Effect of long-haul transmeridian travel on recovery and performance in international level swimmers

This study holistically examined the effects of long-haul transmeridian travel (LHTT) on physiological, perceptual, sleep and performance markers in nine international level swimmers preparing for the 2019 FINA World Long Course Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. Baseline (BL) measurements were taken over two days during the week before a long-haul eastward flight across eight time-zones. Following the flight, measurements were taken over a six-day holding camp in Japan (C1-C6), and over four days at the competition venue in Gwangju before the Championships commenced (PR1-PR4). Salivary cortisol (sCort), immunoglobulin A (sIgA), alpha-amylase (sAA) concentrations and perceptual measures via the Liverpool John Moore's University Jetlag Questionnaire were assessed. Sleep was monitored using wrist activity monitors and self-report sleep diaries. Performance was assessed via squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump (CMJ) and a 4 × 100 m swim test. Participants perceived themselves to be significantly more fatigued and jet lagged than BL for five- and nine-days post-travel, respectively. Morning sCort decreased by 70% on C1 and remained significantly lower than BL until C6 ( p < 0.05). Sleep ratings improved significantly in comparison to BL from C5 onwards ( p < 0.05). Compared with BL, there was no significant change in swim performance or SJ height following travel; however, there was a 3.8 cm improvement ( p < 0.001) in CMJ height on C5. It took ten days for elite swimmers to perceive themselves recovered from jet lag following LHTT in an eastward direction across eight time-zones. LHTT did not negatively affect sleep or physical performance in the swimmers in comparison to BL.

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Consecutive Days of Racing Does Not Affect Sleep in Professional Road Cyclists

International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance ◽

10.1123/ijspp.2021-0102 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-4

Author(s):

Charli Sargent ◽

Shona L. Halson ◽

David T. Martin ◽

Gregory D. Roach

Keyword(s):

Sleep Duration ◽

Sleep Onset ◽

Self Report ◽

Activity Monitors ◽

Sleep Diaries ◽

Time In Bed ◽

Road Cycling ◽

Offset Time ◽

The Impact

Purpose: Professional road cycling races are physiologically demanding, involving successive days of racing over 1 to 3 weeks of competition. Anecdotal evidence indicates that cyclists’ sleep duration either increases or deteriorates during these competitions. However, sleep duration in professional cyclists during stage races has not been assessed. This study examined the amount/quality of sleep obtained by 14 professional cyclists competing in the Australian Tour Down Under. Methods: Sleep was assessed using wrist activity monitors and self-report sleep diaries on the night prior to start of the race and on each night during the race. The impact of each day of the race on sleep onset, sleep offset, time in bed, sleep duration, and wake duration was assessed using separate linear mixed effects models. Results: During the race, cyclists obtained an average of 6.8 (0.9) hours of sleep between 23:30 and 07:27 hours and spent 13.9% (4.7%) of time in bed awake. Minor differences in sleep onset (P = .023) and offset times (P ≤.001) were observed during the week of racing, but these did not affect the amount of sleep obtained by cyclists. Interestingly, the 3 best finishers in the general classification obtained more sleep than the 3 worst finishers (7.2 [0.3] vs 6.7 [0.3] h; P = .049). Conclusions: Contrary to anecdotal reports, the amount of sleep obtained by cyclists did not change over the course of the 1-week race and was just below the recommended target of 7 to 9 hours for adults.

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Sleep at the helm: A case study of how a head coach sleeps compared to his team

International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching ◽

10.1177/1747954117738882 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (6) ◽

pp. 782-789 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

M Lastella ◽

GD Roach ◽

SL Halson ◽

CJ Gore ◽

LA Garvican-Lewis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Well Being ◽

Self Report ◽

Psychological State ◽

Head Coach ◽

World Cup ◽

Activity Monitors ◽

Sleep Diaries ◽

Time In Bed ◽

Football Team

In recent years, research examining the sleep of elite athletes has increased. This is predominantly due to the importance sleep has on an athlete’s psychological and physiological well-being. Despite the growing importance of sleep in athletes, the amount and quality of sleep coaches obtain has been neglected. The aim of this study was to examine the sleep of a head coach and compare it to his team. The sleep of 16 members of the Australian U/20 men’s football team (age 18.8 ± 0.9 years) and the head coach (age 55 years) was monitored using wrist activity monitors and self-report sleep diaries. Sleep was examined for 15 nights in preparation for the 2011 U/20 FIFA World Cup. The head coach went to bed earlier (23:30 h ± 65 min vs. 23:36 h ± 30 min), spent less time in bed (8.4 ± 1.3 h vs. 8.6 ± 1.0 h), obtained less sleep per night (6.4 ± 1.5 h vs. 6.6 ± 0.8 h), and woke up earlier (07:54 h ± 46 min vs. 08:12 h ± 52 min) than his team. In general, the head coach obtained less sleep than his team and slept considerably poorer the night before important games. Future investigations need to examine the extent to which sleep impairs psychological state, decision-making and overall coaching performance.

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Swimming turn performance: the distinguishing factor in 1500 m world championship freestyle races?

BMC Research Notes ◽

10.1186/s13104-021-05665-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Marek Polach ◽

Dan Thiel ◽

Jan Kreník ◽

Dennis-Peter Born

Keyword(s):

Free Swimming ◽

World Championship ◽

Race Time ◽

Swim Performance ◽

Short Course ◽

Start Section ◽

And Performance ◽

Long Course

Abstract Objective Turn sections represent the second largest part of total race time in 1500 m freestyle races and may substantially affect race results. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate individual race strategies and compare the effect of start, swim, and turn performances between short-course and long-course races. Video footages were collected from all 16 male finalists at the 2018 short and 2019 long-course World swimming championships (age 23.06 ± 2.3 years, FINA points 941 ± 42) for subsequently analysis of start, turn, and swim performance. Results The larger number of turns in short-course races resulted in significantly faster race times (p = 0.004), but slower mean turn times compared to long-course races (p < 0.001). Total race velocity closely correlated with swim and turn but not start section velocity in short- (r ≥ 0.80, p ≤ 0.017) and long-course races (r ≥ 0.83, p ≤ 0.011). Analysis of individual race strategies showed that turn performance affected race results in 6 (75%) and 3 (37.5%) of the 8 world-best 1500 m swimmers in short-course and long-course races, respectively. Medal standing was improved for 1st, 3rd, and 4th ranked short- as well as 1st and 2nd ranked long-course finalist. Coaches, athletes, and performance analysts may carefully consider the importance of turn performance additionally to free-swimming skills.

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Inflated Perceptions of Physical Activity After Stroke: Pairing Self-Report With Physiologic Measures

Journal of Physical Activity and Health ◽

10.1123/jpah.5.2.308 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 308-318 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Barbara Resnick ◽

Kathleen Michael ◽

Marianne Shaughnessy ◽

Eun Shim Nahm ◽

Susan Kopunek ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Self Report ◽

Men And Women ◽

Activity Monitors ◽

Behavioral Variables ◽

Efficacy Expectations ◽

Treadmill Testing ◽

And Performance

Background:Self-report measures of physical activity have well-known drawbacks, and physiologic measures alone do not account for behavioral variables important in the perception and performance of physical activity. Therefore, we considered multiple measures to quantify physical activity in community-dwelling men and women with chronic stroke.Methods:This analysis included data from a volunteer sample of 87 individuals at least 6 months poststroke. Physical activity was measured using self-report questionnaires, step activity monitors, self-efficacy expectations related to exercise, and VO2peak from treadmill testing, and a model of physical activity was tested.Results:Most of the variance in objective physical activity was explained by VO2peak, and most of the variance in subjective physical activity was explained by self-efficacy expectations. There were significant discrepancies between subjective and objective findings.Conclusion:This study helps to understand the perspective of stroke survivors with regard to physical activity.

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Swimming turn performance: the distinguishing factor in 1500m World championship freestyle races?

10.21203/rs.3.rs-275015/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marek Polach ◽

Dan Thiel ◽

Jan Kreník ◽

Dennis-Peter Born

Keyword(s):

Free Swimming ◽

World Championship ◽

Race Time ◽

Swim Performance ◽

Short Course ◽

Start Section ◽

And Performance ◽

Long Course ◽

Performance Results

Abstract Objective Turn sections represent the second largest part of total race time in 1500 m freestyle races and may substantially affect race results. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate individual race strategies and compare the effect of start, swim, and turn performances between short-course and long-course races. Video footages were collected from all male finalists at the 2018 short- (n = 8, age 22.8 ± 2.4 years, FINA points 953 ± 27) and 2019 long-course World swimming championships (n = 8, age 23.3 ± 2.2 years, FINA points 951 ± 23) for subsequently analysis of start, turn, and swim performance. Results The larger number of turns in short-course races resulted in significantly faster race times (p < 0.001), but slower mean turn times compared to long-course races (p < 0.001). Total race time closely correlated with swim and turn but not start section time in short- (r ≥ 0.76, p ≤ 0.030) and long-course races (r ≥ 0.96, p < 0.001). Analysis of individual race strategies showed that turn performance affected race results in 9 of the 16 world-best 1500 m swimmers and improved medal standing of 1st, 3rd, and 4th ranked short- as well as 1st and 2nd ranked long-course finalist. Coaches, athletes, and performance analysts may carefully consider the importance of turn performance additionally to free-swimming skills.

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Pacing Strategies of 1500 m Freestyle Swimmers in the World Championships According to Their Final Position

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18147559 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (14) ◽

pp. 7559

Author(s):

Beatriz Lara ◽

Juan Del Coso

Keyword(s):

Swimming Velocity ◽

Final Position ◽

Men And Women ◽

Elite Swimmers ◽

Pacing Strategies ◽

The World ◽

Total Data ◽

Fast Start ◽

Long Course ◽

Competitive Swimmers

In 1500 m freestyle swimming races, pacing is generally represented by a parabolic or U-shaped curve indicating that swimming velocity is greatest at the start and the last laps of the race while swimmers maintain an even pace through the middle section of the race. However, there is no information to determine if 1500 m race winners select pacing different to other, less successful swimmers within the same competition. Therefore, this investigation aimed to describe the pacing strategies adopted by 1500 m freestyle competitive swimmers in World Championships (long course), from 2003 to 2019 to determine the most effective pacing to obtain victory or a medal. The official overall and split times for 1500 m freestyle races of the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) were obtained from the website of this organization. In total, data of 143 swimming performances (71 male and 72 female) were extracted. With the split times, lap times, and position were calculated across the race. To determine differences in the pacing between best- and worst-ranked finalist, swimmers in each race were divided into four groups based on the final position (1st vs. 2nd vs. 3rd vs. 4–8th). All the lap times of the winners of the race were faster than those of participants classified as 4–8th position for men and women races (p < 0.05). However, there were no differences in lap velocity among the different positions achieved at the end of the race when it was normalized by average race velocity. Additionally, there were no differences in the lap-to-lap variability among swimmers with different positions at the end of the race. In summary, both men and women elite swimmers selected parabolic pacing consisting of a fast start in the first lap, an even pace close to their average race velocity in the mid-section of the race (from 50 to 1400 m), followed by an end spurt in the final lap(s). This pattern was very similar in all finalists irrespective of the final position in the race. Hence, the obtaining of a medal in the World Championships was associated to possessing a faster average race velocity rather than a specific pacing profile through the race.

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Good Character at College: The Combined Role of Second-Order Character Strength Factors and Phronesis Motivation in Undergraduate Academic Outcomes

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18168263 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (16) ◽

pp. 8263

Author(s):

Jorge L. Villacís ◽

Jesús de la Fuente ◽

Concepción Naval

Keyword(s):

Academic Outcomes ◽

Academic Engagement ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Self Control ◽

Self Report ◽

Character Strength ◽

The North ◽

And Performance ◽

Relevance Measure ◽

North Of Spain

A renewed interest in the study of character and virtue has recently emerged in the fields of Education and Psychology. The latest research has confirmed the association between virtuous consistent behaviours and academic positive outcomes. However, the motivational dimension of character (the intentions underlying the patterns of observed behaviours) has received little attention. This research aims to extend the knowledge on this topic by examining the predictive relationships between the behavioural and motivational dimensions of character, with reference to academic engagement, career self-doubt and performance of Spanish university students. A total of 183 undergraduates aged 18–30 (142 of whom were women) from the north of Spain completed specific parts of self-report questionnaires, including the Values in Action VIA-72, a Spanish translated and validated version of the Moral Self-Relevance Measure MSR, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Student Scale UWES-S9. The collected data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. The behavioural dimension of character (character strength factors of caring, self-control and inquisitiveness) showed positive associations with academic engagement and performance. The motivational dimension of character (phronesis motivation), was negatively related to career self-doubt. For the first time, the present study has provided support for the contribution of both dimensions of character to undergraduate academic outcomes.

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