Recovery often receives insufficient attention during intense training periods. Ironically, a tired body cannot perform training effectively, thus optimal development becomes unattainable. Inadequate recovery manifests as fatigue and increased risk of overuse injuries. So, how can and should one promote training recovery, and how can you tell if your body is ready for training or if it needs more rest?

These challenges are discussed in the athlete recovery series, which aims to present a wide range of recovery and recovery monitoring methods. These will be covered from the second part of the series onwards, starting with the introduction of pressure-based recovery methods such as compression, foam rolling, and massage. Subsequent parts will also delve into variations in temperature and recovery monitoring.

However, before delving into recovery and its enhancement through various means, it is essential to understand why recovery is crucial and what its objectives are. What is fatigue, what causes it, and is it a good or bad thing? Fatigue as a physiological phenomenon encompasses several different mechanisms, which will be explored further below.

The Feared, Desired Fatigue

Following a single high-intensity or long-duration exercise session, as well as after several consecutive sessions, the body is often fatigued, making recovery crucial for the body to perform efficiently in the next day’s (or shorter-term) training session. Fatigue is the factor against which recovery methods are aimed.

The fatigue induced by exercise is beneficial in the short term because development cannot be expected without disrupting the body’s homeostasis, or balance. However, prolonged and/or high-intensity training depletes the body’s resources, and without adequate replenishment, the athlete soon finds themselves in an unfavorable situation where the imbalance between stress and rest escalates into more significant issues such as illness, injury, or overtraining.

The Physiology of Fatigue

As mentioned earlier, endurance training (as well as strength training, which will not be further explored here) stresses the body in various ways. The musculoskeletal system, energy metabolism systems, and central nervous system are all affected. To understand the causes of fatigue, it is crucial to grasp the complexity of this phenomenon.

Muscle Soreness: Let’s start with the musculoskeletal system, which includes muscles, bones, and tendons. Exercise causes small micro-injuries, microtears, in muscles and tendons, the repair of which during the recovery phase is extremely important. These injuries cause local swelling in the muscles due to an inflammatory reaction, and often the muscles feel sore or tender, as in the case of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

Muscle Strength: Muscles contain contractile elements, actin and myosin filaments, whose efficient operation is essential for muscle contraction. The effectiveness of these contractile elements diminishes due to fatigue during prolonged exercise or high intensity. When muscle contraction strength decreases, movement becomes less fluid, and the pace must be slowed down to make it home from a run.

Muscle Stiffness: Muscle flexibility decreases due to fatigue, resulting in the muscle-tendon unit being less effective as a spring-like structure than before fatigue. A fatigued muscle stretches poorly, so the load shifts increasingly onto the tendons. These, in turn, are forced to stretch beyond their comfort zone, causing micro-injuries and possibly inflammation. This happens, for example, when an athlete goes for a run while tired, and the calf muscles cannot stretch and perform their function properly; the load shifts to the Achilles tendon, potentially causing significant damage as the run continues. Similarly, as muscles and tendons fatigue, the bones experience increased stress, and without time to recover, stress fractures can occur.

Energy Stores: Regarding energy production systems, fatigue in endurance training often relates to the depletion of muscle and liver glycogen stores. When carbohydrates are no longer available for energy production, the body must rely solely on fats and even proteins to ensure energy production and maintain normal brain function, among other functions. Because the conversion of fats (and proteins) into energy is slower, performance declines, and the athlete experiences fatigue.

Acidosis: Similarly, during high-intensity exercise, when lactate and hydrogen ions are transported from muscles into the bloodstream, fatigue occurs. In this case, fatigue is related to acidosis due to hydrogen ions, and acidity, in turn, affects muscle function by making the operation of contractile elements more difficult. Nutrition as part of recovery is crucial, but it will not be covered in this series as it is likely familiar to many readers.

Dehydration: Fatigue can also result from dehydration, especially in hot and humid conditions. Dehydration usually reduces performance because the plasma volume decreases, resulting in less blood than in normal conditions. The decrease in circulating blood volume also reduces the transport of oxygen and waste products to and from cells, affecting performance. Additionally, dehydration affects thermoregulation, raising body temperature and affecting the central nervous system, leading to a feeling of fatigue.

Central Nervous System: The cases mentioned above relate to peripheral fatigue, or fatigue in the peripheral parts of the body. However, in recent years, central fatigue, related to the central nervous system, has also been discussed. Since the brain is the source of most essential commands for movement, its function likely affects not only performance during exercise but also post-exercise fatigue and recovery. Especially, the functioning of the nervous system and muscle command is dependent on the state of the central nervous system. Many factors, such as environmental conditions, energy intake, and psychological factors, influence brain function. The amount and quality of sleep also greatly affect the central nervous system and emotional states, although they will not be addressed in this series.

Now that the reader has learned or refreshed their memory on the causes and complexity of fatigue, the next articles will explore how to combat fatigue and thus maximize performance and development in sports.