Journal of sports sciences
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Fatigue is often a consequence of physical training and the effective management of fatigue by the coach and athlete is essential in optimizing adaptation and performance. In this paper, we explore a range of practical and contemporary methods of fatigue management for Olympic athletes. We assesses the scientific merit of methods for monitoring fatigue, including self-assessment of training load, self-scored questionnaires, and the usefulness of saliva and blood diagnostic markers for indicating fatigued and under-recovered athletes, effective nutrition and hydration strategies for optimizing recovery and short-term recovery methods. We conclude that well-accepted methods such as sufficient nutrition, hydration, and rest appear to be the most effective strategies for optimizing recovery in Olympic athletes.
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Swimming performances were analysed for the top 16 finishers (semi-finalists, finalists) in nine international competitions over a 7-year period (1530 males, 1527 female). Total race time and intermediate lap times were log-transformed and analysed for effects of sex (male, female), stroke (freestyle, form strokes, individual medley), event (100, 200, and 400 m), and place (1-16). Between-athlete correlations characterized the relationship of each lap to final time, and within-athlete estimates quantified the effect of lap time on improvements in final time. ⋯ For an individual swimmer, an achievable change in lap time was associated with an approximate 0.4-0.8% improvement in final time for finalists and an approximate 0.5-1.1% improvement in final time for semi-finalists, depending on sex, stroke, and event. The pattern of lap times was similar for the top 16 swimmers and between the best and worst swims for finalists. These findings indicate that substantial improvements can be made via the final lap in sprints and the middle two laps of 200- to 400-m events, but the overall pattern of lap times should not be changed.
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Previous work on dynamics of interpersonal interactions in 1 vs. 1 sub-phases of basketball has identified changes in interpersonal distance between an attacker and defender as a potential control parameter for influencing organizational states of attacker-defender dyads. Other studies have reported the constraining effect of relative velocity between an attacker and defender in 1 vs. 1 dyads. To evaluate the relationship between these candidate control parameters, we compared the impact of both interpersonal distance and relative velocity on the pattern-forming dynamics of attacker-defender dyads in the sport of rugby union. ⋯ Alternatively, when values of relative velocity suddenly decreased below this threshold, at the same critical value of interpersonal distance, a successful outcome for the defender was predicted. Data demonstrated how the coupling of these two potential, nested control parameters moved the dyadic system to phase transitions, characterized as a try or a tackle. Observations suggested that relative velocity increased its influence on the organization of attacker-defender dyads in rugby union over time as spatial proximity to the try line increased.
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The purpose of the present research was to test the applicability of the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) to being a sport (football) fan. Three studies provided support for this dualistic conceptualization of passion. Study 1 showed that harmonious passion was positively associated with adaptive behaviours (e.g. celebrate the team's victory), whereas obsessive passion was positively associated with maladaptive behaviours (e.g. risking losing one's job to go to a game). ⋯ Finally, Study 3 examined the role of obsessive passion as a predictor of partner's conflict that in turn undermined partner's relationship satisfaction. Overall, the present results provided support for the Dualistic Model of Passion. The conceptual and applied implications of the findings are discussed.