Research
Hormonal
Basal (resting) hormone measurements, including cortisol and testosterone/cortisol ratios, are not useful for diagnosing overtraining syndrome or distinguishing between well-adapted and overtrained athletes.
Do not rely on resting blood tests for testosterone or cortisol to diagnose overtraining. These levels are influenced by many factors and do not reliably distinguish between healthy adaptation and overtraining. Focus on performance metrics and subjective feelings of fatigue.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Therefore, it can be concluded that resting cortisol is not a useful measurement... the current information regarding the endocrine system and OR/OTS shows that basal (resting) hormone measurements cannot distinguish between athletes who successfully adapt to OR and those who fail to adapt and develop symptoms of OTS.
Why this rating
Consensus statement based on review of multiple studies showing inconsistent or non-diagnostic results.
Source
Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of the Overtraining Syndrome
Romain Meeusen et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · 2013
DOI 10.1249/mss.0b013e318279a10a
narrative_reviewCited 1,177×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Overtraining syndrome (OTS) is diagnosed retrospectively through the exclusion of organic diseases and other stressors, as no single diagnostic marker currently exists to definitively identify it.Good
- Non-functional overreaching (NFOR) is a distinct stage from overtraining syndrome (OTS) characterized by a stagnation or decrease in performance that resolves with sufficient rest, whereas OTS involves prolonged maladaptation and may take months or years to recover.Good
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