Influence of training process on the psychophysiological state of young male judo players

Abstract

Problem Statement: This work is aimed at studying the dynamics of psychophysiological characteristics of 15–16-year-old male judo players during their training process. Approach: A total of 24 male judo players (mean age = 15–16 years) volunteered for this study. Their psychophysiological characteristics were measured twice – at the beginning and at the end of their annual training cycle. Purpose: The psychophysiological characteristics were tested to define trait and state anxiety, to self-evaluate their emotional state, aggressiveness and proneness to conflicts, and the variability of the judo players` heart rate.Results: The annual training cycle contributed to decreasing the levels of judo players` trait and state anxiety; most of the sportsmen demonstrated an average level of anxiety. The training process contributed to the increase of emotional state self-evaluation for most of the judo players; the frequency of positive and negative aggressiveness was lowered as well as the levels of apathy and proneness to conflicts. At the beginning of the training process, the athletes` heart rate variability was mostly influenced by the sympathetic part of the nervous system. At the end of the one year training cycle, the judo players` cardiovascular system was much more regulated by the parasympathetic part of the vegetative nervous system. At the end of the training period, the standard deviation influenced by training process was 80.56 ± 6.57 ms, which also shows an increase in neurotony. When the training process began, most judo players were registered to have a permissible level of functional state (41.7%). A third of all athletes were characterized to have a suboptimal functional state. When the annual training cycle was over, most judo players were characterized as having a suboptimal functional state (58.4%). The number of athletes with a suboptimal functional state increased by up to 2.5 times; there were no sportsmen with negative or optimal limit of functional state. Conclusion: Training process contributed to the young judo players` psychophysiological state optimization. At the end of the one year judo training cycle, there appeared a positive dynamics in psychophysiological characteristics and functional state, which suggests a high adaptation level to physical and psychological loads.