Abstract
This study aimed to analyze the effect of 12 weeks of polarized training on body composition, cardiorespiratory function, and upper-body power of male and female cross-country skiers during the general preparation period. A total of 16 national cross-country skiers (8 male and 8 female; 8 national cross-country skiers and 8 national biathlon athletes) participated. Polarization training was conducted for 12 weeks from May to July in 2019 during the general preparation period for cross-country skiers. The low-weight, high-repetition method was used for strength training. The effect of the polarized training on body composition, maximum oxygen intake (VO2max), respiratory exchange rate, all-out time, and ski ergometer exercise time was assessed. There was no change in weight, BMI, and muscle mass in male and female cross-country skiers following the 12 weeks of polarized training (p > 0.05). Male body fat percentage (pre 18.1%, post 12.7%) and female body fat percentage (pre 29.1%, post 21.4%) showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05). After training, VO2max increased by 7.72% in male athletes (pre 71.05 mL/kg/min, post 77.0 mL/kg/min) and 6.32% in female athletes (pre 60.26 mL/kg/min, post 64.33 mL/kg/min). Treadmill exercise time increased by 5.39% for male athletes (pre 1038 s, post 1064 s) and 2.23% for female athletes (pre 855 s, post 874 s). However, there was no significant difference between male and female athletes (p > 0.05). The 50% recovery time from the maximum heart rate to the target heart rate decreased by 64.52% in males (pre 168.8 s, post 102.6 s) and 6.48% in females (pre 135 s, post 129.6 s). Significant differences were found only in male athletes (p < 0.05). The double-pole 500 m exercise duration for the ski ergometer significantly decreased after the training for both sexes (p < 0.05). In this study, the 12 weeks of polarized training improved the body composition and athletic performance of all cross-country skiers. Interestingly, in this study, we confirmed that polarized training had a better effect on cardiorespiratory function in male cross-country skiers than in female cross-country skiers. Conversely, we found that the outcomes of the ski ergometer exercise factors were more effective in female athletes than in male athletes. Therefore, we insist that when applying a polarized training program to athletes, it should be planned in detail by sex, exercise amount, intensity, and type of training.
Highlights
Cross-country skiing is a sport that requires endurance, as with cycling and running [1,2,3]
Results from this study shows that 12 weeks of POL training positively affect the general quasi-term of cross-country skiers, as shown in previous studies [3,7,16] that reported that the POL training program improves the body composition and physical strength of athletes
These results suggest that POL training is helpful in improving and maintaining the body composition of both male and female athletes; but they suggest that men cross-country skiers’ body fat percentage can be significantly reduced to improve athletic performance
Summary
Cross-country skiing is a sport that requires endurance, as with cycling and running [1,2,3]. In cross-country skiing events, world-class athletes are reported to have higher maximum oxygen intake than the national-level athletes [4,5,6]. Endurance training is very important for cross-country skiers because it improves capillary density, myoglobin content, and mitochondria number and size, which improve maximum oxygen intake, aerobic metabolism, and energy production [13,14,15,16]. Successful cross-country skiers use the POL training model to perform endurance training in 85–90% of their annual exercise, and perform longer low-intensity endurance training compared to national skiers [2,6,13,21]. It is more effective to perform strength training together with endurance training than endurance training only for short-term endurance exercise performance [15,22,23,24]
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