Physical Exercise Program To Improve The Sport Performance On Speed Skating In Children

Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of physical exercise program on sport performance of children speed skaters. METHODS: A total of 52 children speed skaters (aged=9.09±0.27; 69.2% girls) from Ecuador participated in the study. The ALPHA-Fitness battery was used to analyze the body composition and physical fitness: muscular fitness (hand-grip strength and standing long jump test), speed-agility (4x10-m shuttle run test), and cardiovascular fitness (20-m shuttle run test). Sport performance was measured by the time-marks of the different modalities of the speed skating (combined test, time trial, sprint and hare test). All participants were evaluated before and after 10-weeks of intervention based on a physical exercise program (90-min/ session, 4-days/week). A mixed factorial ANOVA was used to analyze effects and interactions of the study factors age (<10-y and >10-y), sex (boys and girls), and measure moments (baseline and post-intervention) on body composition, physical fitness, and sport performance. RESULTS: Post-intervention compared with baseline, weight was lower in girls <10-yr (MD=0.66± 0.30 Kg, p=0.033), fat mass was lower in girls <10-yr and >10-yr (MD= 7.37±1.21 Kg, p<0.001; MD=7.71±1.71 Kg, p<0.001), muscle mass was lower in boys >10-yr (MD=0.13± 0.06 Kg, p<0.035) and bone mass was higher in girls <10-yr DM=0.28±0.09, p=0.03). The muscular fitness of upper limbs was higher post-intervention compared with baseline in boys <10-yr (DM=1.55± 0.57, p=0.010) and girls <10-yr (MD=1.58±0.35, p<0.01). For lower limbs, muscular fitness post-intervention was higher in girls <10-yr (MD=5.20± 2.28, p=0.02). The cardiovascular fitness was higher post-intervention in girls <10-yr (MD=0.65±0.20, p=0.002) compared with baseline. The time marks of the combined test post-intervention was lower in boys >10-yr (MD=6.06 ±2.00, p=0.004, in time trial the time-mark was lower in boys <10-yr (MD=0.71± 0.19, p=0.001), girls <10-yr (MD=0.52±0.12, p<0.001) and in girls >10-yr (MD=0.38±0.17 p=0.027) compared with baseline. The time-mark in sprint was lower for girls <10-yr (MD=2.39±1.02, p=0.023) post-intervention. CONCLUSION: A 10-weeks physical exercise intervention improves sport performance in children speed skaters, what are directly related with sex and age.