Topic > Physiological and psychological demands of climbing

Index Psychological demandsPhysiological profilePsychological skills trainingTraining stress physiologyRecoveryClimbing as a sport has many different physiological demands, it is based on both aerobic and anaerobic alactic energy systems due to the short duration nature but with a high intensity of sport. Due to the strength and conditioning required in climbing and the very short recovery periods between climbs, there is usually insufficient time for proper recovery of aerobic metabolism, it has been shown that lactate concentration in the blood is very high during climbing. A high concentration of lactate in the blood causes a decrease in grip resistance and fatigue for the entire duration of the climb; levels have been shown to increase by up to 3-10 mmol/L. However, it is important to note that anaerobic recovery also occurs through aerobic metabolism and the athlete may climb for many hours and will rely on the oxidative system for muscle contraction and recovery for high intensity activity throughout the climb, Philips , Sassaman, Smoliga, 2012. Isometric contractions are vital in climbing as they allow stabilization of the body while the climber decides on the next move. Long periods in static positions can cause an elevated heart rate and increased oxygen intake by causing activation of the muscle metaboreflex. The long duration of isometric contractions causes muscle fatigue, so including isometric contractions in training programs with different joint angles in resistance training exercises is extremely important. An example of this would be a seated leg curl held with 45 degrees of knee flexion for a set period of time. Full-body strength movements are used to a large extent in climbing, an example of this is the "dynamo", when a climber jumps from a surface in an attempt to reach another unattainable hold. This requires great strength and activation of the knee, hip and ankle extensor muscles, power exercises are vital to improve these movements, exercises that can be helpful include the hang clean and push press. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Psychological Demands Several stimuli require a climber to handle and respond correctly to be successful in a climb or competition, the psychological demands are often performance anxiety and fear of falling. Some stimuli are considered stressful and cause distress or anxiety resulting in negative effects in some while in others they are considered positive enhancing functions. Negative effects resulting from stimuli can cause a difference between the demands and the athlete's ability to meet them. An example of a negative effect is the fear of falling, which is a non-associative phobia and can develop without any trauma. Alternatively, positive affect may increase one's ability to meet stimulus demands by trying harder and improving oneself. According to Niewunhuys, Pijpers, Oudejans & Bakker, (2008), in their research a climber's cognitive ability is vital to success and is incorporated into the ability to plan a technical route and plan a strategy that maximizes movement efficiency. It's all based on the climbing style, ability and body type of the athletes. There may be multiple ways to finish a route or maybe just one and climbing experience plays a big role in this. Familiarizing yourself with a climbing route is associated with adecreased anxiety as well as climbers who demonstrated confidence in their abilities by managing to complete more difficult climbs.Physiological profileIn elite bouldering competitions it has been recorded that winners have some anthropometric characteristics which demonstrate that it could be an important factor in winning, which is not unusual in other sports. For this reason the athlete will be tested in different areas, one of which is an anthropometric test and on strength characteristics: find out weight, height, muscle mass (kg), muscle mass index, grip strength, specific strength and body fat percentage . This test will be used to see where the athlete is physically and then understand whether to change training and diet before the races, also working on where he needs to work on strength and grip. According to Michailov, Mladenov and Schöffl (2009), in their research “Anthropometric and strength characteristics of world-class boulderers” examined the anthropometric and strength characteristics of 7 world-class female boulder climbers around the same age as the female boulder athlete. 21 years old. The mean BMI, muscle mass and body fat were 20.4, 16.6 and 41.6, and grip strength (kg) and specific strength (kg) were 28 and 21.6, providing a better understanding of how to train to achieve this goal for competitions. There will also be a test of the anaerobic threshold, both ventilatory and lactate, this is important in bouldering competitions as there the athlete does not have much recovery time and must remain in isometric contractions for some time to plan the next movement , so it is vital to train to achieve faster muscle recovery time and also to improve your VO2max. To measure the ventilatory threshold the athlete will have to breathe into a machine during high intensity training and will also do isometric exercises and then take a quick finger blood test to measure the accumulation of lactate in the blood. The appropriate psychological profile for this athlete would be the “performance profile”, Butler & Hardy, 1992, based on Kelly's personal construct theory, 1995, in which the athlete's strengths and weaknesses are identified and written to give gives both the athlete and coach a better understanding of overall performance and progress. The performance is broken down into psychological, physical, social, technical and tactical aspects, this allows the athlete to place himself at the level he thinks he is at through a 1-10 scale system as well as together with the coach, establishing a level of 1- 10 on which it will serve as the basis for defining objectives. Performance profiling is vital for improvement and progression, it will help identify and provide appropriate intervention. The different aspects could be that the athlete places themselves on a low scale in footwork or confidence, so the focus will be on these characteristics while less time will be spent on things like speed, endurance and awareness where the athlete could exceed. Training of psychological skills Before competitions an athlete needs to prepare mentally, using the "performance profile" of Butler and Hardy, (1992) he can see what needs more attention. When confidence is low the athlete can use a method called self-talk, Hardy, (2006), it is a statement addressed to the self, there are differences such as positive/negative, overt/covert and instructive/motivational. In a study, Theodorakis, Weinberg, Natsis, Douma and Kazakas, (2000) tested the didactic and motivational method on 3 different groups, one didactic, one motivational and one control, where they were able to carry out different sporting activities such as serving in badminton or knee extensions. The results showed that self-talk groups achieved results.