The Fitness-Fatigue Model Revisited: Implications for Planning Short- and Long-Term Training

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The Fitness-Fatigue Model Revisited: Implications for Planning Short- and Long-Term Training
© National Strength & Conditioning Association
                                                                              Volume 25, Number 6, page 42–51

The Fitness-Fatigue Model Revisited:
Implications for Planning Short- and
Long-Term Training
      Loren Z.F. Chiu, MS, CSCS
      Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research Laboratory
      University of Southern California

      Jacque L. Barnes
      Human Performance Laboratories
      University of Memphis

      Keywords: organization of training; periodization;
      overreaching; athletic performance.

ELITE ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE              stage, where positive adaptations      sponses. The state of the organism
is dependent on a systemized            occur, returning the organism to       without training is the baseline
training program. The general           homeostasis and possibly into a        level, which represents the indi-
adaptation syndrome (GAS) was           higher state, known as supercom-       vidual’s general fitness. Training
the original model from which pe-       pensation. The exhaustion stage        results in 2 after-effects, which
riodization was designed (67). The      occurs when the imposed stress is      can positively or negatively influ-
GAS describes the physiological         greater than the adaptive reserves     ence performance: fitness and fa-
response of an organism to stress.      of the organism. This can happen       tigue (Figure 1). For strength and
A more comprehensive model of           when the magnitude of stress is        power athletes, factors that affect
the physiological responses to          too large or additional stressors      general fitness include muscle
training stimuli is the fitness-fa-     occur. As the response is suppos-      cross-sectional area, muscle con-
tigue theory (1). In light of recent    edly similar for all stressors, the    tractile protein composition, and
research examining resistance ex-       magnitude and duration of train-       muscle metabolic enzyme concen-
ercise overreaching and overtrain-      ing determine the magnitude and        trations (23, 24, 44, 62). For en-
ing, it is prudent to review the fit-   duration of adaptation.                durance athletes, both cardio-res-
ness-fatigue theory and determine           In traditional periodization       piratory factors and muscular
how it can be applied to strength       models, there are multiple bouts       factors affect general fitness (53).
and conditioning.                       of training, resulting in multiple     Examples of these are maximal
                                        flights of alarm and resistance        oxygen consumption, mitochon-
■ General Adaptation                    stages (63, 67). Periodically reduc-   drial density, and muscle capillar-
Syndrome                                ing volume load may prevent the        ization. General fitness increases
Initially described by Selye in         exhaustion stage (63, 67). If the      with training age; thus elite ath-
1956 (60), the GAS proposes that        individual reaches the exhaustion      letes have higher general fitness
all stressors result in similar re-     stage, overtraining occurs.            than novices do.
sponses. The initial response, the                                                 The fitness after -effect is a
alarm stage, is negative, with the      ■ Fitness-Fatigue Model                positive physiological response,
physiological state of the organism     Proposed in 1982 by Bannister (1),     whereas the fatigue after-effect is
decreasing following the imposi-        the fitness-fatigue model argues       a negative physiological response.
tion of stress. Secondary to the        that different training stresses re-   The interaction between these 2
alarm stage is the resistance           sult in different physiological re-    after-effects results in the change

42                                      Strength and Conditioning Journal                          December 2003
The Fitness-Fatigue Model Revisited: Implications for Planning Short- and Long-Term Training
in performance following the stim-      Down-regulation of the alpha- and      physiological literature. Similarly,
ulus (1, 67). It is important to note   beta-receptors or decreasing the       there is an absence of evidence
here that the fitness-fatigue model     release of catecholamines can de-      supporting the single unified re-
is not necessarily an alternative to    crease nervous system function         sponse proposed by Selye (60).
the GAS, but rather a better rep-       (12, 25, 28, 35). Metabolic fatigue    The initial bases for the GAS are
resentation of stimulus and re-         is primarily due to decreased stor-    the endocrine responses to stress
sponse. Indeed, the resultant           age and availability of energy sub-    (60, 67). These endocrine respons-
change in performance as de-            strates (10, 25, 45, 64, 67).          es, however, are not the same for
scribed in this model is identical           The magnitude and duration        all exercise regimes. Higher-vol-
to the GAS. The distinction of fit-     of the after-effects is dependent on   ume training results in an acute
ness and fatigue after -effects,        the stimulus, where Bannister (1)      decrease in circulating testos-
however, is important for the de-       initially proposed that training im-   terone, whereas higher-intensity
velopment of training paradigms.        pulse, an indicator of physiologi-     training results in an acute in-
    Fitness after-effects, whether      cal work, was the sole variable. In    crease in circulating testosterone
acute or chronic, appear to be pri-     general, the fatigue after-effect is   (46, 47, 49). High-volume, moder-
marily neural in nature. Facilita-      large in magnitude with a brief du-    ate-intensity exercise increases
tion of the peripheral nervous sys-     ration. This results in the initial    growth hormone, but low-volume,
tem occurs via optimal magnitude        decrease in performance (similar       very high-intensity training has no
and rate of activation of the neuro-    to Selye’s alarm stage). The fitness   growth hormone response (47,
muscular complex, coactivation of       after-effect has a dull magnitude,     49). Correspondingly, a brief de-
intrafusal fibers, and decreased        but a long duration. This mani-        crease in performance can occur
autogenic inhibition (20–22,            fests as a long-term improvement       regardless of the increase or de-
27–34, 38–41, 51, 52). Central          in performance (similar to Selye’s     crease in circulating hormones
nervous system activity increases       resistance stage).                     (35–38, 40, 41). The original
through up-regulation of the                                                   propositions of the GAS are thus
alpha- and beta-receptors and           ■ Evidence of After-Effects            far too simplistic to accurately de-
greater catecholamine release (12).     Evidence of the existence of 2         scribe the physiological response
    Fatigue after-effects are both      after-effects, as opposed to a sin-    to stimuli.
neural and metabolic in nature.         gle unified response, exists in the         Perhaps the best evidence of
                                                                               fitness and fatigue after-effects is
                                                                               the physiological phenomenon
                                                                               posttetanic potentiation. Postte-
                                                                               tanic potentiation is the increase
                                                                               in muscle twitch force following
                                                                               voluntary or involuntary maximal
                                                                               contractions (9). Brown and von
                                                                               Euler (3) reported that successive
                                                                               contractions in isolated muscle
                                                                               preparations resulted in greater
                                                                               force production. Further re-
                                                                               search in animals and humans
                                                                               corroborated these findings, indi-
                                                                               cating that maximal voluntary
                                                                               contractions resulted in an in-
                                                                               crease in performance (9, 11, 19,
                                                                               42, 57). Interestingly, individuals
                                                                               competing in sports respond fa-
                                                                               vorably, whereas recreationally
                                                                               trained individuals fatigued after
                                                                               the maximal voluntary contrac-
                                                                               tions (9). Chiu et al. (9) speculated
                                                                               that the athletic individuals had a
Figure 1.   Fitness-fatigue theory.                                            greater potentiation response (fit-

December 2003                           Strength and Conditioning Journal                                       43
ness after-effect) and less fatigue    priate measure for the training              ry. The GAS theory states that
compared with the recreationally       stimulus. Training impulse is a              total work alone, regardless of the
trained individuals.                   measure of total work performed,             magnitude of stress, is responsi-
    Physiologically, maximal con-      and a similar measure exists for             ble for the responses. In the fit-
tractions cause a depletion of cre-    resistance exercise, called volume           ness-fatigue model, both the
atine phosphate, an accumulation       load (64). Volume load refers to the         amount and magnitude of the
of extracellular potassium, and an     total kilograms of weight lifted.            stimulus contributes to the post-
increase in intramuscular calcium      Whether training impulse (for en-            exercise response. Indeed, this
and hydrogen (53). These changes       durance activities) or volume load           distinction may demonstrate the
contribute to decreased muscle         (for resistance exercise), this no-          complexity of the fitness-fatigue
force production. Alternatively,       tion that total work is the stimu-           model. Absolute load, training in-
maximal contractions result in         lus responsible for short- and               tensity, and total work appear to
phosphorylation of the regulatory      long-term adaptation is intellectu-          have their own fitness and fatigue
myosin light chain and the H-re-       ally appealing. However, the re-             after-effects. Therefore, the origi-
flex (9, 19, 42, 57). The regulatory   search by Fry et al. (12, 13, 15, 16)        nal model—having 1 fitness after-
myosin light chain is a protein        shows that exercise with high load           effect and 1 fatigue after-effect—
that regulates the rate of muscle      or high intensity in absence of              may be misleading. There may
contraction. Phosphorylation of        high volume loads results in both            actually be multiple fitness after-
this protein increases the rate of     positive and negative adaptations            effects and multiple fatigue after-
binding of actin and myosin, re-       (45, 58). Thus for a single bout of          effects (Figure 2).
sulting in faster muscle contrac-      exercise, absolute load, training                Although each specific fitness
tion (57). The H-reflex is a reflex-   intensity, and total work are re-            and fatigue after-effect is indepen-
ive neural signal, which when          sponsible for the magnitude and              dent of each other, they have a cu-
superimposed on voluntary mus-         duration of the fitness and fatigue          mulative effect. Of primary con-
cle activation, increases the          after-effects (4–7, 20–22, 29–32,            cern is the summation of fatigue
strength of the electrical impulse,    34, 40, 51, 52, 56).                         after -effects. Individual fatigue
thus activating more motor units           This important revelation il-            after-effects are specific respons-
(19).                                  lustrates the differing impacts of           es to stimuli; however, these re-
    In addition to these acute re-     the GAS and fitness-fatigue theo-            sponses can have a systemic ef-
sponses, short-term training
adaptations support the fitness-
fatigue model. Fry et al. (16) found
that following 3 weeks of high rel-
ative intensity resistance exercise,
strength did not change, whereas
speed decreased. Subjects per-
formed near maximal lifts 3 days
per week using the free-weight
barbell squat. Sprint performance
decreased following training, with
a 10% increase in 9.1-m run time.
This differential response between
strength and speed occurs repeat-
edly in resistance exercise over-
training studies and is supportive
of different responses to stress
(12, 13, 15, 16, 45, 58).

■ Stimulus and Response
Bannister (1) suggested that train-
ing impulse—the product of heart
rate (or exercise intensity) and ex-
ercise duration—was the appro-         Figure 2.   Revised fitness-fatigue theory

44                                     Strength and Conditioning Journal                                December 2003
fect, in particular affecting the im-        Regardless of the training pa-      of specific fitness and fatigue after-
mune system. When fatigue after-        rameters, adaptations in begin-          effects is high. A period of training
effects are small and brief, the        ners performing resistance exer-         involving reduced total work and
systemic effect is small. However,      cise include muscle hypertrophy          relative intensity is required to re-
stressful periods of training with-     and shift of myosin heavy chain          move the fatigue after -effects
out sufficient recovery result in an    IIb to IIa (8, 53, 55, 62). Maximal      (1, 67). When applied before a
accumulation of fatigue and an in-      oxygen consumption, increased            major competition, this phase is a
crease in the systemic or main fa-      mitochondrial density, and in-           taper (14, 18, 27, 54, 61, 65). Al-
tigue after-effect.                     creased capillarization result from      though widely applied in coaching
     The existence of multiple fit-     most types of endurance training         circles, the acknowledgment of the
ness and fatigue after-effects may      (53). An explanation for the diver-      delayed training effect has been
explain why individual physical         gence in performance adaptations         missing in scientific research.
qualities respond differently to        between different programs is the        Without a taper period, it is diffi-
variations in training. For exam-       rate and magnitude of adapta-            cult to interpret the true impact of
ple, empirical evidence in              tions, rather than the type of           a training program. Preliminary
weightlifters finds that in periods     adaptations (55). These adapta-          evidence suggests 96 hours of rest
of maximal strength training, ex-       tions are stable and do not tend to      may be necessary in recreational-
plosive strength and muscular           regress unless a prolonged period        ly trained individuals for optimal
endurance suf fer. Similarly,           of detraining occurs (43, 44, 48).       strength performance (65).
strength is impaired when the                Elite athletes have developed a          The period of rest required for
emphasis is on explosive strength       high general fitness level; thus the     maximal strength and velocity
(2). If different fitness after -ef-    training emphasis shifts to specif-      adaptations to manifest may de-
fects exist for absolute strength,      ic fitness adaptations. The highest      pend on the nature of the training
explosive strength, and muscular        level of performance occurs when         (59). Training involving concen-
endurance, they should be spe-          fatigue after-effects are minimal        tric-only or eccentric-only move-
cific to the mode of training best      and fitness after-effects are maxi-      ments requires 10–14 days of rest
suited for that physical quality.       mal. Mathematical functions can          for optimal strength and velocity
Thus when the emphasis of train-        represent the fitness and fatigue        adaptations. For typical eccentric-
ing is on one and not the other         after-effects (1, 4–7). As the after-    concentric exercise, strength and
physical qualities, the other spe-      effects decay, they follow an as-        velocity were greatest 21 days fol-
cific fitness after-effects diminish    ymptotic function where the after-       lowing termination of training.
and that specific aspect of perfor-     effect approaches but does not           Whether the concentric-only, ec-
mance increases.                        reach zero. Thus it is impossible        centric-only, or eccentric-concen-
                                        for fitness or fatigue to exist inde-    tric exercise modes were directly
■ Implications for Training             pendently. Bannister (1) proposes        responsible for the different taper
For novice athletes, the emphasis       that it is better to have high fitness   times is disputable, as eccentric-
of training is on improving the         with moderate fatigue, rather than       concentric training would involve
general fitness level. The general      moderate fitness and low fatigue.        roughly twice the volume load as
fitness aspect of the fitness-fa-       Manipulating training parameters         the other modalities. Regardless,
tigue theory explains why begin-        can alter the magnitude and du-          the major finding is in support of
ners tend to respond to any type        rations of these after-effects, pro-     a delayed training effect.
of training program. When begin-        ducing the optimal level of perfor-           It is rare, however, for elite
ners train, general fitness adapta-     mance. From the temporal pattern         athletes to completely abstain
tions occur without substantial         of the fatigue after-effect, it is im-   from training the last weeks before
fitness and fatigue after-effects.      portant to note that maximal per-        competition. Although a drastic
Novices cannot train with suffi-        formance does not occur immedi-          reduction in volume load occurs
cient absolute load, intensity, or      ately after the training phase.          during these few weeks, empiri-
volume to elicit large fitness and                                               cally, intensity remains high. This
fatigue after-effects. Thus begin-      ■ Delayed Training Effect                is especially true in elite
ners adapt so that they can toler-      The delayed training effect is a di-     weightlifters. The brief, infrequent
ate greater absolute loads, exer-       rect consequence of the fitness-fa-      imposition of high-intensity train-
cise intensities, and training          tigue model. Following a period of       ing may maintain or increase the
volumes.                                stressful training, the magnitude        specific fitness after-effects with-

December 2003                           Strength and Conditioning Journal                                          45
out substantially affecting fatigue     ments may not occur due to the          from excess training volume.
after-effects (16, 43, 64). There-      positive effect of the fitness after-   Lehmann et al. (50) found perfor-
fore, this period is more than sim-     effects. Over time, the persistent      mance impairments in overtrained
ply removing the fatigue after-ef-      addition of fatigue after -effects      endurance athletes as much as 1
fect; this period also maximizes        results in a depletion in the ath-      year following reduction in train-
the magnitude of the fitness after-     lete’s adaptive abilities, resulting    ing stress. Overtraining from in-
effect. Thus, rather than taper, a      in overtraining. It is here that the    creased loads or training intensity
more appropriate term for this          GAS falls short in explaining why       should resolve within a few weeks
phase of training may be ramping.       performance drops sharply when          of rest (16, 45, 64).
                                        overtraining occurs. Following
■ Short-Term Overreaching               the GAS model, per for mance            ■ Long-Term Planning
The fitness-fatigue theory and de-      should decrease progressively           Although it has fallen out of favor
layed training effect are important     with additional stressors, which        among many strength and condi-
to consider in planning the train-      empirically is not the case. With       tioning professionals, the tradi-
ing of elite athletes. Elite athletes   the fitness-fatigue model, fatigue      tional periodization model holds
can tolerate greater volume load        accumulates, and at the point           concepts that are still important
and training intensity than             when fatigue after-effects greatly      for planning training programs.
novices and require more stress to      exceed fitness after-effects, over-     Perhaps the most important is the
stimulate adaptations. The fre-         training occurs.                        inverse relationship between vol-
quent imposition of these stress-           We must be careful in labeling      ume and intensity (63). If we re-
es, however, makes the athlete          overtraining, as it typically re-       member that longer durations are
more susceptible to overtraining.       quires a prolonged period of            required to overtrain and recover
The need for variation in volume        stressful training to reach (12, 64).   from overtraining, with training
load and intensity are the ratio-       Coaches and sport scientists            volume it would be prudent to
nale behind short-term overreach-       should not underestimate the            only use higher training volumes
ing (12, 64, 67).                       adaptive abilities of the human         early in the training plan.
    Short-term overreaching is the      body (14). Most individuals will            Higher frequency of training,
deliberate imposition of stressful      never reach a true overtraining         and therefore higher training vol-
training for brief periods inter-       state. Prior research in elite ath-     ume, increases the duration of the
spersed with periods of recovery        letes has found an ability to toler-    fatigue effect associated with a
(12, 64). These stressful periods       ate twofold or threefold increases      single training session (4). This
result in large fitness and fatigue     in training volume for periods of       may be tolerable early in the train-
after-effects. As the duration of       1–3 weeks (14, 64).                     ing year when fatigue has not ac-
the fitness after -effect is longer         With resistance exercise,           cumulated; however, if training
than the fatigue after-effect, a pe-    recreationally trained individuals      frequency remains high through-
riod of rest allows fatigue to di-      are able to maintain or increase        out the training year, the ability to
minish while fitness remains high.      strength with 3–5 d/wk of training      recover is impaired (4). Reducing
Stone and Fry (64) and Fry (12)         with near maximal loads (>90% 1         training volume toward the mid-
have proposed that this frequent        repetition maximum [1RM]; 13,           point of the training year will allow
cycling of training and recovery        16). Velocity-related perfor-           sufficient time for fatigue to di-
phases is necessary to improve          mances, such as sprinting, de-          minish. The use of higher training
performance in elite athletes.          crease at this frequency and in-        volume early in the training plan
                                        tensity of training. A training         also results in increased adaptive
■ Overtraining                          frequency of 7 d/wk for 2 consec-       abilities, which would be useful
It is important to consider that        utive weeks results in large            later in the training year (14).
the fitness and fatigue after -ef-      strength decrements (15, 58).               Intensity manipulations result
fects are dynamic and not static        Thus training with excessive loads      in more predictable responses
entities. If training occurs while      results in overtraining faster than     than volume manipulation,
fatigue after-effects persist, addi-    training with excessive volume.         whether positive or negative (9,
tional after-effects will superim-          Similarly, overtraining result-     20, 21, 25, 29, 32, 35–38, 40, 51,
pose on existing ones, exacerbat-       ing from load and intensity ma-         52, 56). Thus as the competition
ing the maladaptations (1).             nipulations appears to resolve          period nears, it is wise to reduce
However, per for mance decre-           faster than overtraining resulting      training volume to avoid pro-

46                                      Strength and Conditioning Journal                           December 2003
longed fatigue after-effects while     near-maximal loads lifted for mul-       letes who trained twice per day
addressing training intensity to       tiple sets of few repetitions. Maxi-     improved strength more than in-
maximize the fitness after-effects.    mal intensity training uses sub-         dividuals who trained only once
    Typically, sequencing of long-     maximal loads lifted with maximal        per day (26). Only athletes who
term training is in a multidirec-      acceleration for multiple sets of low    have a high level of general fitness
tional fashion. With multidirec-       to moderate repetitions. Maximal         should perform multiple daily
tional training, athletes train        work training involves a high vol-       training sessions. From prelimi-
multiple physical qualities in the     ume of lifts with submaximal loads.      nary research, maximal strength
same period. For elite athletes, it         Maximal intensity training has      training sessions precede maximal
may be necessary to train in a uni-    the largest fitness after -effect,       intensity sessions. The large fa-
directional fashion, where empha-      which is of short duration (9, 19,       tigue after-effect from maximal in-
sis is on only 1 physical quality      34, 51, 52). Maximal work training       tensity training appears to mani-
during a given training period. For    has the smallest fitness after-ef-       fest during the session or in the
example, an athlete may perform        fect, yet the duration is longest        intersession interval (2, 66). This
a 4-week block of training focus-      (25). Maximal strength training          fatigue after-effect negatively af-
ing on strength only (67). The uni-    has a smaller fitness after-effect       fects maximal strength, but not
directional method usually results     than maximal intensity training (9,      explosive strength (2). A single
in short-term overreaching of the      19, 34, 51, 52). The fatigue after-      maximal intensity training session
trained quality.                       effects are similar, with maximal        results in decreased force produc-
    Some coaches and scientists        intensity resulting in large fatigue     tion during a second training ses-
suggest that consecutive over-         for a brief period and maximal           sion 4–6 hours later. The earlier
reaching phases are possible, so       work resulting in low-levels of fa-      training session does not affect ex-
long as each phase is unidirec-        tigue for a prolonged period (5–7,       plosive strength or training veloc-
tional and emphasizes a different      9, 17, 19, 25, 34, 51, 52, 56, 66).      ity. Again, when training multiple
physical quality (67). This concurs         In planning a single training       times per day, maximal work
with the proposed revised fitness-     session, maximal intensity and           training occurs last.
fatigue model involving multiple       maximal strength training always
fitness and fatigue after-effects.     precede maximal work. The onset          ■ Short-Term Training
The fatigue after-effect specific to   of fatigue with maximal work             When concurrently training
1 physical quality should not          training is nearly immediate, as         multiple strength qualities, early
hamper the performance of an-          opposed to maximal intensity and         in the week the emphasis should
other physical quality. This ap-       strength, where the fitness after-       be on maximal intensity. As the
plies so long as systemic mal-         effect offsets fatigue (17, 25). Elite   fatigue after-effect is shortest for
adaptations, such as impaired          athletes can perform maximal             maximal intensity training, this
immune system function, do not         strength training before maximal         arrangement has the smallest
occur. Thus even with unidirec-        intensity. This sequencing takes         negative effect on subsequent
tional sequencing, the training        advantage of the posttetanic po-         days of training. Additionally,
plan should include brief periods      tentiation phenomenon (9). Less-         the large fitness after-effect may
for recovery.                          er -trained athletes, however,           positively influence subsequent
                                       should always perform maximal            training days. A day emphasiz-
■ Dynamics of the Training Day         intensity training before maximal        ing maximal strength occurs
A single training session can influ-   strength training. Elite athletes        after days of maximal intensity
ence subsequent training sessions,     may also use this sequencing. In         training, so it does not negative-
both positively and negatively (2,     lesser-trained individuals, fatigue      ly affect the maximal intensity
26, 40, 66). The effect depends on     follows maximal strength training,       training sessions. Similarly,
the type of training performed.        impairing maximal intensity per-         maximal work occurs toward the
From the research literature, there    formance (9, 11).                        end of the week, closer to days of
are 3 distinctive types of strength         Rather than training multiple       rest, which will allow fatigue to
training, which have differing phys-   strength qualities in a single train-    recover.
iological effects on the organism:     ing session, dividing training into          In general, training sessions
maximal strength, maximal inten-       multiple sessions per day may be         resulting in a large fitness after-ef-
sity, and maximal work (67). Maxi-     appropriate. Even when total             fect and a brief fatigue after-effect
mal strength training involves         training volume was equal, ath-          should occur early in the training

December 2003                          Strength and Conditioning Journal                                          47
week. The positive change in per-       4. Busso, T., H. Benoit, R. Bon-           of intensified training on mus-
formance from the fitness after-ef-         nefoy, L. Feasson, and J.R. La-        cle glycogen and swimming
fect allows the athlete to train            cour. Effects of training fre-         performance. Med. Sci. Sports
harder in subsequent days. Train-           quency on the dynamics of              Exerc. 20:249–254. 1988.
ing sessions resulting in a longer          performance response to a          11. Duthie, G.M., W.B. Young, and
fatigue after-effect occur later in         single training bout. J. Appl.         D.A. Aitken. The acute effects
the training week, immediately be-          Physiol. 92:572–580. 2002.             of heavy loads on jump squat
fore rest days. The rest days allow     5. Busso, T., R. Candau, and               performance: An evaluation of
fatigue to subside. Even 1 day per          J.R. Lacour. Fatigue and fit-          the complex and contrast
week of rest can be sufficient for          ness modeled from the effects          methods of power develop-
recovery (12, 13).                          of training on performance.            ment. J. Strength Cond. Res.
                                            Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 69:50–54.       16(4):530–538. 2002.
■ Summary                                   1994.                              12. Fry, A.C. The role of training
High-level human performance re-        6. Busso, T., K. Häkkinen, A.              intensity in resistance exercise
quires years of diligent training.          Pakarinen, C. Carasso, J.R.            overtraining and overreaching.
Coaches and athletes should not             Lacour, P.V. Komi, and H.              In: Overtraining in Sport. R.B.
leave performance adaptations to            Kauhanen. A systems model of           Kreider, A.C. Fry, and M.L.
chance. Proper planning and orga-           training responses and its             O’Toole, eds. Champaign, IL:
nization of training results in the         relationship to hormonal               Human Kinetics, 1998. pp.
desired performance outcomes,               responses in elite weight-             107–127.
and empirical and scientific evi-           lifters. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol.    13. Fry, A.C., W.J. Kraemer, J.M.
dence is in support of modeling             61(1–2):48–54. 1990.                   Lynch, N.T. Triplett, and L.P.
training after the fitness-fatigue      7. Busso, T., K. Häkkinen, A.              Koziris. Does short-term near-
theory. From the design of the              Pakarinen, H. Kauhanen, P.V.           maximal intensity machine re-
yearly training structure to each           Komi, and J.R. Lacour. Hor-            sistance exercise induce over-
individual training session, an ath-        monal adaptations and mod-             training? J. Strength Cond.
lete’s training plan should account         eled responses in elite                Res. 8:188–191. 1994.
for fitness and fatigue after-effects       weightlifters during 6 weeks of    14. Fry, A.C., W.J. Kraemer, M.H.
in an effort to maximize the effects        training. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol.       Stone, B.J. Warren, S.J. Fleck,
of training. ▲                              64(4):381–386. 1992.                   J.T. Kearney, and S.E. Gor-
                                        8. Campos, G.E., T.J. Luecke,              don. Endocrine responses to
■ References                                H.K. Wendeln, K. Toma, F.C.            overreaching before and after
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   athletic performance. In: Phys-          Ragg, N.A. Ratamess, W.J.              Appl. Physiol. 19(4):400–410.
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