Abstract
Aim: This study determined the energy expenditure and effort intensity of athletes during women's artistic gymnastics training sessions. Methods: Ten gymnasts (age 10.9 ± 1.7 years) performed a test to estimate the maximum rate of oxygen uptake (VO2max), during which the maximum heart rate (HRmax) was also obtained. The heart rate (HR) of these gymnasts was recorded during five training sessions and then used to estimate the exercise intensity and energy expenditure. Results: Mean duration of training sessions was 4.08 ± 0.42 h, with mean HR corresponding to 137 ± 8 bpm or 69.0 ± 3.5% of HRmax. Gymnasts spent less training time at 90-100% HRmax compared to the other HR ranges (p < 0.05). Time spent at 60-70% and 70-80% was higher compared to 80-90% HRmax (p = 0.012 and p = 0.001, respectively). The training impulse was 239.2 ± 35.4 AU. Estimated energy expenditure was 768.3 ± 168.5 kcal, metabolic rate was 3.1 ± 0.6 kcal/min, and the metabolic equivalent of task (MET) corresponded to 6.1 ± 0.6. Conclusion: Young gymnasts performed prolonged and moderate-intensity training sessions that generated high energetic demands. This information is beneficial to gymnasts since the coaching team can use the data to control the training load and prescribe a proper diet.
Highlights
Women's artistic gymnastics (WAG) is an individual sport where athletes perform routines on four apparatuses: vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor[1]
Mean heart rate (HR) during the training sessions was 137 ± 8 bpm, which corresponded to 69.0 ± 3.5% of HRmax
To better understand the intensity of the gymnastic training sessions, the HR responses were separated into five ranges, namely 0-60, 60-70, 70-80, 80-90, and 90-100% of HRmax
Summary
Women's artistic gymnastics (WAG) is an individual sport where athletes perform routines on four apparatuses: vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor[1]. Female gymnasts must develop sport-specific physical and motor abilities and technical skills[3]. They usually present specific anthropometric characteristics, such as reduced body mass and height as well as high levels of muscular strength, power, and flexibility[4,5]. These characteristics favor performance in specific skills of artistic gymnastics[5,6]. Artistic gymnastics is one of the most popular Olympic sports, there are few studies about its physiological demands[3], few studies including young (i.e., child and adolescent) female gymnasts[1,5,7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
