack
team in the Soviet Union, looks at the problems and symptoms of overtraining
and the role of pharmaceutical aids to secure restoration after heavy workloads.
The article, that once again stresses the importance of recovery in contemporary
training, is a slightly condensed translation from Kehakultuur, published by
Periodika, Tallinn, Estonian SSR, No. 10 and 11, 1988. Re-printed with
permission from Modern Athlete and Coach.

ABOUT OVERTRAINING

The volume and intensity of training continue to increase and are responsible for
the improvement of performances. Athletes often attempt to copy the number of
training sessions, the duration of workouts and other indicators related to the
trainingoft oplevelper f
ormer s,overlook ingt hef actthatal lathletesdon’ tt ol
erat
e
similar training loads. The organism can easily be overloaded when inherited
characteristics and the prerequisites to lift the training load are not taken into
consideration.

Finnish sport physiologist V. Harkonen defines overtraining as a state where,

despite intensive training, the work capacity of an athlete fails to improve, or even
drops. West German sport medicine specialist W. Kindermann claims that
“ overtr
ai ningisr eflectedinadr opofper for mancecapac iti
es,int heabsenceof
illness, of an athlete who trains regularly. It is expressed in modest subjective
andobj ectivesympt oms”.

What leads to overtraining? The inherited capacity to tolerate certain workloads

has already been mentioned. The most common additional reasons are:

 Incorrect training methods, including frequently a monotonous and rapidly

increased training volume. Most often, however, it is the intensity of a
forced training load that is responsible for more damage than a large
volume.

 The failure to understand the restoration processes of the organism.

 Training while ill or training immediately after an illness.

 Work or study loads and stresses that coincide with hard training.
  Psychological problems.

How is it possible to anticipate overtraining? There are two different main

categories of over-training. The first, the symptomatic category, is easier to
diagnose because the symptoms are typical and disturb mainly the inner feelings
of an athlete. It affects mainly beginners, young athletes and participants in the
non-endurance events. The second, the parasymptomatic category, has less
obvious symptoms and is far more difficult to forestall. It occurs usually among
endurance athlete and older performers. Table 1 presents a summary of the
main overtraining symptoms in both categories.

The athlete must take notice of any changes in his condition and contact a doctor
at the first sign of abnormal fatigue, a drop in performance capacities or any of
the listed symptoms. The doctor, in turn, has to establish whether the symptoms
indicate organic illness or one caused by functional disturbances from
overtraining.

EVALUATION METHODS

Reasonably simple and objective methods to evaluate overtraining are the

resting pulse rate and changes in the body weight. Medical examinations can
naturally provide a far more reliable diagnosis by comparing changes in the pulse
rate, blood pressure and ECG in lying down and standing positions. An increase
in the pulse rate by more than 25 beats a minute, a drop of the systolic blood
pressure over 20 mmHg and T-inversions on the cardiograph are typical
symptoms of overloading.

The above mentioned simple tests do not provide sufficient information in high
performance sport, where we are dealing with parasymptomatic changes.
Biochemical laboratory tests, such as establishing changes in the hemoglobin
concentration (drops under overloading), and others are needed.

The establishment of the hormonal status of the organism, because of the

important function of endogen hormones in the metabolism of proteins, has for
some time been employed to discover overtraining. Under normal conditions
there is a balance in the operation of catabolic and anabolic hormones. A change
in the balance can be caused by overloading the organism. There are two
possibilities to maintain the hormonal balance in intensive training. Training loads
can be moderately reduced to find an optimal load, or continued under a
controlled intake of anabolic steroids. The last is, of course, illegal and at present
prohibited.

Overtraining can also be diagnosed by checking regularly blood lactate

concentrations. Theory and practical experience indicates that overtraining is
reflected in a low maximal blood lactate level.

All the above mentioned biochemical tests help to discover an already

established over-training status. Overtraining can, however, be forestalled by
obser vi
ngt heat hlete’
sur eaconc entration,whi chi nf
orms us about the catabolic
metabolism in the organism. This concentration increases steadily under heavy
training loads but should not exceed 50mg%.

The continuous chase of new records requires further increases in the intensity
and volume of training. This, in turn, needs improved restoration methods to
avoid overtraining syndromes and has in contemporary sport led to the use of
pharmacology.

PHARMACOLOGY HAS A PLACE IN SPORT

Pharmacology and sport — these two words are usually related to the abuse of
prohibited substances with the aim to improve performances. However,
pharmacology plays in sport another, far more deserving, role in forestalling and
preventing the overloading of the organism and its single functional systems.

In our contemporary approach we have to look in the past and think of the future.
In doing so we can see that pharmacology has forced its way into sport with the
same momentum as professionalism. The use of new pharmaceutical
substances and preparations is increasing rapidly and it appears doubtful that
this boom is going to stop. Professionalism in sport simply demands a maximal
exploitation of all potentialities.
Keep in mind, for example, that the pulse frequency in some sporting activities
reaches 200 to 230 beats a minute, systolic blood pressure in the effort phase in
weightlifting can reach over 300 to 350 mmHg (normally 100 to 140 mmHg),
interval training frequently takes place in an extremely high oxygen debt
situation, the liver is often in what can be called as a disturbed state in heavy
training phases and so on. There is no doubt that such extreme situations require
far more than just a few words from the doctor.

There are many pharmaceutical treatments and restorative substances available

for the use in sport. The number of allowable substances exceeds several times
the approximately 800 banned doping preparations. The use of the non-
prohibited pharmaceutical substance is, as already mentioned, closely related to
the use of large and very large training loads. The aim is to:

 prevent and treat various over-training syndromes,

 prevent the overloading of single organs and functional systems,

 maintain the work capacity of an athlete, and

 speed up recovery processes.

RECOVERY PROCESSES

The recovery capacity from heavy workloads and the adaptation to them are the
main prerequisites for high level performances in contemporary sport. The
regulation of recovery processes is therefore looked upon as the biological
means to maintain a homogeneous balance in the organism and to improve at a
cert
ainper formancel eveloraget heat hl
ete’sadaptation capacity (D.
Davidenko).

Obviously, the planning of training processes can under these circumstances not
take place without taking into consideration recovery. The pharmaceutical
substances that assist recovery, according to the weaknesses of the organism,
can be classified as follows:

 Preparations that co-ordinate and stimulate the nervous system.

 Preparations that correct the functioning of the cardiovascular system and

improve the quality of blood.

 Preparations that protect the liver and activate its functions.

 Preparations that regulate metabolism.

 Vitamins.
Pharmaceutically assisted corrections to prevent overtraining require close co-
operation between the doctor, the coach and the athlete. By taking into
consideration changes in the work capacity of an athlete, the restoration following
certain workloads and complex biochemical indicators it is possible to speed up
recovery immediately after a workout, as well as after longer training periods.
Favorable conditions can consequently be created for the employment of high
training loads.

The use of pharmaceutical restoration substances in sport can naturally create

complicated social and ethical problems. For example, does the use of such
substances give one athlete an unfair advantage over another? On the other
hand, we know well that far more important physical advantages, given by nature
to some athletes, are never considered.

As it stands, there also is no exact knowledge of the effect of pharmaceutical

preparations used for recovery and restoration, although some research has
gone into establishment of the dynamics of pharmaceutical substances in the
adaptation to large training loads. There is a lack of exact and concrete
indicators.

Nevertheless, the use of pharmaceutical preparations in sport is necessary,

particularly when large or extremely large training loads are employed. This is
important in order to maintain a homogeneous balance in the organism and to
treat the syndrome of strain, which, after all is the same pathological condition as
any other illness.