Aspetar experts address several topics related to athlete wellbeing at the preparation stage and during competition to help them on and off the field of play through its social media platforms.
Doha: Aspetar experts held a series to provide athletes with helpful information to help them prepare for the Olympics in Tokyo.
The series provides information to keep athletes safe during the COVID-19 pandemic and tools to help them perform at their best.
Through its social media platforms, Aspetar experts address several topics related to athlete wellbeing at the preparation stage and during competition to help them on and off the field of play.
While commenting on the best way to utilise scientific support for athletes at this time, Prof. Marco Cardinale, Executive Director of Research & Scientific Support, said, “We all need support during these extraordinary times. With the Olympics approaching, it is extremely important for athletes and coaches to be able to optimise the training process. What you want to avoid as an athlete is to experience overtraining, compromise your preparation, and arrive at the Olympic Games with some injuries or illness.
“Training load monitoring is one of the activities that your coaching staff and your support staff can put in place for you, and what they should focus on is two main aspects: how you are coping with the training and, most of all, what you are doing in the training so your performance can be optimised.”
Tokyo 2020 will be hot and humid, and performing in hot and humid conditions presents various challenges. Endurance events are particularly challenging due to the chance of athletes experiencing heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke.
Aspetar experts put together tips and recommendations based on years of research and experience in hot environments.
“There is a range of methods available to prepare athletes to perform in hot environments. Natural heat adaptation is the most specific one, to the simplest ones like maybe just over-dressing and exercising indoor with some heaters. Everybody can simulate the heat, and everybody can adapt to the heat,” says Dr. Sebastien Racinais, Head of Research.
A vital issue in competing in hot climates is preventing dehydration during competition and training.
Aspetar experts offer nutrition guidance to athletes, and nutritional strategies play an important role in supporting athletes to perform as well as possible in extreme environments.
Nelda Nader, Aspetar Nutritionist, says, “Athlete performance is built on many factors; genetic, hard training, discipline, agility, speed, power, the right mindset, and many more. Optimising training adaptations requires detailed nutritional plans which are also important on race/competition day.”
Consuming unknown food sources and unwashed food while travelling can lead to foodborne infections and gastrointestinal issues, one of the more common types of illness competitors will encounter.
Dr. Yorck Olaf Schumacher, Head of Subspecialty Medicine, stated, “Many things have to be considered, such as medication, before and during the competition. There is a wider list of prohibited substances that you have to abide by, and some substances are not allowed in competition or out of competition. It is very important to check this before travelling to the Olympic Games.
“The same applies to nutritional supplements as they may contain banned substances. Another important thing is to avoid risky situations for respiratory infections, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
