PhD, Associate Professor V.K. Volkov
PhD, Associate Professor I.E. Popova
PhD, Associate Professor O.N. Savinkova
PhD, Associate Professor V.I. Kozlov
Voronezh State Institute of Physical Culture, Voronezh
Voronezh State Technical University, Voronezh

Keywords: rehabilitative energy-information tools, health, adaptive capability, training process.

Background. The present situation in global sports is somewhat paradoxical since it is regulated, on the one hand, by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) acting as a supreme control and punitive body and, on the other hand, doping is still being widely applied in elite sports as indicated by everyday disclosures and scandals. A wide variety of tricks is being used to avoid sanctions – from probe substitutions and medical permissions for prohibited agents to direct attempts to bribe WADA officials. Athletes making resort to doping are exposed to high health risks both from thedoping as such and stresses related to the doping tests. It is the last for competitive success at any cost that may be viewed a prime reason for doping albeit it certainly runs counter to the prime ideas of the Olympic movement.

There is an obvious need for the coaches’ and athletes’ attitudes to the goals of an athletic training process being revised. A prime mission of sports is to cultivate the abilities and qualities required for the people being able to face challenges, and sport records should be considered a tool to develop a successful personality rather than a prime objective of the training process^[4], since only this mission of sports is fully compliant with the sporting spirit. In view of the modern sports being in need of an alternative to doping to keep up the sporting spirit on the one hand and facilitate athletic progress on the other hand, we offer herein such an alternative based on the relevant comprehensive theoretical and practical materials.

Objective of the study was to offer an effective alternative to doping to keep up the sporting spirit.

Study results

Background

Modern efficient athletic training systems give a high priority to the relevant adaptation programs that are generally designed based on the following conditions and provisions ^{[1, 2, 3]}:

1. Old programs are no more relevant in the new situation, with the bodily needs being left partially or fully unsatisfied (and stamina undermined) as signalled by a variety of negative sensations and/or sufferings.
2. Bodily resource is still sufficient for a new adaptation program being worked out.
3. Subject is duly informed on the present situation.
4. Subject has developed an effective and reasonable thinking ability.

It should be noted that the existing athletic training systems factor in mostly the first two conditions of the above albeit conditions number three and four should also be in place to secure good athletic progress and competitive success. Initiatives designed to develop these conditions are referred to herein as the rehabilitative energy-information tools ^[3].

Rehabilitative energy-information tools

The rehabilitative energy-information tools presently include the following: thinking process self-control; due relaxation methods; manual-verbal synthesised massage; Qigong; energy-information nutrients; and competitive success.

Thinking process self-control

Thinking may be interpreted as the active mental process designed to meet certain needs and including the following stages: receiving the external and internal information; processing the information as required by the past individual experience and expectations; building the relevant and currently efficient adaptation program; exercising the program implementation control to ensure its efficiency; and remodelling the behaviour. Human mentality may be described as composed of the following three constituents: sub-consciousness driven by the past programs; super-consciousness that is basically in charge of new adaptation programs; and consciousness that primarily controls the thinking process ^[1]. We assume an inefficient thinking process being the prime reason for many failures in life, with the failures being detrimental to the future progress programming. It is the unresolved problems largely unrealised by the consciousness (stress engram) that increasingly dominate in everybody’s mentality and make the current thinking process less efficient. An efficient and correct thinking process is a basis for an efficient self-improvement program. Good knowledge of the human thinking process logics makes it possible to offer a few recommendations on how to improve it ^[1]. As soon as the subject’s need/ problem is well understood the efficient thinking process algorithm to solve it may be worked out as follows ^{[1, 2]}.

1. The problem is to be comprehensively thought over: it should first be formulated; then its criticality needs to be tested versus the relevant human/ social/ economic standards; and the required informational and material resources need to be evaluated. When the necessary conditions for the problem solution are inacceptable or lacking, the problem is suspended until the necessary conditions are put in place i.e. the latter become a first priority problem. Unless the problem may be solved immediately, the following is to be done.
2. The problem is transferred to super-consciousness i.e. the problem is not thought over any more and consciousness is focused on the prime reasons for the problem and current flow of events. Unless the problem may be solved immediately, the following is to be done.
3. The problem is though over again in context of the new data and conditions. Due understanding of the relevant prime needs may be helpful with a special emphasis on the offensive or unpleasant events in the individual experiences.

Integrated healing intervention

Integrated healing intervention (IHI) procedure ^{[1, 2]} is primarily designed to optimise the future self-programming process via the efforts to cultivate an informational field for future health. The informational field for the future health is referred to herein as the subject’s self-recreation plan to secure his/her full adaptation to the future living environment. The integrated healing intervention (IHI) procedure may be successful only when the subject: firmly decides to change his/her situation; demonstrates good thinking ability and emotional responsiveness; and is efficiently assisted by a knowledgeable and skilful specialist in charge of the integrated healing intervention and health cultivating process.

It should be noted that people mostly prefer thinking rather than feeling and, hence, largely live in a provisional world. This is the reason why the prime objective of the first-stage health programming intervention is to bring the subject back to the emotional reality. Most of the subjects report every negative feeling disappearing at this first stage. If it is not the case, due efforts need to be taken to restore conductivity of the key energy-information channels going through the spine, and first of all the minor vertebral dislocations need to be fixed.

As soon as the problem unrealised by consciousness is solved the thinking process is released of its burden and the subject acquires the ability to efficiently self-program his/her own future. Therefore, the mission of the second-stage health programming intervention is to improve the thinking process. We should list here the following key aspects of the second stage: the negative feelings/ sufferings may come back; and the subject may even burst into tears. These effects are viewed as a positive sign of good progress. The comeback of the sufferings (that may be even more acute) is indicative of the unrealised program coming up from the long-term memory to the short-term (operational) memory where it becomes realisable and correctable. Tears show that the subject’s brain is released of the burden of the unrealised program and due catharsis is attained. In case of further suffering, the health intervention is continued until the suffering ends up and catharsis is attained. This is how the problems unrealised by consciousness are be addressed by the method.

Relaxation methods

Relaxation is referred to herein as the efforts to scale down the external activity largely based on the full informational support acquired by the subject. The relaxation process is designed to reset the thinking patterns and work out new adaptation programs required for the body to develop new qualities and abilities. Applicable relaxation methods may include: neuromuscular relaxation; meditation; autogenic training; biological feedback; and hypnosis. These methods are effective in activating sensations and perceptions, improving informational contacts and expanding the scope of super-consciousness, i.e. improving the thinking process on the whole ^[3].

Manual-verbal synthesised massage

We have developed the manual-verbal synthesised massage methodology based on the classical massage techniques plus the relevant autogenic training tools ^[1]. It includes the following two successive components: classical manual massage of the main body parts plus further relaxation facilitated by the relevant verbal self-control formulae. The manual-verbal synthesised massage methodology is designed to:

1. Mobilise the informational flows in tissues by the manual massage techniques.
2. Improve sensitivity of the sensor systems by the relevant manual massage techniques and verbal self-control formulae “felt through” by the subject.
3. Improve the thinking process due to the scope of super-consciousness being expanded through the subject’s attention focusing on the sensations and images.

Qigong

Qigong (work of energy) is one of the most developed traditional techniques applicable for improvement of the informational flows and thinking ability. The Qigong application under the method was designed to include the following three stages ^[3]:

1. In the context of the dominating need(s) and based on the information available to the subject (Zen), due control signals (Qi) are worked out.
2. The control signals (Qi) purposefully activate the relevant bodily organs and systems (vitality), with the necessary cells-and-organs-stored information and required material inputs being mobilised.
3. The acquired maximal informational and material wellbeing helps the subject satisfy the dominating need(s), attain due relaxation and expand the informational contacts with the external reality (with the flow of vitality going back to emptiness), with the information flows becoming increasingly accessible (growth of Zen).

Our practical experience shows that the applied Qigong tools are highly accessible and effective.

Energy-information nutrients

These nutrients mean the natural products facilitating the efforts to expand the informational contacts with external reality. A key mission of the nutrients is to improve the perception and thinking abilities.

Competitive success

Practical competitive experience helps athletes develop certain emotional behavioural models, with the competitive success being commonly viewed as the key indicator of the athletic training process being effective. Every competitive success facilitates new adaptive programs being activated thereby helping the athlete attain higher performance standards.

Conclusion. Any doping causes certain effects on the bodily adaptation programs albeit the forced spurring of the unprepared biological structures is often highly detrimental and may result in their failures that inevitably trigger diseases and disorders. The energy-information rehabilitative tools designed to help develop a new adaptation program are totally different in the sense that they improve the bodily abilities (and excel the personality in fact) and, hence, undoubtedly contribute to the competitive success and future health building process.

References

1. Bugaev G.V., Volkov V.K., Kozlov V.I., Popova I.E., Savinkova O.N. Konstruktivnye psikhologiya i pedagogika dlya fizicheskoy kultury i sporta [Constructive psychology and pedagogy of physical culture and sport]. Sb. statey XII Mezhdunar. konf. "Fizicheskoe vospitanie i sport v vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniyakh" [Book of abstr. XII International Conf. "Physical Education and Sport in higher education"]. Belgorod: Baltic State Technical University publ., 2016, P. 34 - 44.
2. Volkov V.K. Mediko-biologicheskie osnovy preduprezhdeniya i lecheniya narkomaniy. Teoreticheskie osnovy ozdorovleniya [Biomedical framework for prevention and treatment of addictions. Theoretical foundations of recovery]. Voronezh: Central Black Earth Book Publ., 2006. - 60 p.
3. Volkov V.K., Avanesov V.U. Energo-informatsionnye sredstva vosstanovleniya [Energy and information recovery tools]. Sostoyanie i perspektivy razvitiya meditsinyi v sporte vysshikh dostizheniy. Mater. Mezhdunar. nauch. konf. «SportMed 2007». [Condition and development prospects of medicine in sports: Proc. International scientific conference "SportMed 2007"]. Moscow: Fizicheskaya kultura publ., 2007, pp. 89 - 91.
4. Volkov V.K., Zvezdilina M.Y., Kozlov V.I., Kozlov L.N. Rol fizicheskoy kultury i sporta v formirovanii cheloveka budushchego [The role of physical education and sport in shaping of man of future]. Nauchnye trudy XVII Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. kongress-konferentsii "Innovatsionnye preobrazovaniya v sfere kultury fizicheskoy, sporta i turizma" [Proc. XVII-th International res.-pract. congr.-conference "Innovative transformation in physical culture, sport and tourism"]. Novomikhaylovsky, 2014, vol. 1, pp. 41 - 48.

Corresponding author: vikozlov_60@mail.ru

Abstract

It is the aspiration for competitive success at any cost that may be viewed a prime reason for the athletes making resort to doping on the one hand and for the abuse in the existing doping control system on the other hand. The study offers a set of rehabilitative energy-information tools as an alternative to doping including the following: thinking process self-control; due relaxation methods; manual-verbal synthesised massage; Qigong; and energy-information nutrients. It is an efficient thinking process design that provides a basis for self-improvement; and due knowledge of a human thinking process makes it possible to give recommendations for the process self-control being improved. For the health rehabilitation process success, the following need to be done: the athlete will focus on the personal transformation agenda, thinking ability and emotional responses; and the rehabilitation specialist mobilises due knowledge and skills to help the athlete. The relaxation methods activate sensations and perceptions, improve informational contacts, expand the scope of super-consciousness; and thereby improve the thinking process on the whole. The manual-verbal synthesised massage methodology includes the following successive components: classical manual massage of the key bodily parts; with the attained relaxation being deepened by the self-control verbal formulae. Special Qigong practices are applied to improve the informational flows and thinking process. The progress ia supported by the relevant energy-information natural nutrients to improve the informational contacts with the external reality. The study has demonstrated benefits of the systemic energy-information tools applied to facilitate new adaptation program being built up; improve psychophysical abilities and bodily adaptive capability; increase the athletes’ stress tolerance rates and fitness for extreme performance for the highest competitive success.