How do we know if an athlete is overtrained?
Diagnosing Overtraining Syndrome: A Scoping Review
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Athletes can get so tired from training that their performance drops for weeks. This is called overtraining syndrome. Doctors don’t have one test to find it, so they look at many things like mood, hormones, and heart patterns.
Surprising Findings
Overtrained athletes showed blunted hormone responses to insulin tolerance testing (ITT), including reduced ACTH, cortisol, growth hormone, and prolactin release.
Most people assume stress hormones like cortisol are always high in burnout, but here the body’s entire stress response system appears suppressed—like it’s given up.
Practical Takeaways
Monitor mood changes like fatigue, irritability, and low motivation as early warning signs of overtraining.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Athletes can get so tired from training that their performance drops for weeks. This is called overtraining syndrome. Doctors don’t have one test to find it, so they look at many things like mood, hormones, and heart patterns.
Surprising Findings
Overtrained athletes showed blunted hormone responses to insulin tolerance testing (ITT), including reduced ACTH, cortisol, growth hormone, and prolactin release.
Most people assume stress hormones like cortisol are always high in burnout, but here the body’s entire stress response system appears suppressed—like it’s given up.
Practical Takeaways
Monitor mood changes like fatigue, irritability, and low motivation as early warning signs of overtraining.
Publication
Journal
Sports Health
Year
2021
Authors
J. Carrard, Anne-Catherine Rigort, Christian Appenzeller‐Herzog, F. Colledge, K. Königstein, T. Hinrichs, A. Schmidt-Trucksäss
Related Content
Claims (6)
Athletes who are overtrained might have messed-up hormone levels — like lower testosterone and higher stress hormones — which could explain why they feel so drained and don’t recover well.
Athletes who are overtrained might have a less responsive stress and hormone system, which shows up as weaker hormone reactions during a special medical test.
Athletes who are overtrained might have an imbalance in their nervous system, with their body being in 'rest mode' too much and not balancing properly with 'active mode'.
Some scores that combine health, hormone, and body measurements might help tell the difference between male athletes who are overtrained and those who aren’t — but right now, there’s only one small study showing this.
Athletes who are overtrained tend to feel more tired, stressed, sad, or confused—and less energetic—than healthy athletes. Tracking these feelings might help spot overtraining.