Athlete Training Techniques Quiz

Theory and Models 1

• Focuses on interdisciplinary theories and models in sports science
• Applications span health sports, recreational sports, fitness, and competitive sports
• Evidence-based models originate from the medical field, ranking evidence quality from lowest to highest
• Example: Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) with female athletes and menstrual cycles.
• Highest level of evidence: Meta-Analysis
• Science perspective focuses on generalizable, group-level data, eliminating confounding variables, and using standardization with large populations
• Coaching perspective addresses individual athlete needs, integrates confounding variables (personal history, emotions), and relies on blending science and practical experience

Theories vs. Models

• Theory explains broad phenomena, with a broad and abstract scope
• Model represents specific processes, with a narrow and concrete scope.
• Theory generates hypotheses
• Model practically applies theories for decision making

Why Use Models?

• Simplify complex systems for better understanding
• Provide aid in decision-making for coaches
• Offer a standardized framework for research and application

Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning

• Inductive: Specific observations lead to general theories
• Deductive: General theories lead to specific predictions

Coaching Framework

• Factors influencing coaching decisions include athlete's biology, psychological models, external factors, and technology
• Athlete's biology (fatigue, thermoregulation, menstrual cycle)
• Psychological models (stress-response, motivation).
• External factors (environment, financial resources)
• Technology (tools for monitoring training and performance).

Personalized Training

• Tailoring training based on athlete's performance outcome
• Day-to-day adjustments
• Long-term cost/benefit assessment
• Psychological and physiological readiness

Challenges and Issues with Periodization 2

• Periodization: Strategic division of training into phases (macrocycle, mesocycle, microcycle) to optimize performance
• Macrocycle: Long-term plan (>10 weeks)
• Mesocycle: Medium-term focus (2–10 weeks)
• Microcycle: Short-term cycle (weekly)
• Based on the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): Alarm reaction, resistance, exhaustion stages
• Training stress → adaptation
• Phenotype variations: Individuals adapt differently to training due to genetic differences
• Genetic markers can predict 49% of VO2 max trainability

Training Models

• Polarized Training: High percentage in low-intensity (Zone 1) and a smaller focus on high-intensity (Zone 3)
• Pyramidal Training: High emphasis on Zone 1, moderate use of Zone 2, limited Zone 3
• Threshold Training: Balanced focus on moderate to high intensity

Intensity Zones

• Zone 1: Low intensity (heart rate/Borg <13)
• Zone 2: Moderate intensity
• Zone 3: High intensity (heart rate/Borg >15)

Timing and Recovery

• mRNA adaptation levels return to baseline within 24 hours after training (critical)
• Reproducibility Issues: Consistent responses are not guaranteed across individuals to identical training plans
• Injury is a factor (e.g. British athletes lose ~49 training days annually)

Mixed vs. Block Periodization

• Mixed: Targets multiple areas simultaneously
• Block: Focuses on specific areas (e.g., strength or endurance) for better adaptation

Monitoring and Adaptation

• Tools like heart rate monitors track training load and intensity
• Establishing early warning systems avoids overtraining or injury

Considerations for Coaches

• Individualize training based on athlete history, stress, and injury status
• Consider resources (e.g., finances, time)
• Feedback loops with athletes
• Adjust training plans based on evidence and situational needs
• Endurance Performance and VO2max:
• VO2max is the highest rate the body uses oxygen during exercise; a crucial determinant of endurance performance.
• Typical Healthy, Sedentary Adults VO2 Max is ~30-40 mL/min/kg. Elite Athletes is ~70-90 mL/min/kg
• Fick Equation: VO2 = HR x SV x (a-vO2 difference)

Maximal Lactate Steady State (MLSS)

• Exercise intensity where lactate production = lactate clearance
• Exercise above MLSS leads to lactate accumulation and acidosis, limiting performance

Running Economy (RE)

• Definition: Energy expenditure at a specific submaximal running speed (lower oxygen consumption = better economy)
• Average sports students' VO2 values are ~48-65 mL/min/kg compared to ~39-40 for East African runners

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

• Benefits: Running economy improvement (1–7%)
• Works on VO2max and lactate thresholds

Altitude Training

• Improves endurance performance by increasing hemoglobin mass resulting in an elevated oxygen delivery.
• Typical RE improvements: +2-7% after altitude exposure

Challenges in Endurance Training Research

• Small sample sizes
• Individual variability across responses to training programs
• Environmental factors (lab vs. real-world conditions)

Muscle Plasticity and Adaptation

• Muscle capability to adapt to different types of stress (e.g., hypertrophy, atrophy, fatigue) affecting muscle fibers
• Hypertrophy: Increase in muscle size (strength training)
• Atrophy: Muscle-size decrease due to lack or use/disease
• Sarcopenia: Age-related muscle loss
• Dystrophy: Progressive degeneration of muscle fibers

Excitation-Contraction Coupling

• Process where electrical signal (excitation) leads to muscle contraction
• Action potential in the muscle
• Calcium ions trigger specific proteins
• Myosin heads interact with actin filaments, shortening the muscle to produce force.

Muscle Fiber Types

• Type I (Slow-Twitch): High endurance, low power, and fatigue resistant (distance running)
• Type II (Fast-Twitch):
  • Type IIa: Fast and moderately fatigue-resistant (middle-distance running)
  • Type IIx: High power, fatigues quickly (sprints or high-intensity strength activities).
• Recruitment order: Slow-twitch fibers are typically recruited first before fast-twitch ones to increase intensity

Hypertrophy Mechanisms

• Neuronal adaptations: Efficiency in activating motor units improves strength early in training.
• Morphological adaptations: Muscle fibers thicken due to strength training resulting in hypertrophy.
• Protein Synthesis: Increased synthesis of muscle proteins fuels muscle growth.
• Microtrauma: Small tears in muscle fibers repair through protein synthesis and increased fiber thickness.

Strength Training Models

• Mechanical stress: Strength training like lifting weights causes microtraumas in muscle fibers for growth during recovery
• Metabolic stress: Accumulation of metabolites (e.g., lactate) during strength training triggers hypertrophy
• Neuronal stress: Increased neural activation through electrical stimulation or voluntary contraction.

Hormonal and Metabolic Influence on Adaptation

• Testosterone: Strength and muscle growth
• Growth hormone: Muscle regeneration
• Cortisol: Can hinder recovery when elevated for too long (catabolic)
• IGF: Muscle repair and growth

Hypoxia and Hyperoxia

• Hypoxia: Oxygen deficiency causes increased heart rate/respiration to address reduced environmental oxygen
• Chronic Adaptation: Increases red blood cell production and improved oxygen transport
• Hyperoxia: Elevated oxygen levels (e.g., hyperbaric) for oxygen delivery improvement and recovery.

Hypoxic Training Methods

• Live High, Train Low (LHTL): Increased red blood cell production at higher altitudes for training at lower altitudes.
• Artificial Hypoxia: Reduced oxygen levels, including Normobaric Hypoxia (e.g., Hypoxic tents) and Hyperbaric Hypoxia (less common).
• Mechanisms of Hypoxic training: Higher concentration of oxygen during training allowing better tissue oxygenation and enhanced performance

Hyperoxic Training

• Mechanism of Hyperoxic Training : Enhanced tissue oxygenation during training resulting in better performance and recovery, particularly during high-intensity training.
• Hyperoxia improves VO2max and aerobic capacity.
• Hyperoxic Recovery: Speeds up recovery by removing metabolic by-products (e.g., lactic acid) using pure oxygen.

Oxygen Toxicity

• Prolonged high oxygen levels (>1.5 ATA) can damage lung tissue, highlighting the need for appropriate dosage.
• Free Radical Formation: High oxygen levels increase oxidative damage.

Health Models

• Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not just absence of disease (WHO).
• Biopsychosocial model of health includes biological (genetic/immune), psychological (mental/cognitive), and social (environmental/relationships).
• The Risk Factor approach prioritizes the prevention of disease by addressing modifiable risks (behavior).
• The Salutogenic Model focuses on health-promoting factors rather than absence of disease for resilience-building
• The Social-Ecological Model acknowledges the influence of individual, social, environmental, and political factors on health (e.g. individual behaviors, social networks, environmental conditions, and government policies on health).
• Self-Determination Theory (SDT) emphasizes autonomy, competence, and relatedness as intrinsic motivators
• The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) postulates that attitudes, subjective norms and behavioral control are essential factors to predict health behavior.

Tracking and Monitoring Overview

• Tracking and monitoring are critical tools for analyzing athlete performance and well-being.
• Utilizing various technologies (video, GPS, RFID, heart rate monitors)

Tracking Systems and Technologies

• Video Technology: Tactical/technical analysis
• GPS/GNSS: Tracks speed, distance, and positioning (outdoor)
• RFID: Precise tracking (indoor)
• Physiological Monitoring: Heart Rate (HR), HRV, Respiratory Measurements or Oxygen saturation (measurements during physical exertion).

Validity and Reliability

• Validity: Accuracy of a measurement tool (e.g., does a GPS system reliably track running distance)
• Reliability: Consistency of a measurement in similar conditions (e.g., a test should yield similar results under consistent conditions).

What Can We Measure?

• External measurements: Distance, speed, accelerations, high-intensity activities.
• Internal measurements: Physiological parameters like heart rate, perceived exertion, lactate levels

Practical Application in Team Sports

• Tracking individual player's performance/activity to measure relative intensity
• Periodization: Monitoring training load using acute-to-chronic workload ratios ensures the avoidance of overtraining and injury, and gradually increase exercise intensity and volume over time.

Overview of Thermoregulation

• Thermoregulation is the process by which the body maintains its core temperature within a narrow range for proper bodily functioning.
• The core body temperature is 36.1°C - 37.8°C
• Mechanisms include heat production (e.g., shivering) and heat dissipation (e.g., sweating).

Temperature Regulation Mechanisms

• The hypothalamus regulates body temperature
• Loss and gain of heat through mechanisms like radiation, conduction, convection, and evaporation (sweating)
• Extreme conditions: Hyperthermia (≥40°C) indicating heat stroke potential and Hypothermia (≤36°C) causing dangerous physiological changes.

Internal and External Influences on Thermoregulation

• Gender differences are important to consider in how males and females may differ in aspects of heat regulation
• Exercise Impact: Body's core temperature increases with physical exertion
• Clothing and Insulation: Affects how much heat is retained or dissipated
• Hot Environments: Heat exhaustion, heat stroke risk if heat production exceeds dissipation
• Cold Environments: Potential hypothermia as heat loss exceeds production
• Heat acclimatization: strategies for training in warm environments to aid body adaptation
• Pre-cooling: Examples like ice vests before athletic events to cool the body before activity
• Cooling methods: Strategies like ice slush ingestion or cooling vests can reduce core temperature post-activity.

Change of Direction (Philipp Kunz)

• Planning and execution are separate but interrelated elements in movement
• Agility is the combination of perception, planning, decision-making, and execution (includes change of direction)
• Important influencing factors include technique, sprinting speed (SSS), anthropometry, leg muscle qualities, etc.
• Correlation between straight sprinting speed (SSS) and change of direction abilities varies due to several factors such as direction speed, distance of sprint, etc
• Practical considerations include training strategies, incorporating testing methods, and recognizing differences for athletes

Testing Methods

• Testing parameters for change of direction include different tests like Illinois Agility test, 505 test, or T test
• Consideration should be made for familiarization for athletes, time under tension, etc
• Testing should consider individual needs for evaluating aspects like number/angle of turns