Glossary · Metrics
Acute training load (ATL)
Acute training load (ATL) is an exponentially weighted average of your daily training stress over roughly the last seven days. It's often labelled 'fatigue', because it reflects how much recent training your body is still absorbing.
ATL versus CTL
ATL reacts fast: a big weekend sends it up within days, and a few easy days bring it down. CTL, the six-week average, changes slowly. When ATL sits well above CTL you are carrying a lot of fresh fatigue; when it drops below, you are absorbing training and freshening up.
What a spike means
A sudden ATL jump — from a training camp or a big block — is fine in short doses if recovery follows. Repeated spikes without recovery are a common route to overreaching.