Effects of Sports Compression Socks on Performance, Physiological, and Hematological Alterations After Long-Haul Air Travel in Elite Female Volleyballers

Broatch, JR, Bishop, DJ, Zadow, EK, and Halson, S. Effects of sports compression socks on performance, physiological, and hematological alterations after long-haul air travel in elite female volleyballers. J Strength Cond Res 33(2): 492-501, 2019-The purpose of this investigation was to assess the merit of sports compression socks in minimizing travel-induced performance, physiological, and hematological alterations in elite female volleyball athletes. Twelve elite female volleyballers (age, 25 ± 2 years) traveled from Canberra (Australia) to Manila (Philippines), and were assigned to 1 of 2 conditions; compression socks (COMP, n = 6) worn during travel or a passive control (CON, n = 6). Dependent measures included countermovement jump (CMJ) performance, subjective ratings of well-being, cardiovascular function, calf girth, and markers of blood clotting, collected before (-24 hours, CMJ; -12 hours, all measures), during (+6.5 and +9 hours, subjective ratings and cardiovascular function), and after (+12 hours, all measures except CMJ; +24 hours and +48 hours, CMJ) travel. When compared with CON, small-to-large effects were observed for COMP to improve heart rate (+9 hours), oxygen saturation (+6.5 hours and +9 hours), alertness (+6.5 hours), fatigue (+6.5 hours), muscle soreness (+6.5 hours and +9 hours), and overall health (+6.5 hours) during travel. After travel, small-to-moderate effects were observed for COMP to improve systolic blood pressure (+12 hours), right calf girth (+12 hours), CMJ height (+24 hours), mean velocity (+24 hours), and relative power (+48 hours), compared with CON. COMP had no effect on the markers of blood clotting. This study suggests that compression socks are beneficial in combating the stressors imposed by long-haul travel in elite athletes, and may have merit for individuals frequenting long-haul travel or competing soon after flying

Team sport athletes’ perceptions and use of recovery strategies: a mixed-methods survey study

Background: A variety of recovery strategies are used by athletes, although there is currently no research that investigates perceptions and usage of recovery by different competition levels of team sport athletes. Methods: The recovery techniques used by team sport athletes of different competition levels was investigated by survey. Specifically this study investigated if, when, why and how the following recovery strategies were used: active land-based recovery (ALB), active water-based recovery (AWB), stretching (STR), cold water immersion (CWI) and contrast water therapy (CWT). Results: Three hundred and thirty-one athletes were surveyed. Fifty-seven percent were found to utilise one or more recovery strategies. Stretching was rated the most effective recovery strategy (4.4/5) with ALB considered the least effective by its users (3.6/5). The water immersion strategies were considered effective/ineffective mainly due to psychological reasons; in contrast STR and ALB were considered to be effective/ineffective mainly due to physical reasons. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that athletes may not be aware of the specific effects that a recovery strategy has upon their physical recovery and thus athlete and coach recovery education is encouraged. This study also provides new information on the prevalence of different recovery strategies and contextual information that may be useful to inform best practice among coaches and athletes

Global practitioner assessment and management of mental fatigue and mental recovery in high-performance sport : A need for evidence-based best-practice guidelines

Background Mental fatigue and mental recovery have gained scientific attention in relation to sporting performance, yet best practice assessment and management methods are lacking. A greater understanding of current knowledge and practices in high-performance sport are necessary. Objective To understand the contemporary knowledge, beliefs, monitoring processes, management strategies, perceived responsibility, sources of evidence, and challenges, when assessing the mental fatigue and mental recovery of athletes in high-performance sport. Methods A mixed-methods survey approach obtained information from 156 multi-disciplinary high-performance sport practitioners. Descriptive outputs were reported and potential differences between key concepts were detected using Wilcoxon-signed rank analysis. Thematic analysis interpreted open-text responses. Results Only 11.5% and 5.1% of respondents indicated they were “very” knowledgeable about mental fatigue and mental recovery, respectively. Knowledge (p < 0.001) and confidence in application (p = 0.001) were significantly greater for mental fatigue than mental recovery. Nearly all respondents perceived mental fatigue and mental recovery impacted training and competition performance, with a greater negative impact during competition (p < 0.001). A limited number of respondents reported deliberate assessment (31.1%) or management (51.2%) of mental fatigue and mental recovery. A combination of sources of evidence were used to inform practice, with common challenges to implementation including staff knowledge, athlete-buy in, time-availability, and a lack of evidence. Practitioners reported that assessing and managing mental fatigue and mental recovery was multi-disciplinary in nature. Conclusion Practitioners reported that mental fatigue and mental recovery did impact performance, yet this was not reflected in the implementation of evidence-based assessment and management practices in high-performance sport

Sleep-related issues for recovery and performance in athletes

© 2019 Human Kinetics, Inc. The body of research that reports the relevance of sleep in high-performance sports is growing steadily. While the identification of sleep cycles and diagnosis of sleep disorders are limited to lab-based assessment via polysomnography, the development of activity-based devices estimating sleep patterns provides greater insight into the sleep behavior of athletes in ecological settings. Generally, small sleep quantity and/or poor quality appears to exist in many athletic populations, although this may be related to training and competition context. Typical sleep-affecting factors are the scheduling of training sessions and competitions, as well as impaired sleep onset as a result of increased arousal prior to competition or due to the use of electronic devices before bedtime. Further challenges are travel demands, which may be accompanied by jet-lag symptoms and disruption of sleep habits. Promotion of sleep may be approached via behavioral strategies such as sleep hygiene, extending nighttime sleep, or daytime napping. Pharmacological interventions should be limited to clinically induced treatments, as evidence among healthy and athletic populations is lacking. To optimize and manage sleep in athletes, it is recommended to implement routine sleep monitoring on an individual basis

Evening electronic device use and sleep patterns in athletes

The present study aimed to investigate pre-sleep behaviours (including evening electronic device use) and sleep quantity in well-trained athletes. Seventy well-trained athletes (44 females, 26 males) aged 21 ± 4 y from a range of team and individual sports were asked to complete an online sleep diary for 7 days. The sleep diary included questions about pre-sleep behaviours (e.g. napping, caffeine intake), electronic device use in the 2 h prior to bedtime (e.g. type of device and duration of use) and sleep (e.g. time in bed, sleep onset latency). On average, athletes spent 8:20 ± 1:21 h in bed each night. Associations between age, time in bed and sleepiness suggested that younger athletes spent more time in bed (B = -0.05, p = 0.001) but felt sleepier (r = -0.32, p &lt; 0.01) than older athletes. On average, athletes mostly used electronic devices for 0–30 min prior to sleep. The use of multiple devices in the evening was associated with more perceived difficulty in falling asleep (B = 0.22, p = 0.03), but no associations existed with other sleep variables. In summary, younger athletes may require later start times or improved sleep quality to resolve excessive sleepiness

Sleep Hygiene and Light Exposure Can Improve Performance Following Long-Haul Air Travel.

PURPOSE:To assess the efficacy of a combined light exposure and sleep hygiene intervention to improve team-sport performance following eastward long-haul transmeridian travel. METHODS:Twenty physically trained males underwent testing at 09:00 and 17:00 hours local time on 4 consecutive days at home (baseline) and the first 4 days following 21 hours of air travel east across 8 time zones. In a randomized, matched-pairs design, participants traveled with (INT; n = 10) or without (CON; n = 10) a light exposure and sleep hygiene intervention. Performance was assessed via countermovement jump, 20-m sprint, T test, and Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Level 1 tests, together with perceptual measures of jet lag, fatigue, mood, and motivation. Sleep was measured using wrist activity monitors in conjunction with self-report diaries. RESULTS:Magnitude-based inference and standardized effect-size analysis indicated there was a very likely improvement in the mean change in countermovement jump peak power (effect size 1.10, ±0.55), and likely improvement in 5-m (0.54, ±0.67) and 20-m (0.74, ±0.71) sprint time in INT compared with CON across the 4 days posttravel. Sleep duration was most likely greater in INT both during travel (1.61, ±0.82) and across the 4 nights following travel (1.28, ±0.58) compared with CON. Finally, perceived mood and motivation were likely worse (0.73, ±0.88 and 0.63, ±0.87) across the 4 days posttravel in CON compared with INT. CONCLUSIONS:Combined light exposure and sleep hygiene improved speed and power but not intermittent-sprint performance up to 96 hours following long-haul transmeridian travel. The reduction of sleep disruption during and following travel is a likely contributor to improved performance

Variations of training load, monotony, and strain and dose-response relationships with maximal aerobic speed, maximal oxygen uptake, and isokinetic strength in professional soccer players

This study aimed to identify variations in weekly training load, training monotony, and training strain across a 10-week period (during both, pre- and in-season phases); and to analyze the dose-response relationships between training markers and maximal aerobic speed (MAS), maximal oxygen uptake, and isokinetic strength. Twenty-seven professional soccer players (24.9±3.5 years old) were monitored across the 10-week period using global positioning system units. Players were also tested for maximal aerobic speed, maximal oxygen uptake, and isokinetic strength before and after 10 weeks of training. Large positive correlations were found between sum of training load and extension peak torque in the right lower limb (r = 0.57, 90%CI[0.15;0.82]) and the ratio agonist/antagonist in the right lower limb (r = 0.51, [0.06;0.78]). It was observed that loading measures fluctuated across the period of the study and that the load was meaningfully associated with changes in the fitness status of players. However, those magnitudes of correlations were small-to-large, suggesting that variations in fitness level cannot be exclusively explained by the accumulated load and loading profile

Second chances: Investigating athletes’ experiences of talent transfer

Talent transfer initiatives seek to transfer talented, mature individuals from one sport to another. Unfortunately talent transfer initiatives seem to lack an evidence-based direction and a rigorous exploration of the mechanisms underpinning the approach. The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify the factors which successfully transferring athletes cite as facilitative of talent transfer. In contrast to the anthropometric and performance variables that underpin current talent transfer initiatives, participants identified a range of psychobehavioral and environmental factors as key to successful transfer. We argue that further research into the mechanisms of talent transfer is needed in order to provide a strong evidence base for the methodologies employed in these initiatives

Recovery and performance in sport: Consensus statement

© 2018 Human Kinetics, Inc. The relationship between recovery and fatigue and its impact on performance has attracted the interest of sport science for many years. An adequate balance between stress (training and competition load, other life demands) and recovery is essential for athletes to achieve continuous high-level performance. Research has focused on the examination of physiological and psychological recovery strategies to compensate external and internal training and competition loads. A systematic monitoring of recovery and the subsequent implementation of recovery routines aims at maximizing performance and preventing negative developments such as underrecovery, nonfunctional overreaching, the overtraining syndrome, injuries, or illnesses. Due to the inter- and intraindividual variability of responses to training, competition, and recovery strategies, a diverse set of expertise is required to address the multifaceted phenomena of recovery, performance, and their interactions to transfer knowledge from sport science to sport practice. For this purpose, a symposium on Recovery and Performance was organized at the Technical University Munich Science and Study Center Raitenhaslach (Germany) in September 2016. Various international experts from many disciplines and research areas gathered to discuss and share their knowledge of recovery for performance enhancement in a variety of settings. The results of this meeting are outlined in this consensus statement that provides central definitions, theoretical frameworks, and practical implications as a synopsis of the current knowledge of recovery and performance. While our understanding of the complex relationship between recovery and performance has significantly increased through research, some important issues for future investigations are also elaborated

Psychological determinants of whole-body endurance performance

Background: No literature reviews have systematically identified and evaluated research on the psychological determinants of endurance performance, and sport psychology performance-enhancement guidelines for endurance sports are not founded on a systematic appraisal of endurance-specific research. Objective: A systematic literature review was conducted to identify practical psychological interventions that improve endurance performance and to identify additional psychological factors that affect endurance performance. Additional objectives were to evaluate the research practices of included studies, to suggest theoretical and applied implications, and to guide future research. Methods: Electronic databases, forward-citation searches, and manual searches of reference lists were used to locate relevant studies. Peer-reviewed studies were included when they chose an experimental or quasi-experimental research design, a psychological manipulation, endurance performance as the dependent variable, and athletes or physically-active, healthy adults as participants. Results: Consistent support was found for using imagery, self-talk, and goal setting to improve endurance performance, but it is unclear whether learning multiple psychological skills is more beneficial than learning one psychological skill. The results also demonstrated that mental fatigue undermines endurance performance, and verbal encouragement and head-to-head competition can have a beneficial effect. Interventions that influenced perception of effort consistently affected endurance performance. Conclusions: Psychological skills training could benefit an endurance athlete. Researchers are encouraged to compare different practical psychological interventions, to examine the effects of these interventions for athletes in competition, and to include a placebo control condition or an alternative control treatment. Researchers are also encouraged to explore additional psychological factors that could have a negative effect on endurance performance. Future research should include psychological mediating variables and moderating variables. Implications for theoretical explanations of endurance performance and evidence-based practice are described