None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The psychological aspect of sport performance is widely acknowledged but has received less research attention compared to technical, tactical, and physical domains. While mental factors such as psychological skill use and resilience are often attributed to an athletes success, and have a significant contribution to sports performance, their integration within training settings is under-explored. This study aims to determine whether the mental domain can serve as a prescriptive variable in training design. Participants will complete sessions intentionally designed to be mentally challenging, to assess the impact of such training on training quality and examine how athletes use psychological skills to cope the the demands of hard training. This study will also follow a mixed methods design. After completing the training, participants will be invited to take part in a short interview with the lead investigator to further explore their responses to the training intervention.
Interventions
This study follows a parallel two arm design. Participants will be categorised as high or low mental skill use based on the results of the Athletic Coping Skills inventory Questionnaire. From the categorisation participants will be stratified into the High Mental Load or Low Mental Load group.
The intervention group (high mental load) will complete 4 high-intensity interval sessions with each session separated by 48 hours. Training sessions will take place on Day 5, 7, 9 and 11. The intensity
This study follows a parallel two arm design. Participants will be categorised as high or low mental skill use based on the results of the Athletic Coping Skills inventory Questionnaire. From the categorisation participants will be stratified into the High Mental Load or Low Mental Load group. The intervention group (high mental load) will complete 4 high-intensity interval sessions with each session separated by 48 hours. Training sessions will take place on Day 5, 7, 9 and 11. The intensity, design, monotony and lack of autonomy in the sessions will increase the mental load of these sessions. Sessions for the intervention group will consist of 4 intervals of 5 minutes prescribed at 77% of Peak power output (PPO). Recovery intervals are prescribed at 37% of PPO. Resulting of 20 minutes of work and 20 minutes of rest. The participants will complete a standardised 10 minute warm-up and a 5 minute cool down. Regression of intensity: During the study participants are permitted to reduce the exercise intensity, if it cannot be maintained. The priority is for participants to complete all intervals prescribed and work for the prescribed time. All training sessions will be prescribed using the Intervals.icu training software and will be completed on Zwift online training software. Participants will complete all sessions in their own home in their own training environment. Heart rate and Power data are connected to Zwift, and provide real time feedback to participants and allow the research team to track and monitor exercise adherence after the session is complete. Participants will also complete a post-trainig survey to collect their rating of perceived exertion to further monitor training intensity. Example Training prescription: Warmup 2m 37% PPO (150w) 2m 45% PPO (180w) 2m 52% PPO (210w) 1m 60% PPO (240w) 1m 90% PPO (270w) 1m 67% PPO (150w) 40s 75% PPO (300w) 1m 20s 37% PPO (150w) 20s 82.5% PPO (330w) 40s 37% PPO (150w) 20s 86% PPO (345w) 40s 37% PPO (150w) 2m easy riding Main set 4x 5m 77% PPO (307w) 5m 37% PPO (150w) Cool down 5m easy riding Training sessions are prescribed by qualified exercise and sports scientists.
Sponsors
University of Technology Sydney
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Participants need to: - be a trained cyclist e.g., train 3 times per week and meet other tier two requirements from McKay et al. (2024). - have their own road bike - own a smart trainer - own a heart rate monitor - Minimum VO2max of 48 ml/kg/min
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria - Current illness or injury that may be exacerbated by high intensity exercise - Have a known disease, and/or signs or symptoms of disease, that places them a higher risk of an adverse event due to exercise
Outcome results
None listed