Characteristics and outcomes of included studies.

ObjectiveTo assess the responses to taper in endurance athletes using meta-analysis.MethodsSystematic searches were conducted in China National Knowledge Infrastructure, PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, and EMBASE databases. Standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of outcome measures were calculated as effect sizes.Results14 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Significant improvements were found between pre- and post-tapering in time–trial (TT) performance (SMD = −0.45; P P P > 0.05) between pre- and post-tapering. Further subgroup analysis showed that tapering combined with pre-taper overload training had a more significant effect on TT performance than conventional tapering (P P ConclusionsThe tapering applied in conjunction with pre-taper overload training seems to be more conducive to maximize performance gains. Current evidence suggests that a ≤21-day taper, in which training volume is progressively reduced by 41–60% without changing training intensity or frequency, is an effective tapering strategy.