Overtraining: what do we know?

This chapter emphasises the (dis)balance between training and recovery, the definitions of the terms ‘functional overreaching’, ‘nonfunctional overreaching’, and the ‘overtraining syndrome’, as well as the diagnosis, prevalence, assessment, and prevention of the overtraining syndrome. This chapter is derived from the joint consensus statement of the European College of Sport Science and the American College of Sports Medicine regarding the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the Overtraining Syndrome (Meeusen et al., 2013)