V.I. Frolov, associate professor, Ph.D.

P.V. Frolov, postgraduate.

V.F. Skotnikov, professor, Ph.D.

Russian state university of physical culture, sport, youth and tourism, Moscow

 

Key words: bobsleigh, explosive force, starting stride, motor abilities, training load.

Relevance. Bobsleigh is one of speed and strength sports where the result in the starting stride of a bobsled depends mainly on the level of development of the athletes' key motor abilities and first of all explosive muscle strength (V.I. Frolov, L.V. Chuprik, 1989). Herewith, the explosive strength is three-component and consists of starting, accelerating and maximum constituents (Yu.V. Verkhoshansky, 1977). In view of the fact that bobsled is accelerated at the very short (approximately 30 m) distance of the track acceleration stage, and the driver and side pushers make maximum cycle explosive efforts to the bobsled mainly in the starting moment of stride, during the first 10-15 m, the level of all the three constituents of the explosive force of bobsledders' muscles clears up. Nevertheless, the single-cycle distribution of training means in a year cycle, especially in the pre-season, prevents from maintaining athletes’ key motor abilities at the high level by the moment of the main competitions.

The purpose of the study was theoretical and experimental substantiation of the necessity of the block organization of the training process in elite bobsledders during the year training cycle.

Research methods: theoretical analysis of previous researches; synthesis; comparative method.

The researches conducted in Latvia in the 80-s by V.I. Frolov, L.V. Chuprik (1989,1990,1991) on allocation of key motor abilities in bobsledders of different qualifications (the total of subjects in different experiments – 91 athlete from 1-class to masters of sport of international grade) in view of the study of their contractile-relaxation characteristics (based on the methodology by Yu.V. Vysochin, 1978) using a list of educational tests along with electrophysiological and tensodynamographic tests revealed the following.

The qualification comparison of bobsledders by the structure of their physical fitness contributed to revealing the course of formation of bobsleigh skills by the starting stride of the bob. First the sports result in acceleration of training simulators and bobs is determined by just speed abilities of athletes who have come to bobsleigh from other sports. With poor technical acceleration skills in this combination of bobsledders, those who run better the unloaded sprint and are stronger in absolute strength accelerates the simulator quicker. These taller athletes are to be preferred when qualifying for bobsleigh. The body’s ability to effective reproduction of explosive forces when accelerating the simulator and bobs is gradually turning into the leading one during the morphofunctional specialization. But at the level of country’s national team, when the athletes’ accelerating technique is relatively perfect and stable, sports result starts defining mostly the level of development of explosive force, especially its starting component. Superior brakemen have this component matching the maximum effort in the value, i.e. they can involve in contraction of the whole combination of motor units (MU) simultaneously regardless the threshold of their excitation. Such athletes are characterized by the intensified maximal effort owing to decrease of the time of recruitment of motor units at the tenfold metronome simulation of isometric contractions in such athletes (r from 0,60 to 0,80).

The abovementioned research results for bobsledders fully correspond with the findings of Yu.V. Verkhoshansky (1977, 1985, 1988) in other speed and strength sports. The same situation is marked in those sports, when first the increase of absolute muscle strength is enough for progress in achievements in sports exercises that claim from a man the display of strength and agility, but then at the phase of elite sport skills, the progressive ability to explosive manifestation of the required motor effort becomes of primary importance.

20 years have passed after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Several generations of athletes have changed since then. What is the direction bobsleigh is being developed regarding the starting stride of the bob? Naturally, the comparative characteristics of elite bobsledders of the early 90-s of the last century and 2010 are suggesting themselves, as shown in Table.

Table. Average assessment of male bobsledders in 1990 (n=15) and 2010 (n=12) by weight and body mass indices and motor tests and the differebce between them (by the Student’s criterion)

Tests, Statistical characteristics	Weight (kg)	Height (cm)	Back squats (kg)	Front squats (kg)	Standing triple jump (m)	30m flying start (s)	Training device 30m (s)
Х1±mх 1990	89.10 ±0.95	183.7 ±1.0	176.77 ±2.79	124.84 ±2.22	9.07 ±0.06	3.00 ±0.08	4.84 ±0.10
Х2±mх 2010	97.67 ±2.54	185.9 ±1.55	182.73 ±5.57	117.7 ±3.59	8.91 ±0.13	3.15 ±0.02	4.91 ±0.06
Х1-Х2	8.57	2.20	5.96	7.14	0.16	0.15	0.07
t	3.16	1.20	0.96	1.69	1.14	1.83	0.57
р	<0.01	>0.05	>0.05	>0.05	>0.05	>0.05	>0.05

Proceeding from the comparative characteristics of bobsledders, the trend of development adds up mainly to gain in weight among athletes, the differences by this index at the 1% significance level regarding the rest of parameters of differences are unreliable.

Minimizing the weight of bob, approved by the competition regulations and increasing at its cost athletes’ movable weight results in some rise of the speed of passing a track. Bobsleigh has been developed in this very direction. The analysis of result lists for the last 10 years for World Cup revealed the lack of progress in the result in the starting stride in 10 best crews in two- and four-person bobs, which remains a steady value. But the winners of World Cup and European championships are usually the crews with very high indices of starting stride. Even pilots are searched from former brakemen (Hefti – Switzerland, Melbardis – Latvia).

It is absolutely clear, that other things being equal, the crew with higher bob’s discharge velocity after their starting stride will be a winner. Hence, it is important for a bobsledder to bulk up not just raw, but active muscle weight that would not have caused almost statistical decrease of the indices in short sprint (Tab.1).

The competitive season in bobsleigh starts in November and finishes in March, i.e. is approximately 5 months long. But the European championship is usually held in January, World Cup – February. How can an athlete maintain the high level of development of absolute and explosive muscle strength in such a race? The single-cycle, relatively uniform distribution of training means with different training effects at training phases in a year cycle, especially during pre-season, which is being applied up to now, results in the situation when the decrease of the acceleration rate of the bob is marked already in December at the World Cup stages. The short-term, pre-New Year power re-charge in the second half of December is not effective in case of the single-cycle distribution of training means and nothing is left from the basic summer training of bobsledders by the main competition – World Cup. The most they can do is to repeat the last-year’s result in the starting stride. And it is the same every year, since such a distribution of training means in a year cycle fails to provoke any substantial adaptive changes at the level of motor system of elite athletes, at the level of neuromuscular apparatus (NMA). It happens due to a number of reasons. Athlete’s body adaptabilities or his adaptive reserve are not infinite. The capacity of the adaptive reserve increases with age and professional development (V.V. Boyko, 1987; Yu.V. Verkhoshansky, 1985; V.A. Druz’, 1980). The adaptabilities are especially limited at the phase of elite sports skills when the energy supply systems (cardiovascular, breathing) have reached their maximums of development. The current adaptive reserve (CAR) also decreases with age, provoking the decrease of compensatory adaptive mechanisms – dynamic, urgently arising physiological means of emergency body support under extreme conditions and gradually exhausting with development of the adaptation process (Yu.V. Verkhoshansky). So, according to A.S. Medvedev (1986) in weight lifting the improvement of results at the first phase (6 years on the average) is defined by the increasing amount and intensity of training loads, followed by stabilization or even some decrease of the amount of training load via further increase of its intensity. But at this phase, 2-3 years later, the results still stop growing or rise insufficiently. Athletes’ body simply stops reacting to the same irritants with the progressive adaptive response.

In this case A.N. Vorob’ev (1977) recommends using stress training sessions with a big amount of load – approximately 90-100% of the maximum and with the intensity over 90% relative to the average monthly rate, assuming that such training sessions somehow unbalance athlete’s body and serve the base for deeper morphofunctional reorganizations at the level of all body systems.

At the phase of elite sports achievements a conscious creation of contradictions is required in the body-environment system which naturally does not provoke a failure of adaptive reserve. At this phase some new, non-traditional MSP, differing from the stronger selective stimulation of neuromuscular apparatus (NMA) that has been applied before should be introduced. The problem of using non-traditional means according to I.P. Ratov (1983) as an alternative to the not always science-based increase of the amount and intensity of training loads stipulates for focusing on the issues of artificial selection and use of various methodologies, similar to the effect from changed components of external environment by their influence. Here the number of training exercises, performed under artificial conditions of controllable variations is to continuously increase related to natural training attempts with the rise of the level of sports results and more complicated competitive motor tasks.

Against the background of the energy supply systems that have reached its maximum of development we can enhance our sports results, affecting mainly directly the motor apparatus itself, the motor system, by using synergetic, concentrated means of special training. The use of non-traditional training exposures can cause substantial adaptive changes in the body and bring it to a new, higher level of operation (Yu.V. Verkhoshansky).

The methodological principle of using concentrated training exposures at the phase of elite sport skills is explained by the dialectical law of transition of the quantitative accumulation of units in the initial elements of the motor system to a new quality of this system. It is impossible to do without the long-term use of unidirectional concentrated training exposures. In this case, it is absolutely clear that the implementation of repeated training exposures will occur in the period of incomplete recovery. When characterizing the exercise and rest ratio in sports training microcycles they often proceed form the fact that the implementation of repeated loads during the incomplete recovery provokes continuous and progressive performance decrement. Proceeding from the studies, performance is remarkably decreased only at first load even at a very strenuous training mode. Henceforth, the decreased performance is stabilized with repetitions of exercises (V.M. Volkov, 1977). The inherent to the biological system ability to change the level of current functional state during activity is the basis for occurring new functional states. V.M. Volkov assumes that concerning sports training these data can serve as a physiological proof of the fact that the implementation of the strict mode of combining work and rest (training in the period of incomplete recovery) can result in better performance.

The practical realization of this principle is stated by Yu.V. Verkhoshansky in his monographs where training process is arranged in accordance with two types of the strategy of athletes' adaptive behavior.

The first type of adaptation strategy is specific for semiskilled athletes and mainly for cyclic sports, martial arts and sport games. In this case, periodic short-term dyscrasia of the body occurs in gradually rising loads alternated in the activation of its energy and plastic resources. The current consumption of energy resources is compensated with some exceeding initial level and the body’s functionalities gradually increase.

The second type of the strategy is observed mainly in elite athletes and in speed and strength sports. Extensional (concentrated) loads that need energy resources to be intensively mobilized, provoke long and deep dyscrasia of the body and consequently a continuous decrease of its functional performance. The decrease of the amount of load and activation of plastic resources are followed by their pronounced rise.

The decrease of the amount of the load is stipulated by numerous factors. First, quite a long recovery period is required to get the cumulative effect from the use of some amount of unidirectional concentrated special load, as the change from urgent to long-term adaptation is based on the intensified synthesis of enzymatic and structural proteins in muscles and other organs and is possible only in case of essential compensation of the body's energy potential after long-term training exposures. On this matter V.A. Druz’ (1980) notes that the higher level is necessary to consolidate a new state, the greater changes are required in respect to the parameters of the internal environment and the longer the change will take. Secondly, a new quantitative accumulation of units in initial elements of the motor system should cause more progressive qualitative reorganizations of the biodynamic structure of motor actions. In other words, the technique of competitive exercise or actions should be adjusted to the rising level of development of special physical qualities during the recovery period, in the course of the in-depth process of adaptive reorganizations.

How long does it take to realize the principle of concentrated training exposures, what is the acceptable duration ("dose") of continuous training exposures on the body, which it is able to withstand without the risk of disruption of adaptation? According to the findings of numerous experimental studies of Verkhoshansky’s students, such a "dose" of continuous training exposures when applying concentrated load lasts 3-4 weeks, after which a rehabilitation pause is required to activate compensatory processes and the end result will be obtained as a long-term delayed training effect.

Hence, Yu.V. Verkhoshansky has proved the concept of block organization of the training process of elite athletes, which is based on the time distribution principle of loads of primary orientations. Later on these results were proved in the works of A.P. Bondarchuk (2005) and V.B. Issurin (2010). And the latter suggested organizing a training process in the form of two-month blocks, divided into three mesocyles each: accumulative, transformative and realization. Weight lifters have been training using this concept for over 40 years, sometimes winning world records several times a year. Each block includes a preparatory month – mesocyle and pre-season. The preparatory month of a weight lifter is an accumulative mesocycle, where mainly absolute muscle strength is being enhanced, which is then transformed into explosive one via the special speed and strength training means and then realized via the competitive motor system in a better sports technical result.

Conclusion. In bobsleigh it is suggested to take as a basis a two-cycle periodization of training in the pre-season, successfully approved in other speed-power sports (Yu.V. Verkhoshansky, 1985) and made of two phases focused on achievement of the high level of athletes' special strength preparedness by the start of important competitions (phase 1 – May-August, phase 2 – September-October).

The organization of the training load presupposes the use of strength workout on every stage of the block, along with performance of the basic volume of speed-strength, speed and technical workouts. Hence the principle of time distribution of different amounts of load of various primary orientation is kept, creating favorable conditions for advanced improvement of the acceleration technique and speed.

The second power “block” is smaller in the amount of load, but the general intensity of load is higher than in the first block. In consideration of the fact that the second block is performed along with the adaptive reorganization of the first big phase, the effect from power loads will remain in the main season (November to March) with the power recharge in the second half of December.

The time distribution of loads with different primary orientations will precondition more progressive adaptive changes at the NMA level of bobsledders, minimize injuries, frequent among athletes at the single-cycle organization of the year cycle and, above all, facilitates reaching the peak of form by the moment of main competitions.

References

1. Boyko, V.V. Targeted development of human motor qualities / V.V. Boyko. – Moscow: Fizkultura i sport,1987. – P. 70. (In Russian)
2. Bondarchuk, A.P. Periodization of sports training / A.P. Bondarchuk. – Kiev: Olimpiyskaya literatura, 2005. – 303 P. (In Russian)
3. Verkhoshansky, Yu.V. The basics of special strength training in sport / Yu.V. Verkhoshansky. – Moscow: Fizkultura i sport, 1977. – 215 P. (In Russian)
4. Verkhoshansky, Yu.V. Programming and organization of the training process / Yu.V. Verkhoshansky. – Moscow: Fizkultura i sport, 1985. – 176 P. (In Russian)
5. Verkhoshansky, Yu.V. The basics of special physical training of athletes / Yu.V. Verkhoshansky. – Moscow: Fizkultura i sport, 1 988. – 331 P. (In Russian)
6. Volkov, V.M. Rehabilitation processes in sport / V.M. Volkov. – Moscow: Fizkultura i sport, 1977. – P. 56. (In Russian)
7. Vorob'ev, A.N. Weightlifting. Essays on physiology and sports training / A.N. Vorob'ev. 2nd ed. – Moscow: Fizkultura i sport, 1977. – P. 231. (In Russian)
8. Vysochin, Yu.V. Polymyography as a research method of functional status of athletes' neuromuscular system / Yu.V. Vysochin // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 1978. – № 6. (In Russian)
9. Druz', V.A. Modeling of the process of sports training / V.A. Druz'. – Kiev: Zdorov'e, 1980. – P. 34, 81. (In Russian)
10. Issurin, V.B. Block periodization of sports training / V.B. Issurin. – Moscow: Sovetsky sport, 2010. – 288 P. (In Russian)
11. Medvedev, A.S. The system of long-term weightlifting training / A.S. Medvedev. – Moscow: Fizkultura i sport, 1986. – P. 118–122. (In Russian)
12. Ratov, I.P. The problems of coping with contradictions while learning moves and realization of didactic principles / I.P. Ratov // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 1983. – № 7. – P. 40–44. (In Russian)
13. Frolov, V.I. The manner of interaction of the processes of muscle contraction and relaxation in elite bobsleders / V.I. Frolov, L.V. Chuprik. – Book of abstr. of theor.-pract. conf. – Riga: LSIPC, 1989. (In Russian)
14. Frolov, V.I. Key bobsledder’s motor abilities and factors limiting their manifestation in the starting stride / V.I. Frolov, L.V. Chuprik / Research report. – Riga: LSIPC, 1990. (In Russian)
15. Frolov, V.I., Chuprik, L.V. The factors limiting special exercise performance of bobsledders of different qualifications in the starting stride of the bobsled / V.I. Frolov, L.V. Chuprik / Book of abstracts of the. scient. conf. – Riga: LSIPC, 1991. (In Russian)

Author’s contacts: fvi1945@mail.ru