Summary • Extensive taper research has been conducted on endurance athletes of all levels, from previously untrained to trained, from well-trained to the elite level competing at World and Olympic Games. • The composite of these data has confirmed that athletes that taper are more likely to achieve a peak performance and achieve their goals. Thus, the endurance athlete must include a period of tapered training into his/her periodized plan to achieve their athletic goals. • The available research confirms that there are physiological bases to the taper and positive adaptations occur at the molecular to cellular to systemic level. Furthermore, performance outcomes do correlate with some of these physiological variables. • Exercise intensity is a key training factor during the taper, but the type of taper method (i.e., progressive stepwise reduction, exponential, linear), and previous training will influence the performance outcome. • There is a psychological component to the taper as well. Although not all evidence is supportive of POMS scores, the majority of studies that have used this assessment tool confirm its utility. • POMS scores have been also correlated with hormonal and performance indices. However, it must be remembered that POMS scores are a dependent variable used to assess an individual`s response to training and tapering, and not a performance outcome. • Limited research has been done on multiple tapers or peaks and therefore it is difficult to provide the coach and athlete with information to successfully achieve multiple peak performances, e.g. quarter-finals, semifinals, finals. This speaks of the importance of the coach - athlete relationship and how the approach to the taper must be individualized. • Additional research is needed to examine the influence of central nervous system fatigue, and contributions of sympathetic and parasympathetic activation. Potentially, heart rate variability and blood pressure variability using linear and non-linear parameters may help to unlock the influence of the brain activity during training and recovery from fatigue and what is needed for optimal and peak performance.
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