Functional overreaching can limit performance improvements in water polo

Author(s)

Gabriel Motta Pinheiro Brisola

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Bauru. 2021-01-24.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências. Bauru
• Defense date: 2020-12-17
• Advisor: Alessandro Moura Zagatto

Abstract

The main objective of this project was to verify whether the functional overreaching state (FOR) prior to the tapering period can impair the performance gains in the water polo. For this, two studies were carried out (study 1 and 2): the purpose of study 1 was to monitor training loads during a 20-week macrocycle in the water polo, while the objective of study (2) was to investigate whether the OR-F can limit the supercompensation of performance parameters after the tapering period in water polo athletes. In both studies, young female water polo athletes from the same team participated (20 athletes in study 1 and 22 athletes in study 2). In study 1, the experimental design was prospective for 20 weeks, with assessments of physical performance (minimum lactate test and repeated sprint ability test [RSA]), autonomic nervous system parameters (variability of heart rate), hormonal variables (cortisol and testosterone), immunological variables (glutamine and immunoglobulin A), muscle damage variables (creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase), mood and symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) at the baseline and at the end of each period of a macrocycle in the water polo. In study 2, the experimental design was randomized and parallel, in which two groups trained with different loads (high load and control) for 7 weeks and performed the same assessments as in study 1, with the diagnosis of OR-F still being carried out at the end overload period. The results of study 1 showed that the highest training loads were found in the competitive cycle (p <0.001), simultaneously with the lowest performance gains. Study 2 found lower improvements in the total time of RSA test for the F-OR group in comparison with the athletes who trained with high load without the development of this state (p = 0.004). It is possible to conclude that the F-OR state prior to the tapering period may impair the performance improvements of the total time in the RSA test in young water polo athletes (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 17/03660-2 - Is the development of functional overreaching an efficient strategy to improve swim performance in water polo after the tapering period?
• Grantee: Gabriel Motta Pinheiro Brisola
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate