I was going into matches tired. I was doing too many extras after training and not giving my body time to recover. I was really run down. I was absolutely shattered by the start of the second half and really struggled to finish the game off.
Scott, premiership player
One way of improving your performance is to undertake a more intense physical conditioning program so that you are able to perform at higher intensity for the whole 80 minutes of a match. Although increasing your training has the potential to achieve this, engaging in extra training can result in your experiencing physical stress (Polman & Houlan, 2004). If you are not able to deal with the stress from training, your performance may deteriorate. Any performance decline over a sustained time is termed the unexplained underperformance syndrome (UPS). Overtraining occurs when you engage in lots of training and do not get sufficient rest, which leads to reduced performance or UPS. As such, UPS is an outcome of overtraining.
The impact of overtraining can be highly detrimental to performance. When you are overtraining, your performance suffers during matches. You become fatigued much earlier in a match and find it harder to perform various skills as the match progresses. For instance, you might find that you miss more tackles because you don’t have the energy to use the correct tackling technique or are not able to get to the player whom you want to tackle. Your passes might not find their target, or if you are kicker, you might make mistakes that you would not normally make.
Callard the COACH
It is easy for a player to get into a routine and have no progression in training. The player thus gains nothing from his or her training. Training can help a player either to get better technically or to perform well; the outcomes are different, and the training must be kept separate. Thus, when looking at the whole picture of the season, a player must plan for development and include in it different training phases or cycles. Otherwise, the season will be one cycle without any peaks.
Overreaching occurs when you train harder than normal. The result may be temporary feelings of fatigue and physical stress, but with adequate rest you are able to come back and perform better than you did previously. As such, the combination of training and rest allows you to reach your full potential. Overreaching is the first phase of overtraining, but with adequate rest and recovery whilst in a fatigued state, you can reverse the symptoms and recover within one or two weeks (Kuipers, 1998). With overtraining, performance may not return to previous levels for as long as several months, despite resting (Kreider, Fry, & O’Toole, 1998).
The clearest indicator that you may be in an overtrained state is that you are not able to perform at previous levels (Richardson, Andersen, & Morris, 2008) in either fitness tests (e.g., bleep test) or strength tests (e.g., one repetition max), or you just find yourself being extremely fatigued during matches when normally you would be able to play much longer before becoming fatigued. Generally, the symptoms of overtraining are much more severe than those of overreaching (Halson & Jeukendrup, 2004) and may include the following:
• Performance decline
• Mood disturbances, such as depression, anger, and confusion
• Decreased immune system, which results in more illnesses, allergic reactions, and upper respiratory tract infections (Armstrong & VanHeest, 2002)
• Muscle aches
• Lack of energy
• Sleep disturbances
• Appetite changes
Callard the COACH
Monitoring whether an athlete is underperforming is not the sole responsibility of the player. It should be a collective effort of the player, coach, fitness team, and medical team all working together. A coach should be able to spot a drop off in performance on the field.
Some research has examined the risk factors associated with symptoms of overtraining among a sample of professional rugby union players (Nicholls et al., in press). This paper found a number of risk factors associated with overtraining:
• Training (structure and volume)
• Number of matches and recovery period
• Diet
• Sleep
• Travel
The quotations in table 13.1 on page 162 reveal how the various risk factors may contribute to symptoms of overtraining such as decreased performance and mood disturbances.
No diagnostic tool is currently available to detect overtraining in rugby players. Rather, overtraining is diagnosed only when all other factors that may explain decreased performance (e.g., injury) or mood states (e.g., mental illness) are ruled out (Halson & Jeukendrup, 2004). Although there is now no way of diagnosing overtraining, you can monitor symptoms associated with overtraining such as stress and affective states. By monitoring your levels of stress you can change your training regime if your levels of stress are high or if you have negative affective states. Identifying problems early might be the key to preventing overtraining from occurring (Richardson et al., 2008).
Callard the COACH
Many top sporting clubs are adopting some simple measures to monitor players’ welfare and whether they are in an overtrained state. These methods vary from the use of global positioning satellite systems to track players’ movement in training sessions to simple wellness charts whereby players are asked to submit scores about how they are feeling. Questions asked relate to the amount of sleep they have had to their soreness or stiffness from the exertions of the previous day. The players’ weight is recorded daily. Some clubs even conduct osmosis tests to determine whether a player is sufficiently hydrated. Players who are not hydrated are asked to consume fluids and may even be pulled from training to reduce the possibility of an injury.
A coach must not be frightened to act on the information gathered. After all, players must feel their best if they are to perform to their best.
A coach must be flexible. He or she must be prepared to change training, for the individual or for the whole group. The coach must plan rest weeks and encourage players to take time off during the season. Periodic rest will keep the players motivated, fresh, and enthused.
Players must also show honesty to spot signs of fatigue or training stress early on and be open about them. They must be prepared to take time off, change their training schedule, or have the discipline to take on new activities that are not physically draining.
Rushall (1990) devised a questionnaire called Daily Analysis of Life Demands in Athletes (DALDA). We have adapted this questionnaire (see table 13.2 on page 164) and called it Daily Analysis of Life Demands in Rugby Players, which you can complete yourself. To monitor your stress levels, complete this questionnaire on a regular basis such as once a week or once a month. Part A of the questionnaire refers to sources of stress (e.g., diet, home life, and friends), and part B refers to symptoms of stress (e.g., muscle pains, temper, and likeability).
If you scored mostly A’s for both sources and symptoms of stress, then you are currently going through a stressful period. If you scored lots of A’s for sources of stress, then you could try to address them by speaking to appropriately trained professionals or taking action yourself. For example, if your diet is a source of stress you could create a diet plan dictating what you are going to eat and when you are going to eat it. If you are unsure, you can book an appointment with a registered dietician.
If you scored mostly A’s for the symptoms of stress, you should try to address the issue of why you are experiencing these high levels of stress. You could speak to your coach about the possibility of taking a rest or altering your training to let your mind and body recover. If you continue to experience mostly A’s without doing anything about it, then your performance is likely to suffer and you may experience UPS.
If you scored mostly B’s for sources and symptoms of stress, then the levels of stress that you are experiencing should not have a negative effect on your rugby performance. Identify any sources and symptoms of stress that you marked as an A and try to eliminate or reduce those stressors.
If you scored mostly C’s you are currently experiencing low levels of stress because you are managing the stress of training effectively. Continue doing what you are doing but monitor and take action if you start experiencing more stress.
Affect refers to how we are feeling. We are always feeling something. Whether we feel slightly tired or very happy, an affective tone is always present. You can measure you affective tone by marking a cross on the affective grid in figure 13.1 (Russell, Weiss, & Mendelsohn, 1989).
You can complete this on a regular basis to monitor how you are feeling. How you feel will fluctuate depending on
• the time of day when you complete the grid,
• what you have been doing on the day that you complete the grid, and
• what you did the day before you complete the grid.
If you complete this grid on a number of occasions and find that you are constantly stressed, then you need to look what is causing the stress in your life and how you can cope with it effectively. A number of solutions are presented in the chapter in this book about coping (chapter 5). But if after trying those suggestions you experience no improvements or feel depressed, you should book an appointment with your general practitioner, who will be able to help you seek further advice. If you are always sleepy when you complete the affect grid, you may know why you are feeling constantly stressed. You may be completing the affect grid too late at night or very early in the morning.
If you have scored mostly A’s on the stress questionnaire and you have reported feeling either depressed, sleepy, or tired for a month or more, then you might be experiencing overtraining. As we stated previously, no diagnostic tool is available yet, but you could consider changing your training routine and monitoring your stress levels and affect grid ratings to see whether they improve. If they do not, you could consult your general practitioner for further advice.
• Increasing your training load has the potential to cause physical stress, which may result in decreased rugby performance.
• The primary symptom of overtraining is being unable to perform to previous levels.
• Other symptoms of overtraining include unexplained aches and pains, feelings of fatigue, and sleep disturbances that occur for longer than two weeks.
• No test is currently available to diagnose overtraining.
• A number of factors appear to contribute to overtraining such as the structure and volume of training, the number of matches played, diet, sleep, and travel.
• By monitoring your stress and affect, which are both associated with overtraining, you can prevent it from happening by taking steps to reduce stress when it occurs.
