In 1992, training methodologist Tudor Bompa and his colleague Fred Koch wrote on the theory of Overcompensation.
As Jim Loehr would discuss the value of disengagement, Bompa and Koch would show you the value of recovery in your physical performance.
The idea is that after the body receives a major stressor, a hard workout for example, and is allowed to recover the correct amount of time, it will bounce back to a fitter level, it will overcompensate, so to speak.