Monitoring of external training load in young Women's Artistic Gymnastics athletes

The monitoring of training loads (TL), during the sports training process, provides data about the adaptations promoted in the process, enables the understanding of individual responses to training, reduces the risks of poor adaptations, injuries and diseases, and allows adequate management of TL (BOURDON et al., 2017; KELLMANN et al., 2018). Women's Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) athletes go through long years of preparation and start the training process very young (PATEL et al., 2021). Several variables allow access to TL in the modality, such as daily and weekly workload, frequency of training sessions and quantity, mechanical load and degree of difficulty of elements performed (MALINA et al., 2013). However, there is a gap in internal or physiological parameters and coaches point to the complexity and variety of training as aspects that make it difficult to monitor TL. A better understanding of the dynamics of the TL in the WAG, especially when evaluated from the specificity of the training prescription, allows for effective adjustments of the TL and minimizes the risk of negative adaptations. Therefore, this study aims to quantify and analyze the external training load (ETL) of young athletes of WAG. Seven gymnasts (11.3 ± 0.4 years), representatives of the Brazilian Artistic Gymnastics elite, had 5 training microcycles monitored (3 pre-competition and 2 post-competition), totaling 25 training sessions, interspersed. The external training load was obtained through filming and subsequent accounting of the number of repetitions of the elements, which are part of the regulation of the National Championship for the 11-12 year old category, in each apparatus (Floor, Vault, Uneven Bars and Balance Beam) and amount of elements performed in the training session. The total number of repetitions of elements in the four apparatus ranged from 864 ± 352 to 1200 ± 316 per microcycle; differences of “moderate” magnitude between microcycles for the ETL variables (p<0.05; Kendalls W= 0.3 to 0.5), except for the Uneven Bars (p>0.05). Paired comparisons with Conover's post-hoc did not report significant differences between pairs of microcycles for Floor and Uneven Bars (p>0.05). For the other apparatus, a reduction was observed with “great” strength (p<0.05; Cohen d= 1.5 to 2.9) in the magnitude of responses in M4 compared to microcycles M3 (beam and jump) and M1 (total elements); individual variation differences for all ETL variables, since the athletes present an increase or decrease in the volume of repetitions of elements in different ways. It is concluded with the present study that the WAG athletes were exposed to high TL, with little variability between the microcycles, and the responses to them were shown in an individualized way. This fact can be related to the individual process of acquiring skills and elements, and individual questions regarding physical characteristics, technical difficulty, coordination failures and psychological aspects linked to fear and insecurity. Based on the data from this research, technical teams can envisage the possibility of monitoring TC in Artistic Gymnastics that is more consistent with the reality of training prescription.