John S. Raglin

Psychological monitoring of overtraining and staleness.

It is widely agreed that overtraining should be employed in order to achieve peak performance but it is also recognised that overtraining can actually produce decrements in performance. The challenge appears to be one of monitoring stress indicators in the athlete in order to titrate the training stimulus and prevent the onset of staleness. The present paper summarises a ten-year research effort in which the mood states of competitive swimmers have been monitored at intervals ranging from 2-4 weeks during individual seasons for the period 1975-1986. The training cycle has always involved the indoor season which extends from September to March and the athletes who served as subjects were 200 female and 200 male competitive swimmers. The results indicate that mood state disturbances increased in a dose-response manner as the training stimulus increased and that these mood disturbances fell to baseline levels with reduction of the training load. Whilst these results have been obtained in a realistic setting devoid of experimental manipulation, it is apparent that monitoring of mood state provides a potential method of preventing staleness.

Influence of exercise and quiet rest on state anxiety and blood pressure.

A series of investigations was performed in which Ss rested quietly for 40-min and performed aerobic exercise on separate occasions. Blood pressure (BP) and state anxiety were assessed prior to and following the conditions. In the first experiment, 15 normotensive Ss were assessed during the 3-h following the treatments. The results revealed that state anxiety and BP were reduced following both conditions. The exercise-induced BP reductions remained significant for 2 to 3 h (P less than 0.05), whereas the BP reductions returned to baseline within 20-min following cessation of quiet rest. The second experiment involved an evaluation of the effects of exercise and quiet rest on 15 pharmacologically controlled hypertensive Ss. A significant reduction in systolic BP (P less than 0.05) was observed following exercise and quiet rest. State anxiety was reduced following quiet rest and exercise (P less than 0.05). It is concluded that exercise and quiet rest have similar effects on state anxiety, and both conditions are followed by a transitory reduction in blood pressure. These anti-anxiety effects, however, are sustained for a longer period following exercise.

Exercise and mental health : beneficial and detrimental effects

SummaryPhysical exercise is increasingly being advocated as a means to maintain and enhance good mental health. In general, findings from research indicate that exercise is associated with improvements in mental health including mood state and self-esteem, although a causal link has not been established. Research on acute exercise indicates that 20 to 40 minutes of aerobic activity results in improvements in state anxiety and mood that persist for several hours. These transitory changes in mood occur in both individuals with normal or elevated levels of anxiety, but appear to be limited to aerobic forms of exercise.In the case of long term exercise programmes, improvements in the mental health of ‘normal’ individuals are either modest in magnitude or do not occur, whereas the changes for those with elevated anxiety or depression are more pronounced. Evidence from studies involving clinical samples indicates that the psychological benefits associated with exercise are comparable to gains found with standard forms of psychotherapy. Hence, for healthy individuals the principal psychological benefit of exercise may be that of prevention, whereas in those suffering from mild to moderate emotional illness exercise may function as a means of treatment.Exercise may also result in detrimental changes in mental health. Some individuals can become overly dependent on physical activity and exercise to an excessive degree. This abuse of exercise can result in disturbances in mood and worsened physical health. In the case of athletes the intense training, or overtraining, necessary for endurance sports consistently results in increased mood disturbance. Extreme cases of overtraining may result in the staleness syndrome; a condition associated with deteriorating performance and behavioural disturbances including clinical depression.Exercise can result in either beneficial or detrimental changes in mental health, and the outcome appears to be largely dependent on the ‘dosage’ employed. Although recent studies have provided promising findings regarding the efficacy of exercise in clinical samples, additional research is clearly needed. The influence of various programmatic aspects of exercise (i.e., mode, duration, frequency, intensity, setting) on changes in mental health have not been systematically investigated, and the proposed mechanisms by which exercise acts to affect mental health remain largely unsubstantiated.

Psychological factors in sport performance: the Mental Health Model revisited.

AbstractThe Mental Health Model (MHM) of sport performance purports that an inverse relationship exists between psychopathology and sport performance. The model postulates that as an athlete’s mental health either worsens or improves performance should fall or rise accordingly, and there is now considerable support for this view. Studies have shown that between 70 and 85% of successful and unsuccessful athletes can be identified using general psychological measures of personality structure and mood state, a level superior to chance but insufficient for the purpose of selecting athletes. Longitudinal MHM research indicates that the mood state responses of athletes exhibit a dose-response relationship with their training load, a finding that has shown potential for reducing the incidence of the staleness syndrome in athletes who undergo intensive physical training. The MHM also has implications for the general care of athletes as support services have traditionally been limited to preventing or treating physical problems. Despite its simple premise and empirical support, the MHM has often been mischaracterised in the sport psychology literature and recently some authors have questioned its validity. This overview will summarise MHM research, including the more recent work involving the model’s dynamic features in an effort to resolve disputes surrounding the model.

Anxiety and sport performance.

From the findings summarized in this review, it appears that there is little evidence in support of the inverted-U hypothesis. Available research indicates that there is considerable variability in the optimal precompetition anxiety responses among athletes, which does not conform to the inverted-U hypothesis. Many athletes appear to perform best when experiencing high levels of anxiety and interventions that act to produce quiescence may actually worsen the performance of this group. These findings indicate that there is a need to shift the research paradigm away from theories of anxiety and performance based on task characteristics or group effects and, instead, employ theoretical models that account for individual differences. Hanins [39, 40] ZOF theory appears to be a good candidate for furthering our knowledge in this area. It was developed on the basis of research with athletes and it explicitly incorporates the concept of individual differences in the anxiety-performance relationship. Most important, because an individuals optimal range of anxiety is precisely defined, the validity of ZOF theory can be directly examined through hypothesis testing, whereas it has been argued that the inverted-U hypothesis is effectively shielded against falsification [84]. Although the findings of ZOF theory indicate that a significant percentage of athletes perform best at high levels of anxiety, Hanins translated writings do not provide an explanation of why this is so. Further research is clearly indicated, but one explanation for this finding may involve how the athlete interprets or conceptualizes anxiety. For example, Mahoney and Avener [64] found that, although the absolute level of precompetition anxiety was similar between successful and unsuccessful Olympic gymnasts, there were differences in the way the athletes conceptualized the anxiety they were experiencing. The better performers viewed their anxiety as desirable, whereas anxiety was associated with self-doubts and catastrophizing in the unsuccessful gymnasts. Similar differences have been observed in the test anxiety literature where it has been found that poorer test takers perceive their anxiety to be more threatening and debilitating than do better performers [45]. Furthermore, temporal differences in the patterning of anxiety [64], fear responses, or cardiorespiratory measures [28] have been found between successful and unsuccessful performers; this may reflect a difference in the ability to regulate anxiety. It may also be the case that performance is not so much affected by the absolute level of precompetition anxiety as the consistency in the anxiety level across competitions. Athletes may also develop coping strategies that exploit consistent changes in attentional focus that result from elevated anxiety.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Psychobiologic effects of 3 d of increased training in female and male swimmers

Eighteen female and 22 male college swimmers completed a paced 182.9 m swim before and after a 72 h period of increased training. Training volume was increased from 6,800 to 11,200 m.d-1 for the females and from 8,800 to 12,950 m.d-1 for the males. Salivary cortisol, heart rate, stroke mechanics, as well as overall and local ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were measured in conjunction with the two swim tests. Mood states, as measured by the Profile of Mood States, and ratings of perceived muscle soreness were assessed daily. Significant (P less than 0.005) elevations in stroke frequency, overall and local RPE, fatigue, overall mood, and muscle soreness levels occurred in association with the increased training. Significant (P less than 0.005) reductions in vigor and stroke length were also observed as a consequence of the greater training load. The main effects for gender and the gender by trial interactions were not significant for each variable tested. It was concluded that: 1) affective, biomechanical, and perceptual variables are sensitive to a 3 d increase in the volume of swim training, 2) heart rate and cortisol levels are not influenced by the type of increased training employed in this study, and 3) female and male college swimmers do not differ in their psychological or physiological responses to a rapid increase in training volume.

State anxiety and blood pressure following 30 min of leg ergometry or weight training

The effect of different modes of acute exercise on state anxiety and blood pressure was examined. Collegiate varsity athletes (11 females and 15 males) completed 30-min sessions of leg cycle ergometry or weight training in a randomized order on separate days. Both exercise modes were performed within 70-80% of the maximum capacity of each subject. State anxiety, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure were measured at baseline prior to exercise, immediately post-exercise, 20 min and 60 min following exercise. Repeated-measures ANOVA detected significant (P < 0.05) trial by condition effects for state anxiety and SBP. State anxiety increased (P < 0.001) immediately following weight training but returned to baseline for the remaining assessments. State anxiety decreased (P < 0.05) below baseline at 60 min following ergometry. SBP did not decrease following weight training but was reduced (P < 0.05) by 6.5 mm Hg below baseline at 60 min following ergometry. DBP did not change following either exercise mode. In summary, state anxiety and blood pressure responses to acute physical activity appear to be dependent on the exercise mode, with reductions in state anxiety and systolic blood pressure being associated with ergometry but not weight training.

Mood, neuromuscular function, and performance during training in female swimmers.

The effect of seasonal changes in training load on mood, neuromuscular function, and measures of physical power were examined in 12 collegiate women swimmers. These subjects were studied at three training stages during a competitive swim season: baseline (5,000 m.d-1), peak training (8,300 m.d-1), and taper (2,300 m.d-1). Mood was evaluated with the Profile of Mood States. Neuromuscular function was measured via the soleus Hoffmann-reflex (H-reflex). Anaerobic swimming power was assessed with a 30-s tethered swim test, and maximal aerobic power was determined following a maximal 378-m swim. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that at peak training H-reflex and peak anaerobic swimming power were reduced (P < 0.05) below baseline values by 8.6% and 9.4%, respectively, and total mood disturbance was elevated above baseline (P < 0.01). These variables returned to baseline values at the taper assessment. H-reflex values were correlated with peak (r = 0.52, P < 0.01) and mean (r = 0.39, P < 0.05) anaerobic swimming power. Total mood disturbance was correlated (r = -0.34, P < 0.05) with mean swimming power. The results suggest that neurological mechanisms play a role in the adaptations that result from periodized training.

Mood state monitoring of training and recovery in elite kayakers

Abstract Eleven elite kayakers performed an identical weekly training schedule each week during a 3-week training-camp. The Profile of Mood States (POMS) inventory (“right now” instructions) was completed before and after selected workouts each week to assess both training-induced mood disturbances and the extent of recovery following short and long rest. The ratio of POMS vigour to POMS fatigue scores was used as an “energy index”. Energy index scores were compared with ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) to address the size of the training load. Performance measures were obtained during the first and last week. The results showed that the energy index decreased (p<0.01) throughout the camp and did not return to initial values following either the short (one night) or long rest (two nights and one day). Performance measures and RPE remained unaffected throughout training, as did the POMS depression scores, indicating that the athletes experienced an overreached state but did not develop staleness. Our results suggest that repeated evaluation using POMS fatigue, vigour, and depression scores during periods of intensified training may help prevent athletes from becoming severely overreached and reduce the likelihood of staleness.

Mood and self-motivation in successful and unsuccessful female rowers

Mood state (POMS) and self-motivation (SMI) were assessed in 84 women vying for a position on a collegiate freshman rowing team. Forty-four of these rowers also completed a standardized rowing ergometer task. Mood state was assessed three additional times during the season with 22 rowers who adhered to training throughout the entire season. No differences (P greater than 0.05) in baseline mood state were observed between the dropouts (N = 62) and those who adhered to the training (N = 22). However, the dropouts possessed significantly lower self-motivation (P less than 0.05) and took longer to complete the rowing task than did the adherers (P less than 0.05). Near the end of the season, rowers were chosen by the coaching staff to compete in regional competition (i.e., successful adherers). Initial self-motivation and ergometer performance did not differ significantly (P greater than 0.05) between the successful and unsuccessful adherers. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that global mood disturbance (P less than 0.05) increased during the training season in both groups. At the end of the training season, the unsuccessful adherers still possessed significantly (P less than 0.05) elevated mood disturbance, whereas the mood of the successful group had returned to baseline. It is concluded that female rowers who adhere to a season of competitive training have higher self-motivation and superior ergometer performances at the outset than do the eventual dropouts.