N.D. Ovchinnikov, professor, Dr.Med.
Yu.A. Matveev, associate professor, Ph.D.
V.I. Egozina, professor, Dr.Hab.
D.N. Ovchinnikov, postgraduate
Teacher training institute of physical culture and sport of Moscow City Teachers' Training University, Moscow

Key words: sport and training loads regulation, body's adaptabilities, and initial signs of overtraining with the threat of adaptation disruption.

The issues of sport and training loads regulation despite the efforts of researchers remain largely unclear so far and require resolution.

In particular, it is necessary to develop a methodology to determine various factors affecting human body during sports and learn to determine the nature and intensity of reactions of major body functional systems with the desired level of accuracy.

It can be assumed that the successful solution of multidimensional problems of sport loads regulation is possible only on the basis of the conceptual model and the use of modern highly informative diagnostic methods and techniques of analysis, which help to understand the essence of the phenomena, occurring in the body, at a qualitatively new level.

In our proposed conceptual model of sport and training loads regulation we’ve found it necessary to consider all the most important internal and external factors, affecting the human body condition indicators and the effectiveness of sports.

Methodological bases for the conceptual model structure are the following provisions:

1) Sport activity with high or maximum intensity and duration of physical loads and psycho-emotional stress, is carried out in difficult and sometimes even harmful and dangerous conditions of the living environment.

2) The functioning of the human body during sports activity, in its biological and psychophysiological essence, is a continuous process of homeostatic adaptation with the mobilization of major functional systems.

3) In its psychophysiological essence, the physical education and sports and training process, which improves health and helps to achieve desired success in sports, is the process improving the body’s adaptabilities.

4) According to general biological laws, significant physical loads during sports activate the most important physiological and psychophysiological systems and convert them to the level of lowered functional energy supply, resulting in the stabilization of the most important indicators of physiological and psycho-physiological functions and psycho-emotional states.

When developing the conceptual model of sports and training loads regulation for athletes and in order to justify the arising necessary conclusions and recommendations we consider it necessary to proceed from the following principles:

Firstly, it’s important to determine, with the desired accuracy, the hygiene factors of the living environment which affect the human body during physical exercises and sports occupations.

Secondly, the special researches are required to determine what functional systems of the human body experience the main loads during sports activity.

Thirdly, we need to determine the exertion level of the body adaptive systems in response to environmental factors and physical loads.

Fourthly, to determine the status of the body’s adaptive reserves and functional ability to respond adequately to sport exercises.

Fifthly, to determine the optimal activating values ​​of training loads for each athlete on the basis of evaluation of the individual indicators of body adaptabilities.

Sixthly, in order to achieve high results, regular monitoring of the status of athlete adaptive systems is required using modern effective techniques and informative methods of determination of the body’s functional capacity.

The structure of the conceptual model of sports and training loads regulation is shown in Fig. 1, and the structure of the trainer’s activity for optimization of the sports-training process is shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 1. The structure of the conceptual model of sports and training loads regulation.

Fig. 2. The structure of the trainer’s activity on optimization of the sports-training process and correction of the athletes’ sports potential.

In accordance with this concept, regulation of sports and training loads should be implemented through successive steps.

At the Step 1, it is necessary to give complex quantitative evaluation of the external environmental factors, affecting the human body adaptabilities during sports activity.

When developing this concept, we considered that human body often operates in environmental hygienic conditions deviating from the comfortable parameters, during sports with significant physical, psycho-physiological and psycho-emotional stress. The authors of this article have developed the technique of complex quantitative estimation of hygiene factors, physical complexity, psychoemotional stress and the modes of sport activity to characterize the environment. It was taken into account that athletes act in difficult, often hazardous conditions, characterized by significant complexity and even danger.

Body adaptive systems' reaction, aimed at the effective functioning of the physiological systems despite the negative influence of the environmental factors, ensures the maintenance of normal physiological constants within the homeostatic limits and achievement of the desired athletic performance.

Methodology: the expert evaluation of external environmental factors can be successfully carried out by a team doctor or a trainer in correlation with the active sanitary and hygienic regulations.

At the Step 2, in the course of the biomedical research the major body’s functional systems subject to the main load during sports activity should be identified.

Proceeding from the analysis of sport activity in terms of the functional systems by P.K. Anokhin, all sports can be divided into two large groups:

• Group 1 with the main loads on the neuromuscular system, which provides muscle contractions and the hard work of the circulatory system (for example, weightlifting, swimming, marathon, etc.);
• Group 2 with the loads on the system providing psychophysiological functions:  speed of motor responses, orientation in the sports-game situations (e.g., combat sports, volleyball, etc.).

According to the P.K. Anokhin’s theory of functional systems, considering the reaction of the organism in view of the possibilities of self-regulation and self-organization of physiological functions, in sport activity with the main loads on neuromuscular and cardiovascular systems, the neurohumoral mechanisms of the metabolism regulation and energy supply of muscular effort are activated. Therefore, when analyzing the body adaptabilities of the athletes, involved in such sports, it is important to focus on the indicators of the cardiovascular system and energy supply of muscle activity.

In sports activity with the main loads on the physiological functions of the central nervous system (e.g., the formation of motor programs of the central nervous system, maintenance of mental and emotional states at the optimal level, etc.) the judgment about the athlete’s potential must be based on the data on the activity of the relevant functional systems.

The shifts of the indices of the functional status of the human body during sports activity are defined as follows:

• the intrinsic tendency of the body to maintain physiological homeostasis;
• the adaptive mobilization of the major functional systems of the body in accordance with the conditions of vital activity, physical and psycho-physiological loads;
• the restructuring of the major functional systems of the body under the impact of   physical and psycho-emotional factors with the maximum intensity.

Physiological studies on the reactions of the athlete's body during the maximum intensity of physical and psycho-emotional loads show that the human body can form various functional states with the restructuring of the basic physiological systems to a higher level of energy and information support.

Since the aim of the physical loads regulation is acknowledged as the possibility of preservation of the system of homeostatic regulation, then the deviation from the control constants of body state of the evaluated functional systems is a reason to conclude that the loads are excessive. Thus, the conclusion on the Group 1 of sports (see above) can be made on the basis of the indicators of neuromuscular and cardiovascular systems, metabolic rate, the state of the functions of external respiration, perspiration, biochemical status, for the conclusion on a Group 2 - should be guided by the indicators of psychophysiological functions.

Methodologies: a typical set of techniques for the physiological condition survey of physical education teachers and athletes, evaluating the state of the neuromuscular and cardiovascular systems, general metabolism, energy indices of sport activities, a set of indicators of the state of psychophysiological functions.

At the Step 3, the features of functional overexertion of body adaptive systems are detected with the use of innovative informative technologies.

As a result of scientific and methodological researches of neurophysiologists and psychophysiologist it is recognized that the results athletes display, even during the purely physical activity, are primarily determined by the state of major psychophysiological functions rather than the abilities of muscle tissues for fast or slow contractions:

- the speed of the information-analytical processes in the central nervous system;

- the indicators of the excitability of the nerve centers and the lability of nervous processes;

- the speed of formation of motor programs for complex motor responses in motor cortex;

- the degree of dominance of some algorithm of the incoming data processing (important for team sports);

 the balance of activity of the brain centers, regulating the psycho-emotional state;

- the inborn (and acquired) abilities of the nervous apparatus to conduct nerve impulses (signal speed).

The above mentioned indicators are important for the success in combat sports, team sports, ability to mobilize under psycho-emotional stress during sports contests.

To detect the dynamic changes of body adaptabilities to strenuous sport loads, it is recommended to use these criterial indicators:

• excitability of nerve centers,
• lability of nervous processes
• speed of formation of motor programs in motor cortex;
• speed of information-analytical processes,
• health, activity and mood,
• degree of imbalance of the activity of subcortical structures of the brain, regulating psycho-emotional state,
• psycho-emotional stress, activity target and personality’s motivation,
• indices of regulatory functions to maintain balance in the Romberg test,
• dynamometry.

It is necessary to consider, that influenced by sport activity with critical physical loads and psycho-emotional stress, despite the need to maintain the constant state of the internal environment (homeostasis), the physiological responses have certain characteristics, the most important of which are the following:

1) the existence of a nonlinear dependence of physiological and psycho-physiological reactions from the intensity of functional loads (up to a certain threshold intensity the influencing factor doesn't cause pathophysiological changes in the body, and when exceeding certain levels of intensity the body reactions are beyond the allowed limits);

2) under the influence of several factors of sport activity the final effect of their impact is often implemented as a sum of the influence of individual factors, while the mutual enhancement (potentiation) of the results of biological action is observed;

3) in accordance with the regularities of the adaptive-compensatory reactions under strenuous physical loads the human body changes to the mode of functioning with the minimization of energy consumption to achieve the desired result.

Methodology: it is suggested to use the patented in the Russian Federation innovative methods to identify the severity of the little-studied so far reactions of the human body to significant physical loads and psycho-emotional stress:

1. "A method of ranking people in terms of the functional status of the central nervous system" by RF patent number 2316247 (10.02.2008).

2. "A method of determining the functional status of the emotiogenic cerebral systems" by RF patent number 2336016 (20.10.2008).

3. "A method of determining the dynamic regularities of functioning of the cerebral structures" by RF patent number 2349255 (2008).

4. "A method of determining the speed of formation of motor programs in the human central nervous system" by RF patent number 234028 (2008).

5. "A method of determining the speed of establishing the intercentral relationships in activity-related structures of central nervous system" by a patent application number 2012119909 from 15.05.2012. (FIIP[1] positive decision from 10.16.2013).

6. "A method of determining the speed of information-analytical operations in activity-related structures of the central nervous system" by a patent application number 2012124144 from 13.06.2012.

The methods were tested in studies involving members of national teams of Russia in various sports and confirmed the high informativity of the data.

At the Step 4, reserves of athlete’s adaptabilities should be defined.

During physiological and psychophysiological studies of elite athletes, who had trained for a long time for sport events, it was found that as a result of regular training sessions their bodies changed to the economical level of functional energy consumption. At the same time adaptive mechanisms and functional systems of the body start to function at economical energy-information mode.

During vital activity, including physical and training loads, the human body operates as an integrated energy-information system, ensuring perception of external signals via receptors, their conversion in the frequency-modulated nerve impulses and transmission to the central nervous system, for decision making on the implementation of certain motor response and the commands direction to muscle contraction for corresponding muscle groups. The whole essence of sports-training process is intended to improve the entire chain of the above mentioned psychophysiological processes.

Severity and adequacy of the response is determined by the individual reactivity, by 45-50% depending on the inborn (genetically defined) physiological and psycho-physiological qualities and by 50-55% depending on the intensity and training algorithm.

The analysis of physiological mechanisms of the athlete body reveals the following functional-holistic subsystems of psychophysiological adaptation peculiar to each person:

1) Search, perception and information processing in the analyzing and analytical brain structures and decision making on the implementation of certain motor responses;

2) Ensuring an optimal for sport activities (athlete’s role) information processing algorithm;

3) Establishing the optimal level of activity of the psycho-emotio-regulating CNS structures in accordance with the aim of success in sports.

For example, while determining the state of the person’s neuromuscular system in accordance with the indicators of explosive force it was found that all the activities of the neuro-muscular system depend not only on the energy supply (the delivery of nutrients and oxygen by the circulatory system), but also on the flow of nerve impulses from the motor cortex. Regular training sessions can improve the explosive force, i.e. the rate of formation of motor programs in the central nervous system, the speed of irritative signals along nerve pathways and the speed of overcoming the neuromuscular synapses.

Thanks to the results of the complex survey of the athlete’s general functional status one can conclude on the level of his body adaptabilities and relate him to one of the four categories:

Category 1 - "pupil" - people engaged in physical activity at the amateur level or novice athlete, whose body is able to respond adequately to ordinary low physical loads;

Category 2 - "rated athlete" - an athlete with a qualification of the 1-3 grades, able to respond adequately to moderate physical training loads;

Category 3 - "master" - a professional athlete with skills at the level of Master of Sports or candidate for master of sports, whose body is able to adequately respond to strenuous physical loads and psycho-emotional stress;

Category 4 - "champion" - an athlete with the qualifications and experience of sport at the level of national and world champion, whose body is able to adequately respond to the extremely high physical loads and psycho-emotional stress.

Obviously, for athletes related to different categories according to the indicators of the body’s adaptabilities, the intensity and the mode of sports-training loads should vary significantly. Thus, the training loads and the mode for masters of sports cannot be used in training of beginners.

At the Step 5, the optimal individual values of sports-training loads are determined for every person.

As shown above, the results of the survey of physical education teachers and athletes with certain levels of adaptabilities allow to relate them to one of 4 categories: "pupil", "rated athlete", "master" or "champion". The adaptabilities of the athletes from each category are significantly different.

Training loads may be of low, moderate, high and maximum intensity.

Low intensity loads are the ones when small muscle groups are active at a slow pace with minor physiological changes during this activity.

Moderate intensity exercises include movements performed by medium and large muscle groups at a slow and medium pace, which have certain requirements for the cardiovascular and neuromuscular systems, the physiological changes caused by the activity are normalized rather quickly.

High intensity exercises include movements performed by medium and large muscle groups at a fast pace with significant exertion, with high requirements to the cardiovascular and neuromuscular systems; physiological changes can be significant and they are recovered within a few hours.

Maximum intensity exercises are characterized by the involvement of a large number of muscles and the fast pace movements; changes of physiological and psychophysiological indicators can be significant.

Training loads must be adequate for the functionality of the human body and be neither too low nor too high, because in the first case there won't be any training effect, in the second - the deterioration in the athlete’s condition is possible.

The degree of body adaptabilities should be evaluated according to reactions to the test loads and physical loads should be selected in view of the principle of gradualness - from the simple to the complex.

The well studied patterns of development of the training effect on the dose of training exercise are calculated as the product of the load intensity and the time of its action.

Here are the following stages of the increment of the sports-training function depending on the dose of training load:

1. zone of insignificant shifts in the functional status;

2. zone of significant positive changes in major functional systems in the indicators of the cardiovascular system, general metabolism, improvement of psychophysiological indicators including psycho-emotional state, reflecting the process of increasing adaptabilities;

3. zone of significant positive changes in major functional systems in the indicators of the cardiovascular system, general metabolism, combined with the stabilization of psychophysiological indicators including psycho-emotional state, which indicates a certain exhaustion of adaptabilities;

4. zone of critical multidirectional changes in major functional systems in the indicators of the cardiovascular system, general metabolism, with the signs of deterioration of psychophysiological indicators including psycho-emotional state, which indicates the threat of reducing athlete’s adaptabilities;

5. zone of critical multidirectional changes in major functional systems in the indicators of the cardiovascular system, general metabolism, with the signs of significant deterioration of psychophysiological indicators (speed of formation of motor programs, etc.), including psycho-emotional state (decrease of activity, bad mood, increased anxiety etc.), which indicates the threat of failure of body adaptabilities and the athlete’s activity-related potential;

6. zone of sharp deterioration of all the major functional systems (cardiovascular system, general metabolism), with the signs of significant deterioration of psychophysiological indicators (speed of formation of motor programs, etc.), including psycho-emotional state (decrease of activity, bad mood, increased anxiety etc.), indicating the threat of failure of body's adaptabilities and the athlete’s activity-related potential.

The Step 6 implies the periodic monitoring of athlete's functional status for the signs of reducing body adaptabilities.

The functioning of all the most important physiological and psychophysiological systems of the body is provided by the controlling activity of the central nervous system, which regulates the activities of all the life-supporting systems: cardiovascular, respiratory, neuromuscular, digestive and others.

The training process in its biological essence represents the formation and activation of the corresponding requirements of functional systems (boosting metabolism in muscle tissues, increase of circulation rate) with the formation of spatio-temporal organization of brain activity and establishing of interrelation between the sensory, motor and associative structures, ensuring the implementation of the acquired in the training process new motor reactions and the formation of the corresponding body state.

All reactions of the human body to sports loads develop according to general biological laws: minimal physical loads cause the orienting reflex with moderate reactions activation; strenuous physical loads cause adequate adaptive responses of metabolism, cardiovascular and neuromuscular systems; maximal intensity and duration of sports-training loads, combined with the influence of psycho-emotional factors, require the extreme mobilization of adaptive systems with sufficiently high probability of failure of adaptation.

In a complex motor activity (combat sports, football, volleyball, etc.), the most sophisticated analysis within the process of perception and processing of incoming  information, to achieve success in sport, is provided in specific projection fields and motor cortex. Processes of perception and analysis of the rapidly changing information flow, about the intentions of the opponent, in combat sports and sport game situations is a key factor in assessing the probability of achieving success in sport.

Athletes in the "pre-starting readiness" experience the moderate increase in the excitability of the nerve centers and mobility of nervous processes. This reduces the time of simple and complex motor responses, the coordination is improved, the intensity of metabolic processes is increased.

In the situations of physical overtraining the functional exertion of maximum intensity develops, shown in the disruption of the neurophysiological regulatory processes, which is seen in the energy reduction, depletion of functional of resources. The reduced influx of tonic impulses to the nerve centers inhibits the excitatory processes.

The features of optimal sports-training loads, corresponding to athlete’s adaptabilities, are primarily the following shifts of the body’s functional status:

1) an increase in the excitability of nerve centers of the left and right brain,

2) an increased rate of formation of motor programs in the motor cortex,

3) an increased speed of operation of information-analytical structures of the CNS,

4) the optimum balance of the activity of the brain subcortical structures, regulating the psycho-emotional state,

5) the dominance of a particular algorithm of information processing in accordance with the role in a game,

6) the positive changes in a person’s activity-related aim and motivation.

In such cases, the chosen sports-training mode can be considered as optimal for athletes with high adaptabilities.

The first signs of reducing body adaptabilities (development of overtraining phenomena) are changes in the indicators related to the baseline:

1) reduction of excitability indices of the nerve centers and lability of nervous processes;

2) slowing of the speed of formation of motor programs in the motor cortex;

3) decline in mental ability to analyze the information received;

4) deterioration of health, activity and mood;

5) increased psychological and emotional stress;

6) change from the logical (left brain) algorithm of perception and processing of information to the holistic (right brain);

7) low competition motivation;

8) feebly marked aim to win;

9) significantly deteriorated ability to maintain balance in the Romberg test.

Important indicators of activity-related potential in sport, with a certain level of readiness for the competitions, are the data on the state of the central nervous system:

1) An indicator of athlete’s physical fitness is the speed of formation of motor programs, because it is in the motor cortex where the commands to the executive organs (muscles) are generated and sent for coordinated contraction or relaxation of certain muscle groups and the training process in its biological nature is improvement of the formation of motor programs of the brain.

2) Changes in the speed of information-analytical operations in brain structures reflect the delay of processes of the information exchange in the human brain, and the delay of processes of information analyzing reflects the negative influence from subcortical and psycho-emotio-regulating centers, that often occurs with the symptoms of overtraining or psycho-emotional overload.

3) Changes of the indicators of mental and emotional stress (Lusher test), situational and personal anxiety (Spielberger test) reflect the negative shifts in the body’s adaptabilities.

4) The indicators of the balance of activity of the subcortical psycho-emotio-regulating centers are an informative indicator of the state of the body adaptabilities. The imbalance of the activity of the brain subcortical centers also affects the dominance of the left-brain (logical) or right-brain (holistic) algorithm of functioning of the information-analytical brain structures.

5) Activity levels of the subcortical psycho-emotio-regulating centers of the brain affects not only the speed of information-analytical processes, but also the speed of formation of motor programs.

6) A decrease in body adaptabilities can be shown by the changes in the motivational orientation and the personality’s activity-related aim: formation of relevant psycho-emotional states is determined by the influence of the cortex on the subcortical psycho-emotio-regulating centers with an inverse influence of the subcortex on the function of cerebral cortex.

The task of Step 7 is to select corrective and stimulating techniques to provide high indices of the sports activity-related potential.

The scientific and methodological developments are to be used to stimulate the speed of formation of motor programs and correct psycho-emotional states:

1. "The method of correction of the psycho-emotional state and the stimulation of the activity of the human dynamic cerebral systems" by the RF patent number 2336020 (20.10.2008).

2. "A device for correction of psychoemotional state and stimulation of activity of the human dynamic cerebral systems" by the RF patent number 2394487 (2010).

3. "The method of correction of depressive and auto-aggressive states of a person" by the RF patent number 2417054 (2010).

4. "Device for correction of depressive and auto-aggressive states of a person" by the RF patent number 2479325 (2013).

The developed conceptual model enables to justify the need and advisability of the phased increase of body adaptabilities of physical education teachers and athletes and training them for professional sport activity.

References

1. Ovchinnikov, N.D. RF patent number 2340281. "A method of determining the speed of formation of motor programs in the human central nervous system". (In Russian)
2. The basics of psychophysiology of the extreme activity / Ed. by Dr.Med., prof. A.N. Bleer, Moscow: Anita Press, 2006, 380 P. (In Russian)
3. Psychophysiology. St.Petersburg: Piter. 2007 - 464 P. (In Russian)
4. Human Physiology. New York: Wiley, 1996. / Translated from English. / Edited R. Shmidt and G. Tevs. (In Russian)
5. Filippov, M.M. Psychophysiology of functional statuses. K.: AIDP, 2006. - 240. (In Russian)

 

Author’s contacts: Nikolay Ovchinnikov.

129366, Moscow, Prospekt Mira 182-3, ap. 20.   Tel. (495) 683-44-20; Mob.ph. 8 -915-300-72-48

E-mail: ondiz@mail.ru