Athletes Showing ‘Overtraining’ Symptoms Often Perform Better—When to Push Through Fatigue (and When to Pull Back) (Dan Plews #31)

In this episode, Dan Plews returns for a deep dive into fatigue and recovery, clarifying the difference between functional overreaching, non-functional overreaching, and true overtraining. He breaks down the key warning signs to watch for—including changes in motivation, performance, sleep, and heart rate—and how to interpret them within the context of your training. We also explore the role of life stress and nutrition in maintaining consistency, including practical approaches to energy balance and carbohydrate periodization.

Send us your Hyrox training questions 👇

https://www.instagram.com/theplews/

https://www.instagram.com/johngetstrong/

Try Dan’s Hyrox Training System with 7-Days Free 👉 Endurox

Episode breakdown:

00:00 Intro: Dan’s injury recovery and return to training

00:08 Post-surgery routine: why “something is better than nothing”

01:54 Fitness retention during downtime and early cycling comeback

02:18 German Volume Training: Dan’s bench press surprise

03:21 John’s training update: increasing volume for Hyrox progress

04:57 Can you turn weak stations into strengths?

07:12 Beginner frustration on ergs and skill-based endurance work

08:20 The “snowplow” analogy for long-term aerobic development

11:42 Fatigue vs overtraining: when should athletes worry?

13:52 Functional vs non-functional overreaching explained

17:23 Motivation, performance, sleep, and HRV as warning signs

22:14 Elevated vs suppressed heart rate: what they can mean

23:09 Training through illness: when to push and when to rest

23:51 Life stress, consistency, and unavoidable training disruptions

26:18 What uninterrupted training looks like at a high level

27:32 Nutrition for consistency: energy balance and recovery

29:49 Carb periodization: fueling for the work required

33:48 Outro: next Q&A episode and listener questions

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johngetstrong.substack.com