ABSTRACT
Introduction:
The Brazilian national women's beach handball team traditionally holds intense pre-competition training with several daily sessions in the weeks before major matches. This can cause excessive physical strain, but physiological monitoring can guide the coaching staff to modulate the training load, preventing this excessive strain.
Objective:
To monitor the physiological responses of members of the Brazilian national women's beach handball team in a pre-competition training program with loads modulated according to individual physiological response.
Methods:
Seventeen athletes (27.1 ± 3.8 years) were assessed before the start of the pre-competition training period (E1), on Day 8 (E2) and Day 18 (E3). Blood samples were taken for subsequent analysis of muscular damage markers (creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)). An ECG test was performed to assess cardiac autonomic modulation (CAM), and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire was applied to assess mood. The results were reported to the coaching staff, who made training adjustments according to the individual status of each athlete.
Results:
CK increased significantly from E1 to E2 (131.1 ± 80.9 vs 212.9 ± 131.7) and remained unchanged (212.9 ± 185.6) up to E3, while LDH was significantly reduced from E2 to E3 (590.7 ± 120.2 vs 457.8 ± 86.6), finishing the pre-competition training program with values similar to E1 (512.7 ± 190.6). The only change noted was the subjective sensation of fatigue from the POMS questionnaire that was significantly higher in E2 (4.82 ± 4.05) and E3 (5.5 ± 4.8) compared to E1 (2.06 ± 2.61), but no changes in total mood disturbance were detected in this instrument.
Conclusion:
With the modulation of training loads based on results of physiological tests, the members of the Brazilian national women's beach handball team responded in a physiologically adequate manner, even when faced with a sudden increase in training load for 18 consecutive days. Level of evidence III; Diagnostic study-investigation of a diagnostic test.
Keywords:
Physical exercise; Monitoring; Physiology; Athletes