Science in Elite Sport

Erich Muller

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 1999
• eBook ISBN:
  9781135920166
• Print ISBN:
  9780419245308

Science in Elite Sport brings together experts from around the world with the aim of furthering collaboration between athletes and scientists working in the field of training in sport. Each chapter gels theory (sport science) with practice (training and performance) in order to demonstrate the impact science can have on performance at the elite level. Examples are given from key sports and in the context of specific countries within Europe. This book will be of great value to any one studying sport science degree with the aim of entering into coaching or training. It will also be a key resource for those already involved in the implementation of coaching strategies at the elite level and also for athletes themselves.

1
THE DEMAND PROFILE OF
MODERN HIGH-PERFORMANCE
TRAINING

E.MÜLLER, C.RASCHNER and H.SCHWAMEDER
University of Salzburg

Keywords: Austria, biomechanics, demand profile, planing of training, ski jumping, sport-specific variables of influence, technique-specific strength training, tennis, training devices, training science.

1
Introduction

Although an enormously high level of achievement could be reached in high performance sport for nearly every sport type, the end of performance development is not yet in sight. Even when performance improvements are realized in ever smaller increments, one can assume that they will continue in all sports a long time into the future. In the future improvements at the international level in performance may well proceed above all on the basis of improvements in the quality of training and not so much from an increase in the scope of training.

High achievement sport has developed internationally into an economically significant phenomenon. International events such as the Olympic Games or world championships are central media events. Consequently the phenomenon of high performance sport has also become very interesting from a scientific point of view, confirmed by the great number of training science and sport-medical conferences and publications. Training science has become an integrative science which systematically collects knowledge from numerous mother disciplines such as medicine, psychology, physics, chemistry, biology, etc.; from these it derives theories for sport performance level optimization. Sport training can thus be defined as a scientifically grounded, purposeful activity characterized by the pursuit of performance optimization. Then the systematically planned training process can reach a high level of quality when the following steps are observed in the manner of a control circuit system (cf. Fig. 1):

Fig. 1. Model for training quality optimization.

• exactly define the training goals to be achieved;
• select individual training methods from the latest state of training science research and plan these in detail;
• structure training according to the training plan;
• check the development of performance in regular intervals for all essential variables of influence, and
• interpret the results of performance checks and adapt the training plan correspondingly.

Performance checks obviously have a very high place value in modern elite sport training. Continuous directing and controlling of the training process is of central significance to avoid wrong tracks and by this guarantee a high level of training economy. Efficient performance checks, however, presuppose testing procedures of high quality. They must satisfy the criteria of objectivity, reliability and validity to a particular degree.

Sport performance diagnostics, however, are of significance not only for directing the training process in the narrow sense of the word. The exact determination of training goals presupposes that performance-determining variables of influence, or their levels of influence, respectively, are known as exactly as possible. This holds true for technical, tactical, conditioning and psychological subgoals. In many cases, these can be determined only by means of performance-diagnostic procedures.

Training science literature contains numerous studies which demonstrate that the training involved in general conditioning, valid for all forms of sport, leads to considerable improvements in particular physical parameters. However, training of this kind hardly succeeds in increasing competitive capacity. On the other hand, it was possible to show in many cases that the use of technique-specific means of training—parallel to general conditioning training—leads to considerable improvements in performance also among athletes with many years of training experience (BOSCO 1985; HAKKINEN/KOMI 1985; MÜLLER/ WACHTER 1989; SALE 1993; ZATSIORSKY 1996; SIFF/ VERKHOSHANSKY 1996).

It seems to be generally accepted that organismic adaptability increases with a reduction in the number of adaptive factors, as we must assume a relative limit in organismic adaptability reserves (BOIKO 1989). It is consequently important to direct one’s attention to developing highly specific means of training.

Training-scientific investigations likewise indicate that use of rapid turnaround information systems in directing many technical, tactical, conditioning and psychological training goals leads to the shortest possible acquisition time. Rapid turn-around information systems are understood to be performance procedures, mostly controlled by electronics, which are able to make results from training trials available within a few seconds.

The present contribution uses a number of concrete examples to show how training-scientific knowledge can contribute to quality improvement in modern elite sport training. First explored is the significance of planing training long-term. Pedagogical, medical and training-methodological aspects necessitate a carefully structured, developmentally appropriate course of training. A subsequent chapter will extensively address the significance of sport-specific training. Procedures for analyzing performance-determining characteristics are likewise introduced in this as well as those for developing specific procedures for performance diagnostics and the most efficient methods for guiding training goals.

2
Long-term, developmentally appropriate
planing of training

Top sports performances are possible generally only after 10 to 15 years of consequent training. Already from early childhood on, one should systematically attend to the development of the specific variables of influence of the respective sport. In childhood and youth the principles of motor development should receive particular attention. As an orientation aid, a long-term training plan divided into segments should be developed for each type of sport. Such should indicate the central training goals for the most important development stages and include entries addressing the scope of training, training methods and means of training. Fig. 2 depicts the basic structure of a long-term training plan for male tennis players which was produced in collaboration with the Austrian Tennis Federation. This drew on numerous insights from investigations concerning performance-determining characteristics for tennis and from the motor development of internationally successful tennis players.

Fig. 2. Long-term training plan for male tennis players.

Alongside general guidelines of the long-term training plan, age and performance-specific benchmarks for the most important performance characteristics of the particular sport can also be made available. However, such benchmarks can be obtained for the respective sport only after painstaking investigations of numerous athletes at various ages. Thus, for example, for tennis conditioning training, an age- and sex-specific demand and conditioning capacity profile were generated after a ten-year longitudinal study in which all cohort players of the Austrian Tennis Federation between the ages of 10 and 19 were tested, (cf. Fig. 3). Similar orientation values are available in track and field, weightlifting and skiing (SIFF/VERKHOSHANSKY 1996). However, due to the investigational time expenditure involved, training science can offer such models of investigations only in individual cases.

AGE	11		13		15		17		19
TESTS	male	female	male	female	male	female	male	female	male	female
20m-sprint (s)	3,45- 3,65	3,56- 3,76	3,28- 3,48	3,45- 3,65	3,15- 3,35	3,41- 3,61	3,05- 3,25	3,40- 3,60	3,02- 3,22	3,46- 3,66
jump (cm)	26,3- 36,3	25,2- 34,6	29,9- 39,9	26,9- 36,3	33,8- 43,8	28,2- 37,6	36,4- 46,4	29,1- 38,5	37,5- 47,5	29,7- 39,1
power (throwing) (m)	13,7- 18,1	11,4- 15,4	16,5- 20,9	14,0- 18,0	19,1- 23,5	16,5- 20,5	22,4- 26,8	17,6- 21,6	23.6- 28,0	18,8- 22,8
shuttle run (s)	13,8- 15,2	14,0- 15,4	12,8- 14,2	13,3- 14,7	12,0- 13,4	13,0- 14,4	11,5- 12,9	12,7- 13,1	11,4- 12,8	12,2- 13,6
side-steps (s)	13,5- 14,9	14,2- 15,6	12,8- 14,3	13,3- 14,7	11,9- 13,3	12,8- 14,2	11,6- 13,0	12,5- 13,9	12,5- 13,9	12,4- 13,8
Fmax hand (N)	170- 300	160- 260	260- 380	250- 350	350- 470	290- 390	440- 560	310- 410	480- 600	350- 450...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• INTRODUCTION
• 1. THE DEMAND PROFILE OF MODERN HIGH-PERFORMANCE TRAINING
• 2. THE CONTRIBUTION OF SPORTS MEDICINE TO TRAINING EFFICIENCY AND PERFORMANCE CAPACITY OPTIMIZATION IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPORT
• 3. SCIENCE—NO THANKS! THESES AGAINST A FRUITLESS VENTURE
• 4. SPECIFICS OF RESEARCH IN ELITE SPORT—EXAMPLES AND EXPERIENCES IN GERMANY
• 5. SCIENCE AND SERVICE IN ELITE SPORTS IN FINLAND— ORGANIZATIONAL, INFRASTRUCTURAL AND FINANCIAL ASPECTS
• 6. ARE AUSTRIAN ELITE ATHLETES GIVEN SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT?
• 7. SPORTS-SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT AT THE FREIBURG OLYMPIC-TRAINING-CENTRE
• 8. TESTING AND TRAINING FOR TOP NORWEGIAN ATHLETES
• 9. SCIENCE IN ELITE SPORT
• 10. SPORT PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH AND CONSULTING WITH ELITE ATHLETES AND COACHES
• 11. PERSONALITY, PERFORMANCE AND ROLE CONFLICTS IN ELITE SPORT
• 12. PHYSIOTHERAPY IN SPORTS: THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS AND PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES
• 13. SPORTS MEDICINE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION IN CONSIDERATION WITH THE SITUATION IN AUSTRIA