COVID-19 lockdown : a global study investigating athletes’ sport classification and sex on training practices
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COVID-19 lockdown : a global study investigating athletes’ sport classification and sex on training practices
Washif, Jad Adrian; Sandbakk, Oyvind; Seiler, Stephen; Haugen, Thomas; Farooq, Abdulaziz; Quarrie, Ken; Janse van Rensburg, Dina Christina; Krug, Isabel; Verhagen, Evert; Wong, Del P.; Mujika, Inigo; Cortis, Cristina; Haddad, Monoem; Ahmadian, Omid; Al Jufaili, Mahmood; Al-Horani, Ramzi A.; Al-Mohannadi, Abdulla Saeed; Aloui, Asma; Ammar, Achraf; Arifi, Fitim; Aziz, Abdul Rashid; Batuev, Mikhail; Beaven, Christopher Martyn; Beneke, Ralph; Bici, Arben; Bishnoi, Pallawi; Bogwasi, Lone; Bok, Daniel; Boukhris, Omar; Boullosa, Daniel; Bragazzi, Nicola Luigi; Brito, Joao; Cartagena, Roxana Paola Palacios; Chaouachi, Anis; Cheung, Stephen S.; Chtourou, Hamdi; Cosma, Germina; Debevec, Tadej; DeLang, Matthew D.; Dellal, Alexandre; Donmez, Gurhan; Driss, Tarak; Duque, Juan David Pena; Eirale, Cristiano; Elloumi, Mohamed; Foster, Carl; Franchini, Emerson; Fusco, Andrea; Galy, Olivier; Gastin, Paul B.; Gill, Nicholas; Girard, Olivier; Gregov, Cvita; Halson, Shona; Hammouda, Omar; Hanzlikova, Ivana; Hassanmirzaei, Bahar; Hebert-Losier, Kim; Helu, Hussein Munoz; Herrera-Valenzuela, Tomas; Hettinga, Florentina J.; Holtzhausen, Louis; Hue, Olivier; Dello Iacono, Antonio; Ihalainen, Johanna K; James, Carl; Joseph, Saju; Kamoun, Karim; Khaled, Mehdi; Khalladi, Karim; Kim, Kwang Joon; Kok, Lian-Yee; MacMillan, Lewis; Mataruna-Dos-Santos, Leonardo Jose; Matsunaga, Ryo; Memishi, Shpresa; Millet, Gregoire P.; Moussa-Chamari, Imen; Musa, Danladi Ibrahim; Nguyen, Hoang Minh Thuan; Nikolaidis, Pantelis T.; Owen, Adam; Padulo, Johnny; Pagaduan, Jeffrey Cabayan; Perera, Nirmala Panagodage; Perez-Gomez, Jorge; Pillay, Lervasen; Popa, Arporn; Pudasaini, Avishkar; Rabbani, Alizera; Rahayu, Tandiyo; Romdhani, Mohamed; Salamh, Paul; Sarkar, Abu-Sufian; Schillinger, Andy; Setyawati, Heny; Shrestha, Navina; Suraya, Fatona; Tabben, Montassar; Trabelsi, Khaled; Urhausen, Axel; Valtonen, Maarit; Weber, Johanna; Whiteley, Rodney; Zrane, Adel; Zerguini, Yacine; Zmijewski, Piotr; Ben Saad, Helmi; Pyne, David B.; Taylor, Lee; Chamari, Karim
Date:
2022-07
Abstract:
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.
