A.V. Volkov¹
PhD, Associate Professor I.A. Panchenko¹
PhD, Associate Professor A.P. Babchenko
¹Saint-Petersburg Mining University, St. Petersburg

Keywords: training load, training volume, training goal, performance variation, judoka, monitoring.

Background. Sport excellence process in judo cannot be successful enough unless includes a training load control and management component with every overall and special fitness aspect being rated by the relevant tactical and technical rates with their variation analyses. Analysis of the modern theoretical and practical research literature shows that a high priority needs to be given at the advanced sport training stage to the training load management and control initiatives with a variety of modern methods being applied including anthropometrical measurements, somatic typing, retrospective training process profiling studies etc. For the purposes of the training load profiling for the cycled training system design on the most efficient and effective basis, modern analysts normally apply assessments based on the heart rate data viewed as a key for the training process control and management system. When the system is duly designed and applied in a coaching activity, the coach obtains the means, particularly at the system design stage, to develop an individual training load management scale and schedule based on concrete data arrays.

It is a common knowledge that high and maximal training loads are the key tools for the athletic fitness building process, with both the training loads and rehabilitation processes being naturally considered components of an integrated athletic training system designable and manageable by the coach with a special emphasis on the rehabilitation aspects that need to be duly addressed in an athletic training process.

The need for the high and maximal training loads to be optimised and duly managed in most of sport disciplines is driven by the sport excellence initiatives within the already attained ranges of training loads. The still available reserves for further progress in this aspect in the sport excellence process are presently mobilised by the education and training process duration being increased from 50-60 minutes to 100-120 minutes per session. However, a high priority is still given to the training process intensity (viewed as the most volatile variable of the process) that determines the load in any sport discipline including judo.

Objective of the study was to find the optimal training load standards for the competitive progress in judo.

Study results and discussion. Presently the formal and facade aspects of training loads in judo are practically rated by the V.I. Sytnikov, A.A. Novikov and A.A. Matveyeva scale [3, pp. 67-68], with the training volume (i.e. net time) of every training process element being multiplied by the intensity metered based on the heart rate and expressed in standard units. In our opinion, however, this training and competitive process intensity measuring system still has some drawbacks due to the predominantly anaerobic training load being measured not accurately enough (in weightlifting, kettlebell lifting, sprints, spurts etc.). It should be noted that obtained results may be incorrect resulting in wrong conclusions unless the appropriate measuring tools are applied in the process.

Thus, the same standard units may be accumulated by 9 bouts each taking 6 minutes that equal to 6 standard units making up 324 standard units in total (9 х 6 х 6 =324 standard units) and a 108-minute walking trip (108 х 3 =324 standard units). These training cases, despite their formal training loads being the same, are actually different in the internal physiological shifts they trigger and, hence, the bouts should be rated as a moderate-intensity exercise and walk as a low-intensity load.

In the context of the training system design and management, the coach should make an emphasis on the total effect of the daily training process on the whole, with the highly-ranking athletes’ loads being calculated on a daily basis on the relevant load control scale [1, p.45]. It should be noted, however, that such a calculation may be inaccurate and, hence, inefficient for the training process design. The calculation inaccuracy in this case is due to the formal rates being accounted versus the actual physiological and biochemical variations, the integrated ratings being particularly difficult in application to club teams. When the coach, for instance, makes resort to two-day test bouts for the team building purposes, he has to limit the training time and intensities thereafter; alternatively, he has to decide on the team composition before the bouts.

It may be pertinent to mention that the problem of the training load control in the education and training process to maintain the athlete’s fitness and progress is quite typical for many other martial arts. The product of formal calculations of the training load in case of test bouts may be much lower than the physiological one, as demonstrated by the following daily schedule:

In total, the above daily load is estimated at 447 standard units i.e. ranked a moderate-intensity load. However, the formal calculation in the case fails to factor in the emotional tensions of the competitive bouts with major opponents that are still beyond any qualitative estimating procedure albeit the actual load for a test bout day should rather be rated as very high or sub-maximal. In this and other similar cases, the calculations should apply the adjustment ratio recommended in the relevant prior biochemical and physiological studies for the result to be close enough to the actual situation. In this particular case of test/competitive bouts, the adjustment ratio of 2.0 should be applied.

It needs to be mentioned in this context that, as demonstrated by the actual competitive performance data, more successful in real bouts are the athletes who maintain fairly high activity of the hormonal regulators of the adaptation responses by the end of the competitive periods [2]. Those athletes who are diagnosed with adrenocortical depletion show high fatigue rates associated with immediate negative effects on the competitive performance, i.e. the athlete is unable to perform as expected.

Therefore, formal calculations of training/ competitive loads need to be reasonably adjusted. When the athlete’s internal bodily factors upon completion of the scheduled workouts are duly tested and managed in the practical training and competitive process, the individual low, moderate, high and maximal load ranges may be distinguished, and these findings may be highly beneficial for timely and efficient management of the competitors’ working capacity in the judo training and competitive process.

Low load may be described as associated with insignificant changes in the blood circulation system and other physiological system performance rates. Working capacity after such loads is tested to remain unchanged or grow slightly. The low-load training component in a judo training system may be applied for active rest purposes since its training effects are insignificant if any.

Moderate load normally results in the working capacity sagging by 6-8% and associated with moderate changes in the main body systems – respiratory, cardiovascular and neuromuscular. Physical working capacity after such load is normally fully recovered on the other day conditional on a well-balanced physicality.

High load is associated with the working capacity sagging by 10-15% in an irregular phased manner as follows: (1) 1-2-days-long fall; (2) comeback to the initial status in 2-3 days after the high load; and (3) growth above the initial level in 4-6 days.

A weekly training cycle may be designed to include up to 3 high loads conditional on the next weekly cycle being designed to include only moderate and low loads. In this case, every next peak in the training process will come before the body fully recovers from the last one.

A significant fall in the working capacity normally occurs after the first high load due to the body responding by the relevant compensatory mechanisms; with the working capacity falls after the next peaks decreasing by 5-8%. It should be noted, however, that a cumulative effect of three successive high loads per week is virtually the same as in the case of a maximal load. At the same time, internal functional changes following a single high load are maintained for 6-18 hours and come to norm in 24-48 hours provided high-intensity training work is avoided in this period. Specific training work (a technique-excelling interval training, for instance) may be of particularly serious negative effect on the working capacity rehabilitation process.

Maximal load is associated with the working capacity sagging by 16-25% followed by an expressly phased recovery period. Changes in the internal bodily environments and key physiological system performance rates are high in this case, with the maximal blood pressure coming to 180-220mm Hg and minimal to 0; and with myocardial hyperdynamia found by the ECG. Blood glucose levels fall and lactic acid levels grow. Changes in the protein blood patterns are registered for 1-3 days, with albumin, erythrocytes and haemoglobin falling and globulin increasing due to the action of compensatory mechanisms. Some cases of long and mismanaged maximal loads may provoke hypoferric anaemia and cardiovascular disorders that require special therapy with further trainings being strictly limited.

Therefore, for the physical working capacity being maintained at high levels, a judo training system is recommended to be designed as follows (see Figure 1):

Figure 1. Training system design at the sport excellence stage (SES), %

Conclusion. The last pre-season high-load training should be scheduled for 10-15 prior to the competitions. The maximal-load training may be highly beneficial when a single training session includes 10-12 bouts designed on an interval/ round robin basis and takes up to 50 minutes with the HR reaching 174-192 beats per min (alternatively, 2 sessions per day with 15-20 bouts of 5-6 min each). To further increase the positive training effect of the maximal-load sessions, they should be timed to the late recovery periods upon the low-and moderate-load training sessions.

References

1. Eregina S.V., Shestakov V.B. Teoriya i metodika detsko-yunosheskogo dzyudo. Posobie dlya studentov vuzov fizkulturnogo profilya, trenerov-prepodavateley, sportsmenov-dzyudoistov [Theory and methodology of children's and youth judo. Aid for physical culture university students, coach-instructors, judokas]. Omsa Media Grupp publ., 2008, P.45.
2. Ofitsialny sayt Federatsii dzyudo Rossii [Official site of Russian Judo Federation]. Available at: http://www.judo.ru/9/ (Accessed: 29.10.16)
3. Suslov F.P., Kholodov Zh.K. Teoriya i metodika sporta. Uchebnoe posobie dlya uchilisch olimpiyskogo rezerva [Theory and methodology of sports. Textbook for Olympic Reserve Schools]. Moscow, 1997, pp. 67-68.

Corresponding author: panfilio@spmi.ru

Abstract

Accurate training load control and management tools are highly important for the coaching and instruction specialists striving to step up the staged training process efficiency for success in competitions. The study makes a special emphasis on the training load monitoring and management versus its volume and goal. The key objective of the study was to rate contributions of both components of the training process manageable by the coach to design the pre-season training stage in the most efficient and stress-free format for success in competitions. The proposed model was tested in the judo training process and its benefits were demonstrated.