COVID-19 Lockdown: A Global Study Investigating the Effect of Athletes’ Sport Classification and Sex on Training Practices
Washif, J.A.; Sandbakk, Ø.; Seiler, S.; Haugen, T.; Farooq, A.; Quarrie, K.; Janse van Rensburg, D.C.; Krug, I.; Verhagen, E; Wong, DP; Mujika, I; Cortis, C; Haddad, M; Ahmadian, O; Al Jufaili, M; Al-Horani, RA; Al-Mohannadi, AS; Aloui, A; Ammar, A; Arifi, F; Aziz, AR; Batuev, M; Beaven, Christopher Martyn; Beneke, R; Bici, A; Bishnoi, P.; Bogwasi, L; Bok, D; Boukhris, O; Boullosa, D; Bragazzi, N; Brito, J; Palacios Cartagena, RP; Chaouachi, A; Cheung, SS; Chtourou, H; Cosma, G; Debevec, T; DeLang, MD; Dellal, A; Dönmez, G; Driss, T; Peña Duque, JD; Eirale, C; Elloumi, M; Foster, C; Franchini, E; Fusco, A; Galy, O; Gastin, PB; Gill, Nicholas D.; Girard, O; Gregov, C; Halson, S; Hammouda, O; Hanzlíková, I; Hassanmirzaei, B; Hébert-Losier, Kim; Muñoz Helú, H; Herrera-Valenzuela, T; Hettinga, FJ; Holtzhausen, L; Hue, O; Dello Iacono, A; Ihalainen, JK; James, C; Joseph, S; Kamoun, K; Khaled, M; Khalladi, K; Kim, KJ; Kok, L-Y; MacMillan, L; Mataruna-Dos-Santos, LJ; Matsunaga, R; Memishi, S; Millet, GP; Moussa-Chamari, I; Musa, DI; Nguyen, HMT; Nikolaidis, PT; Owen, A; Padulo, J; Pagaduan, JC; Perera, NP; Pérez-Gómez, J; Pillay, L; Popa, A; Pudasaini, A; Rabbani, A; Rahayu, T; Romdhani, M; Salamh, P; Sarkar, A-S; Schillinger, A; Setyawati, H; Shrestha, N; Suraya, F; Tabben, M; Trabelsi, K; Urhausen, A; Valtonen, M; Weber, J; Whiteley, R; Zrane, A; Zerguini, Y; Zmijewski, P; Ben Saad, H; Pyne, DB; Taylor, L; Chamari, K
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https://hdl.handle.net/10289/15180Abstract
Purpose: To investigate differences in athletes’ knowledge, beliefs, and training practices during COVID-19 lockdowns with reference to sport classification and sex. This work extends an initial descriptive evaluation focusing on athlete classification.
Methods: Athletes (12,526; 66% male; 142 countries) completed an online survey (May–July 2020) assessing knowledge, beliefs, and practices toward training. Sports were classified as team sports (45%), endurance (20%), power/technical (10%), combat (9%), aquatic (6%), recreational (4%), racquet (3%), precision (2%), parasports (1%), and others (1%). Further analysis by sex was performed.
Results: During lockdown, athletes practiced body-weight-based exercises routinely (67% females and 64% males), ranging from 50% (precision) to 78% (parasports). More sport-specific technical skills were performed in combat, parasports, and precision (∼50%) than other sports (∼35%). Most athletes (range: 50% [parasports] to 75% [endurance]) performed cardiorespiratory training (trivial sex differences). Compared to prelockdown, perceived training intensity was reduced by 29% to 41%, depending on sport (largest decline: ∼38% in team sports, unaffected by sex). Some athletes (range: 7%–49%) maintained their training intensity for strength, endurance, speed, plyometric, change-of-direction, and technical training. Athletes who previously trained ≥5 sessions per week reduced their volume (range: 18%–28%) during lockdown. The proportion of athletes (81%) training ≥60 min/session reduced by 31% to 43% during lockdown. Males and females had comparable moderate levels of training knowledge (56% vs 58%) and beliefs/attitudes (54% vs 56%). Conclusions: Changes in athletes’ training practices were sport-specific, with few or no sex differences. Team-based sports were generally more susceptible to changes than individual sports. Policy makers should provide athletes with specific training arrangements and educational resources to facilitate remote and/or home-based training during lockdown-type events.
Date
2022-08-01Type
Publisher
Human Kinetics
Rights
This is an author’s accepted version of an article published in the journal: International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. © 2022 Human Kinetics.