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Cited by 836Sports Performance and TrainingSports injuries and preventionCardiovascular Effects of Exercise

How much is too much? (Part 2) International Olympic Committee consensus statement on load in sport and risk of illness

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Schwellnus, Martin, Soligard, Torbjørn, Alonso, Juan-Manuel, Bahr, Roald, Clarsen, Ben, Dijkstra, H Paul, Gabbett, Tim J, Gleeson, Michael +9 more·2016·British Journal of Sports Medicine
DOI 10.1136/bjsports-2016-096572PMC PMC5013087
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Abstract

The modern-day athlete participating in elite sports is exposed to high training loads and increasingly saturated competition calendar. Emerging evidence indicates that inappropriate load management is a significant risk factor for acute illness and the overtraining syndrome. The IOC convened an expert group to review the scientific evidence for the relationship of load—including rapid changes in training and competition load, competition calendar congestion, psychological load and travel—and health outcomes in sport. This paper summarises the results linking load to risk of illness and overtraining in athletes, and provides athletes, coaches and support staff with practical guidelines for appropriate load management to reduce the risk of illness and overtraining in sport. These include guidelines for prescription of training and competition load, as well as for monitoring of training, competition and psychological load, athlete well-being and illness. In the process, urgent research priorities were identified.

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  • Athletes may compromise their immune status with high training loads (over-reaching, over-training), which can increase the risk of illness such as URTIs.

    “Athletes may compromise their immune status with high training loads (over-reaching, over-training) which can increase the risk of illness such as URTIs.”

    From International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Probiotics (2019) · cites this paper as [116]

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [30]Oxford Dictionaries. ’Load‘. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/load (accessed 24 May 2016)
  2. [40]Viru A, Viru M Nature of training effects. In: Garrett WE, Kirkendall DT, eds. Exercise and sport science. 1st edn Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2000: 67– 96.

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Authors
Schwellnus, M., Soligard, T., Alonso, J.-M., Bahr, R., Clarsen, B., Dijkstra, H. P., Gabbett, T. J., Gleeson, M., Hägglund, M., Hutchinson, M. R., Janse Van Rensburg, C., Meeusen, R., Orchard, J. W., Pluim, B. M., Raftery, M., Budgett, R., & Engebretsen, L.
Affiliations
  • University of Pretoria (ZA)
  • International Olympic Committee (CH)
  • Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital (QA)
  • Department of Sports Medicine, Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
  • Loughborough University (GB)
  • Linköping University (SE)
  • University of Illinois Chicago (US)
  • Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute for Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Research, Section Sports Medicine, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)
  • The University of Sydney (AU)
  • Royal Dutch Lawn Tennis Federation (NL)
  • World Rugby (IE)
Corresponding author
Schwellnus, Martin
ORCID
Venue
British Journal of Sports Medicine
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2016-08-17
Volume
50
Issue
17
Pages
1043-1052
ISSN
  • 0306-3674 (ISSN-L)
  • 1473-0480
DOI
10.1136/bjsports-2016-096572
PMC
PMC5013087
OpenAlex
W2509882603
Cited by
836
References
298
Citations by year
2026: 27 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 69 · 2023: 98 · 2022: 96 · 2021: 118 · 2020: 132 · 2019: 93 · 2018: 95 · 2017: 55 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 1
FWCI
101.55
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • British Journal of Sports Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • University of Southern Queensland ePrints (University of Southern Queensland) (acceptedVersion)
  • BIBSYS Brage (BIBSYS (Norway)) (acceptedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
  • DiVA (Linkoping University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Loughborough University Institutional Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Loughborough University Research Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
  • UpSpace Institutional Repository (University of Pretoria) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports injuries and prevention
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Effects of Exercise
Keywords
training load, overtraining syndrome, psychological burden, travel-related illness, load management, training load prescription, athlete well-being, load monitoring, elite athletes
MeSH terms
Return to Sport, Diet, Healthy, Acute Disease, Athletic Injuries, Female, Health Promotion, Humans, Immune System, Male, Terminology as Topic, Physical Education and Training, Professional Practice, Cumulative Trauma Disorders, Risk Factors, Sports Medicine, Stress, Psychological, Travel, Biomarkers, Workload, Practice Guidelines as Topic, Evidence-Based Medicine, Athletic Performance, Athletes

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