Biological Markers of Training Level among Qualified Greco-Roman Wrestlers

BACKGROUND: The article presents the dynamics of biochemical indicators showing the tension of body functional systems in qualified Greco-Roman wrestlers at the pre-competition stage. Biochemical indicators can be regarded as the markers of training level, as a reflection of adaptive changes during performing training loads. AIM: The study aims to examine the adaptive reactions of body internal systems in wrestlers to the load performed at the stage of pre-competition training. METHODS: The methodological basis of the study is the examination of the reaction of body functional systems in wrestlers (n = 24) in response to the load performed at the stage of pre-competition training. The basis of the studied indicators of wrestlers’ organisms is the dynamics of the enzymatic activity (ALT and AST), the activity of creatine phosphokinase, and the balance of anabolic and catabolic processes in the course of a 2-week macrocycle of the pre-competition training. RESULTS: A high level of enzymatic activity (ALT and AST) was noted as the response to shock training load in the first and the second training macrocycles against the background of a negative trend during the entire sports event, which indicates a directed decrease in the heart’s tension muscle, being an indicator of adaptive changes occurring in wrestlers’ body energy. The high variability of AST indicators on the first day and creatine phosphokinase throughout the entire pre-competition training pointed out an individual level of adaptive reactions of the athletes’ bodies in response to the training load taken. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study have shown notable dynamics in the indicators of the enzymatic activity of AST, creatine phosphokinase, and the hormone cortisol in a series of shock training loads, as the response to adaptive changes in body energy systems, the value of which should be considered during the pre-competition training.

Handball training in the conditions of the middle mountains.

The article is devoted to the problem of handball players training in the conditions of the middle mountains. The research involved handball players with sports qualifications from 2 categories to CMC. Athletes lived and trained at an altitude of 2300 m above sea level. Two variants of the training program were tested. One group of athletes performed a "gentle" motion mode, the other – a "shock" one. Surveys were carried out before the departure of athletes to the mountains, during their stay in the mountains and after the descent from the mountains. Pedagogical testing included exercises characterizing the general and special physical fitness of handball players. The biomedical part of the study was to assess the state of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems at rest and during muscle activity using standard test procedures. It is established that the nature and severity of changes in the functional state of the organism and physical fitness is determined by the mode of motor activity in the mountains. During the period of de-adaptation, there is an expansion of the power reserves of the cardiorespiratory system. Athletes performing a "gentle" motion mode in the mountains demonstrate after the returnt from the mountains the increase in general and special physical fitness. Handball players who performed "shock" training loads in the mountains increased the level of aerobic performance and speed and strength training.

Differential behavioral, stress, and sleep responses in mice with different delays of fear extinction

Study Objectives Sleep, in particular rapid eye movement (REM), has been linked to fear learning and extinction; however, their relationship is poorly understood. We determined how different delays of extinction training (ET) impact fear-conditioned behaviors, changes in sleep, and stress responses. Methods EEG activity, movement, and body temperature in mice were monitored via telemetry. Following contextual fear conditioning (shock training [ST]), separate groups of mice were reexposed to the context at 24-hour post-ST (24h ET-1) and at 48-hour post-ST (48h ET-1). Post-ET sleep amount and sleep-associated EEG (delta and theta) activity were compared to baseline and to post-ST sleep. Freezing, locomotion, grooming, and rearing were monitored to determine effects of ET on fear behaviors. Body temperature immediately after ET was monitored to assess stress-induced hyperthermia (SIH). Results 24h ET-1 and 48h ET-1 produced similar freezing and REM reductions, but dissimilar rearing activity and SIH. 24h ET-1 was followed by periods of suppressed REM-associated theta (REM-θ) activity, immediately after ET and during the subsequent dark period. Suppressed REM-θ was specific to sleep after 24h ET-1, and did not occur after ST, nor after 48h ET-1. Conclusions ET-1 at 24 and 48 hours after ST was associated with similar freezing and REM amounts, but with differences in other overt behaviors, in REM-θ, and in SIH. Freezing was not predictive of changes in other fear-associated responses. This study demonstrated that consideration of time delay from fear acquisition to extinction is important when assessing the relationships between extinction and behavior, sleep, and stress responses.

Interruption of Escape Training and its Effect on Lever-Holding

It has been reported, previously, that as escape-from-shock training progressed, Ss increasingly held the lever down. This was true both when shock termination was contingent upon a lever press (press training) and when it was contingent upon release following a press (release training). Moreover, changes in holding were not primarily reflected by changes in response duration but, rather, by shifts in the relative frequencies of responses which were held until the reintroduction of shock, particularly, in press training, escapes which were held until the reintroduction of shock (punished escapes) and, in release training, extra responses which were held until shock returned (punished extras). Finally, the writer had observed some indications that interruption of release training temporarily reduced holding. The present study was undertaken to determine whether the decremental effect of rest on holding is a reliable phenomenon and whether it is obtained with press as well as with release training. Ss were trained at one of four degrees of inter-session time (0, 1, 5, or 10 days of rest) and under either the press or release training procedure. In press training the over-all effect of inter-session time on holding (change in relative frequency of punished escapes) was not significant. The pattern of effects was comparable to those attributed to fatigue or other inhibitory factors which dissipate rapidly during rest. In release training, the effect of inter-session time on holding (change in relative frequency of punished extras) was predominantly decremental. That is, in release training, rest reduced holding. These results are comparable to those commonly attributed to the establishment of competing or interfering stimulus-response relations during rest. A theoretical analysis of response chaining accounted for the interaction of training procedure and inter-session time and indicated, as did supporting data, that delays in training reduced the strength of extra presses, i.e., their initiation, and did not reduce holding per se.