Treino é treino e jogo é jogo? Influência da situação (treino – jogo) e da posição nas demandas de deslocamentos e carga de trabalho em atletas profissionais de voleibol

Abstract

Objective: The present study had four main objectives: 1) To analyze and compare the demands for displacement of training and games between the positions of performance of a professional volleyball team in a competitive season; 2) Analyze and compare the demands of heart rate and workload derived from the heart rate of training and games between the positions of performance; 3) Analyze if there is a relationship between the external load performed and the internal load presented by the different positions of performance in training and game situations; 4) Analyze if there is a relationship between markers of external and internal workload in the game with statistical indicators of game performance. Methods: A team participating in the Superliga B was monitored for the external and internal workload of the athletes during a competitive season. Sixty-one (61) tactical training sessions and nine (9) official games were monitored. Athletes were monitored through the Polar Team Pro System device, which records a series of information on the external load performed and the internal load manifested by the athlete through recorded displacements and heart rate data. To compare the demands of displacements and physiological workload of athletes in training and game situations, the data of the 7 athletes considered holders (1 setter, 1 libero, 2 middle-blockers, 2 hitter spikers and 1 opposite) who were fixedly monitored with the same sensor during the research were used for the analysis. The data were presented as mean ± standard deviation and for the analyzes Mixed Generalized Linear Models (GLMM) with autoregressive variance-covariance (AR) structure and post-hoc Bonferroni test were used. Results: Significant effects of position, session type and interaction between position and session were found on displacement measures (external load) and physiological workload (internal load). In the analysis of displacement demands, greater distances were observed in the games compared to the tactical training sessions (game: 4,541 ± 912 / training: 3,222 ± 1,220 meters, p < 0.001). In addition, the setter was the position that covered the greatest distances in training and games compared to the other positions (Setter – game: 5,413 ± 872 / training: 3,713 ± 1,144 meters; Libero – game: 4,515 ± 873 / training: 2,953 ± 1,144 meters; Opposite - game: 4,236 ± 869 / training: 2,777 ± 1,150 meters; Middle-blocker - game: 4,312 ± 868 / training: 3,355 ± 1,149 meters; Hitter spiker - game: 4,227 ± 857 / training: 3,321 ± 1,157 meters; p < 0.001). A similar pattern was identified for the variable "Total accelerations + decelerations", with setters (game: 2,537 ± 322 / training: 1,538 ± 402 actions; p < 0.001) and liberos (game: 2,253 ± 322 / training: 1,453 ± 402 actions; p < 0.001) showing the largest amount of this type of action in training and games compared to other positions (p < 0.001). Regarding heart rate (HR) demands, volleyball athletes spent more time in HR zone 2 (60 – 69% of HR max) in training (26 min) and games (49 min). In all HR intensity zones (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) a longer time was observed in the game situation (p < 0.001). Setters and liberos showed a greater amount of time in the lower zones of HR intensity (zones 1 and 2) compared to spikers. When considering the higher HR intensity zones (zone 4: 80 – 89% of HR max and zone 5: 90 – 99% of HR max), spikers remained longer than setters and liberos. The time spent in the higher intensity HR zones (zone 4) showed a strong correlation with the final physiological workload (Polar Training Load) manifested by the spikers (Opposite: r = 0.845 / p < 0.001; Middle-blocker: r = 0.902 / p < 0.001; Hitter spiker: r = 0.795 / p < 0.001). The values presented for external and internal load were significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the game situation compared to the tactical training sessions. Significantly strong and very strong correlations (ranging from r = 0.580 to r = 0.868, p < 0.001) were found for the external load vs. internal load when analyzed specifically for each position. The results showed a strong influence of “Total accelerations + decelerations” on the “Recovery time” for the preparation positions (Setter: r = 0.738 / p < 0.001 and libero: r = 0.783 / p < 0.001). Significantly strong negative correlations were found between Total Distance vs Side Out (r = -0.764; p = 0.016); Total Accelerations + Decelerations vs Side Out (r = -0.723; p = 0.028); Trimp Edwards vs Side Out (r = -0.783; p = 0.013) and Training Load Polar vs Side Out (r = -0.779; p = 0.013). Conclusion: It is concluded that the demands of displacements and physiological workload imposed on athletes in the game are significantly higher than the demands of tactical training sessions. Furthermore, these demands are different when considering the player's acting positions. Finally, it is concluded that the intermittent displacements registered in volleyball practice (Total Distance and Total of accelerations + decelerations) are shown to be strongly related to the final wear pointed out by the athletes through the workload variables (Session PSE, Trimp Edwards and Training Load Polar) and side-out performance of games.