A new look at Overtaining

Posted by http://www.athletesadvisor.com

Champaign, IL -- Overtraining presents numerous problems to athletes and their teams. Overtraining Athletes: Personal Journeys in Sport (Human Kinetics, April 2008) seeks to communicate the complex subject of overtraining to help athletes, coaches, parents, and sport science professionals understand the dangers of overtraining and take steps toward prevention. Using history and research, current experts' perspectives, and athletes' personal experiences, Overtraining Athletes identifies forces that push athletes to overtrain by sharing the struggles of those athletes and the sport professionals who seek to help them.

The text employs a nonlinear structure, allowing the flexibility to sample chapters from each of its four parts based on interest and level of knowledge about the topic. By presenting the phenomenon of overtraining from a variety of perspectives and with varying degrees of technicality, the book engages a wide range of readers while presenting significant research and studies in the area. Each of the four parts of the text displays a distinct method for understanding the effects of overtraining:

· A review of current research and risk factors that increase the probability of overtraining

· Perspectives from coaches and sport scientists that will help readers recognize the characteristics and behaviors of susceptible athletes

· The real-world experiences of athletes with a history of overtraining presented through three aggregate case studies

· A comprehensive model of overtraining risks and outcomes to help identify athletes who might be at risk as well as environments and cultures that increase vulnerability to overtraining

Overtraining Athletes presents information through a qualitative focus combined with current research and future directions, encouraging readers to learn about the topic and take action in the treatment and prevention of overtraining.

For more information on Overtraining Athletes, contact Human Kinetics at 800-747-4457 or visit www.HumanKinetics.com

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ABOUT THE BOOK Overtraining Athletes Personal Journeys in Sport Sean O. Richardson · Mark B. Anderson · Tony Morris Available April 2008 · Paperback · 224 pp ISBN 978-0-7360-6787-4 · $38.00

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sean O. Richardson, PhD, completed his doctoral work in sport psychology at Victoria University (Melbourne, Australia) in 2006. His dissertation research focused on the risk factors for athletic overtraining, stress-life balance, and injury. Richardson has also been a competitive athlete most of his life. He has pursued windsurfing and rowing at national and international levels, along with several other sports at the state and provincial level, including road and track cycling, downhill skiing, and volleyball. He has had personal experiences with injury related to overtraining behaviors, missing out on two chances to make the Canadian Olympic team in rowing because of injury. Throughout Australia and Canada, Richardson now serves as a sport and performance psychologist in the areas of performance enhancement, injury and illness prevention, rehabilitation, and stress-life balance for numerous sport and performing arts groups as well as health care and business professionals. He regularly delivers seminars on optimal recovery and injury prevention to athletes, coaches, performing artists, and teachers of all levels, from novice to professional. Mark B. Andersen, PhD, is a professor in the School of Human Movement, Recreation and Performance at Victoria University (Melbourne, Australia). He received his PhD in psychology with a minor in exercise and sport sciences from the University of Arizona at Tucson in 1988. In 1994 Andersen received the Dorothy V. Harris Memorial Award for excellence as a young scholar and practitioner in applied sport psychology from the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. He has published more than 50 articles in refereed journals and more than 65 book chapters and proceedings. He has edited two other Human Kinetics books: Doing Sport Psychology and Sport Psychology in Practice. Andersen is a member of the International Society of Sport Psychology, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a charter member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Tony Morris, PhD, is a professor in the School of Human Movement, Recreation and Performance at Victoria University (Melbourne, Australia). He received his doctoral degree from the University of Leeds in England in 1984. Morris has published more than 30 books, monographs, and book chapters and more than 80 articles in referred journals. He presents his research worldwide, having been invited to speak at conferences in the United Kingdom, Greece, Australia, and throughout Southeast Asia. Morris is a graduate member of the British Psychological Society, a full member of the Australian Psychological Society, and a founding member of the Board of Sport Psychologists in the Australian Psychological Society. He is also a member of the British Society of Sport Psychology, British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences, North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, International Society of Sport Psychology, Association for Applied Sport Psychology, British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis, and the Sport Psychology Association of Australia and New Zealand. He has served on the editorial board for a number of journals, including the International Journal of Sport Psychology, Journal of Sports Sciences, International Journal of Sport and Exercise, and Research in Sports Medicine: An International Journal. Morris is also the associate editor for Australian Psychologist. CONTENTS Part I: What We Know So Far Chapter 1: Introduction to Research and Terminology in Overtraining Chapter 2: How Big Is It? Prevalence and Manifestation of Overtraining Chapter 3: What Brings It On? Risk Factors for Overtraining Part II: What the Experts Have to Say Chapter 5: Burnt Cookies: Conversations With an Exercise Physiologist Studying Oneself Chapter 6: Sport Systems Can Damage: Conversations With a Sport Psychologist Part III: What We Can Learn from Athletes Chapter 7: The Pathogenic World of Professional Sport: Steve's Tale Chapter 8: A Case of Olympic Seduction: John's Tale Chapter 9: The Perfect Girl: Jane's Tale Chapter 10: The Perfect Boy: The Author's Tale Part IV: Past Models and Current Conceptions Chapter 11: Models of Overtraining: Then and Now