Acute effects of a typical rhythmic gymnastic training session on physiological parameters in Olympic athletes

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a day with two separate training sessions (morning and afternoon) of rhythmic gymnastics on erythrocytes, leukocytes, muscle damage, oxidative stress, and hydration of Brazilian team [age 17.7 (±1.1) years; body height 165 (±0.5) cm; body mass 49.7 (±4.2) kg]. Heart rate and session-ratings of perceived exertion were used to monitor training intensity. Blood samples were collected immediately before (M1) and after (M2) the training day for analyzing erythrocytes, leukocytes, plasma creatine kinase activity, lactate dehydrogenase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, ferric reducing ability plasma, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and free T4. Saliva was collected for cortisol analysis. After 24 hours rest (M3), blood collection was performed to analyze creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase. The moderate-intensity training day induced significant elevations of total leukocytes (5,163.3 to 9,617.8), lymphocytes (1,752.7 to 2,729.7), neutrophils (2,873.9 to 6,163.6), monocytes (255.7 to 519.1), platelets (280,000.0 to 300,666.7), aspartate aminotransferase (13.1 to 25.6), lactate dehydrogenase (102.5 to 249.1), thyroid-stimulating hormone (1.0 to 3.2), and ferric reducing ability plasma (136.8 to 165.4), as well as significant reductions in red cells (4,691,111.1 to 4,497,777.8), hematocrit (42.1 to 39.3), and hemoglobin (12.9 to 12.5) at M2. There were also significant increases in creatine kinase (144.2 to 519.3) and lactate dehydrogenase (102.5 to 538.2) at M3. The average dehydration rate was 1.3%. A moderate-intensity day of training in rhythmic gymnastics of 8h21min duration caused hemolysis, leukocytosis, muscle damage, redox status perturbations, and insufficient hydration status. These findings show that athletes are exposed to physiological vulnerabilities that can possibly harm their performance and health

Resilience, stress and injuries in the context of the Brazilian elite rhythmic gymnastics.

The study had the goal to study the relationship between resilience, stress and injuries in the sport context. Eight female athletes, part of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Brazilian Team along the Olympic Cycle 2015-2016 participated in the study, with a mean age of 20.4±2.5 years. The following instruments were used: RESTQ-76 Sport, CD-RISC 10, documental analysis of physical therapy records, and structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics (frequency, mean and standard deviation); Repeated Measured ANOVA with Bonferroni's post-hoc, Student's "t" test, Friedman test, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, Cohen's d, and inductive thematic analysis. We found relatively stable levels of stress and recovery across the season; total recovery levels were higher than stress at all four measured timepoints (p<0.05); All athletes had at least one injury, with a total of 14 injuries; No significant correlations were found between the quantitative scores of resilience, stress and recovery; Training and the sport's scoring system were the most relevant perceived stressors; athletes presented meta-cognition and a non-positive evaluation (neutral) of stressors; Social support was considered the main psychological factor for the resilience process; such process resulted in improved control and interpretation of emotions; Our hypothesized model proposes that, in the relationship between stress and injuries, resilience acts by optimizing the injury recovery process. It was concluded that resilience plays a role in the process of injury rehabilitation and stress control in elite rhythmic gymnastics' athletes