Monitoramento da carga de treinamento e bem-estar da seleção brasileira de ginástica rítmica em diferentes períodos : uma comparação entre atletas titulares e reservas

Abstract

The aims of this study were to monitor the training load (TLs) and the well-being of athletes from the Brazilian National Team of Rythmics Gymnastics of group, besides to compare the responses to the TLs and the well-being between starting and reserve athletes, and to analyze how the athletes responded individually to the TLs and the perception of well-being during 25 weeks. Ten professional athletes (17.4 ± 1.1 years; 163 ± 0.05 cm; 50.1 ± 3.0 kg; 18.8 ± 1.1 kg/m²;) with 9.9 ± 2.4 years of experience in the sport took part in this observational longitudinal descriptive study. The 25 weeks were divided into three periods (Basic Preparatory, Specific Preparatory, and PreCompetitive) in which 225 sessions were monitored. Daily, the athletes answered the online forms, individually, before training in the morning, after training in the morning, and at the end of training in the afternoon. The internal training load was monitored through momentary perceived exertion (RPE) and session-RPE. The external load was monitored through the total duration of training in minutes. Well-being was monitored through the application of the well-being questionnaire that involves five domains (fatigue, sleep quality, muscle pain, stress level, and mood), with values ranging from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good). General well-being was obtained through the sum of the five domains. Statistical tests were performed for normality, and sphericity, in addition to ANOVA for mixed designs followed by Bonferroni's Post Hoc test for group analyses. For the analysis of each athlete regarding the training loads and well-being, the SingleSubject Analysis (SSA) was performed. The level of statistical significance adopted for all analyzes was p ≤ 0.05. Statistical analyzes were performed using the R version 4.1.2 program. The results showed that the mean internal training load was 9242 ± 2511 A.U., with mean RPE values of 4.4 ± 0.6 A.U. The gymnasts trained an average of 9.0 ± 1.7 sessions per week with a total weekly duration of 2,014 ± 450 min. General well-being presented an average considered “normal” according to the questionnaire descriptors. For group comparisons, significant increases in internal training load, strain, monotony, and acute chronic load were observed between the preparatory and pre-competitive periods for the starting athletes (p < 0.05). Significant differences were also found between starting athletes vs. reserve athletes regarding the internal training load and strain, especially in the periods closer to the competition. However, no significant differences were found in relation to well-being and its domains. As for the individual analyses, there were significant differences in the athletes' responses regarding the internal training load, strain, well-being, and their domains. We conclude that rhythmic gymnastics has greater magnitudes of training load in periods close to competition with little variation in the well-being of gymnasts. In addition, there is a discrepancy in training loads between starting and reserve athletes. Finally, individual analyzes showed the importance of more specific monitoring because gymnasts do not respond homogeneously to the imposed loads.