Effects of repeated days of intensified training on muscle glycogen and swimming performance. Subjects experienced local muscular fatigue and difficulty in completing the training sessions. This study suggests that chronic fatigue may be the result of inadequate carbohydrate ingestion as well as overwork. However, for overwork to be detrimental it probably has to last longer than the period used in this investigation.
Carbohydrate ingestion appears to be a critical factor involved with training tolerance.
It is interesting that complaints of muscle soreness and inability to finish or difficulty in completing training sessions are behavioral symptoms and may be the precursors of physiological breakdown. There was no improvement in either physiological tests or swimming performance when the training distance was doubled and intensity kept constant. This suggests there is a maximum distance that can be covered to produce beneficial effects on performance. Further improvements can then only come from changing intensity, not adding more distance. Return to Table of Contents for this issue .