Training

TRAINING, systematic exposure to the body or mind, a prolonged process of adaptation of the organism to increased demands for specific work. The basis of training consists of systematic exercises of the motor organs, as a result of which a skill for a specific action and better work (industrial, agricultural, physical culture, etc.) are obtained. Physical culture training must be closely linked with the general tasks of physical education; in essence, it is the education of the motor organs (see Physical Culture).- The goals of training can be broad, when, pursuing health and pedagogical objectives, one seeks to develop the type of Soviet worker who is polytechnically developed and tempered. These goals can be very narrow when training a rower, swimmer, or jockey for races. 76b Narrow goals of training, as numerous experience from capitalist countries has shown, do not always lead to desirable results; for example, athletes of narrow specialization often risk everything to achieve success, lag in their professional work, neglect general development, and frequently violate their health. Success is achieved at too high a price; Soviet physical culture rejects such training methods, seeking more rational ones that should be based on accounting for all training work and on scientific evaluation of its results. Soviet physical culture provides for such methods and gives preference to those that give maximum achievements with minimal expenditure of strength, without violation of health and without detachment from production. In training, especially in preparation for serious competitions (ascent to high mountains, responsible excursions), the guidance of a physician is necessary and not only because it is necessary to monitor the exact observance of sanitary-hygienic rules, but it is also required to monitor individual reactions to a given stimulus and, on their basis, to give one's conclusions. The first task of training is mastery of movement technique (for example, swimming, rowing). This is the first stage of any training. The process of learning these techniques depends greatly on correct methodology, as well as on individuality and many other conditions, hygienic and others. Correct methodology saves strength and conserves time. Empirical and scientific experience develop the correct methodology for any movements (see Physical Culture), with attention paid to correct coordination of movements, elimination of synkinesias (superfluous movements), gradualness and sequence of dosage, correct breathing, etc. As skills are acquired, the physical culturist performs many components of movements or their entire complex with ever greater ease, and when fully mastering the technique, notices that muscle rigidity has disappeared, movements are less tiring and are performed almost automatically, tension of attention during their execution is no longer required; simultaneously with this, an improvement in well-being is observed; what was difficult at first becomes easy and pleasant. Physical culturists in most cases are guided by indicators of their achievements and subjective sensations as proof of the correctly chosen training method. At present, thanks to scientific work, it has been possible to understand the process of adaptation (adjustment), which occurs throughout the entire training and is expressed in completely objective data established by research. After the first stage of training, in which technique learning predominates, comes the second stage, in which changes in the organism become most noticeable, and in cases of correct training, clearly serve the benefit of the work being performed by the trainee. The third and final stage of training is the final act of preparation for major work with maximum exertion of strength during competitions. Many changes that have occurred throughout the entire training period must be precisely evaluated and determined in figures. Changes in body forms and weight are found, explained by losses of water and disappearance of excess fat under the influence of increasingly intense muscular work. During competitions, depending on different conditions, loss in weight can reach 200-800 g and occurs mainly through sweating. With regular and systematic training, weight loss is insignificant but more or less correct. If training is stopped for some time, weight shows a tendency to increase and returns to the original. After some time, weight loss becomes less noticeable and a period arrives when, despite an increase in dosed work, weight begins to increase. The reason for this phenomenon is the increase in muscle volume. This fact can be confirmed by measuring the volume of circumferences of arms, legs, chest circumference. The size of the waist almost never increases, because as the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall increase, the intestinal cavity empties better, and subcutaneous fat does not increase, and the trainees appear 'lean.' The mentioned increase in muscle mass is sometimes expressed in rather significant figures: a boxer weighing 85 kg before training weighs 88 kg at the end of it, and accordingly the strength of his muscles increases according to dynamometer data. There are many direct and indirect indications that the heart also becomes more powerful under the influence of careful training, gradually adapting to work. Unfortunately, we have few direct proofs that the energy of the heart increases under the influence of training. There exist proofs obtained by tele-roentgenography and orthocardiography that under the influence of physical stress the size of the heart decreases by 50-60%; in other cases it remains unchanged, but for how long this change persists, there is no data. Bradycardia is apparently a positive symptom in training. It often correlates with an increase in the alkalinity of the blood, which is an appropriate adaptive reaction to intensified work. The systolic volume in trained individuals in a resting state is less than in untrained (59 cm³ vs. 68.5 cm³), and greater (190 cm³) than in untrained (70 cm³) during work. This is also a very favorable fact. Much more convincing are the extracardiac influences on blood circulation, and in particular on the heart, established by physiology. These facts: contraction of leg muscles, suction effect of the chest cavity, enhanced function of the diaphragm and change in intra-abdominal pressure and action of diastole. According to Starling's law, the force of heart contraction is determined by its diastolic volume; it increases when the flow of venous blood becomes stronger and faster under the influence of physical exercises.-Special caution is required in training when the heart muscle is weakened to some degree; then it is more advisable to use exercises with small and well-dosed loads, but sufficiently long and rhythmic in the sense that the tempo gradually and sequentially accelerates. The behavior of the heart and the entire cardiovascular system during training should be under control.-One of the signs of well-proceeding training is the gradual decrease in shortness of breath with increasing load. This sign is especially noticeable at the beginning of training, when weight shows a constant tendency to fall and depends on the burning of excess tissue fat. Persistent shortness of breath with heavy sweating indicates poor training or speaks of heart weakness. Change in respiratory rhythm toward slowing, deeper breathing, increase in lung capacity, increase in respiratory amplitude and increase in chest circumference-all these are favorable indicators of successful training. The reaction of the skin to muscular work during training, in quantitative and qualitative terms, is individually different and depends not only on muscular work but also on some other moments. Significant sweating is especially easily caused by certain sports exercises, such as running, skating, skiing, sports games. The daily amount of sweat often reaches 800 g-1 l and even 2 l. Copious sweating weakens and interferes with work, nevertheless sweating during training is useful, because the heated body is better cooled and excess heat is removed by sweat; besides this heat regulation, sweating eliminates breakdown products and all kinds of toxic substances, the nature of which has not yet been precisely determined. In sports competitions, significant amounts of chlorine and lactic acid (500 ml and more) and up to 1 g N per day were found in sweat. For research on sweat in sports practice, the Minor method was used (see Sweating). For quantitative determination of sweat, it is extracted from undershirts and woolen sweaters and subjected to chemical analysis. Sweat caused by muscular work is more toxic (experiments on animals) than sweat caused by a bath or other procedures-it contains more N. This is the result of protein breakdown. Adaptation in training consists of less breakdown of muscle protein and less excretion of water. In 1923, Snapper and Grünbaum investigated sweat in football players and other participants of the Amsterdam Olympics and found that the amount of lactic acid, both in the blood and in sweat, sharply increased, as well as the amount of chloride ions, which are irritants for the sweat glands. From the Institute of Physical Culture named after Lesgaft came a work produced under the guidance of prof.

Krestovnikova over students during competitions. It also proves that the sweat glands are, to a certain extent, regulators of the physicochemical equilibrium of the blood composition; with good training, this regulation is expressed in a decrease in the amount of lactic acid and chlorine in the blood and sweat. The excretion of lactic acid and chlorine decreases in workers of hot shops after the systematic application of physical culture during physical culture breaks (work by Prof. Lurie and assistant Taubman). Urination and the composition of urine are also greatly influenced by training, in addition there is a large physiological connection with sweating. During training, with very significant exertion of strength, urine collected several hours later contains urates—uric acid salts in the form of a white, yellow, or brown precipitate. This phenomenon is quite constant, and therefore a decrease in urates in urine is an indicator of good training. The presence of protein in urine is a common phenomenon with any major physical culture work. The amount of precipitated protein depends on training; in well-trained individuals, even after major work in a sports specialty, only traces of protein are usually found. The presence of hyaline cylinders in the urine of athletes is often detected, but so far it has not been possible to establish the regularity of their appearance and find a causal connection of this phenomenon with training. As for the composition of urine, only a quantitative connection of its usual elements with the concentration of urine has been established, namely—urea, uric acid, nitrogen in total, phosphoric acid, sulfates, chlorides. After a long bicycle run (according to Boigey), all these elements are found in approximately twice the amount compared to normal, but this is always associated with sweating, i.e., with a large loss of water. The study of blood throughout the training period gives quite reliable objective indicators of good, bad, or insufficient training. A blood test of the trainee is a preventive measure. The best indicators are myogenic shifts of the formed elements. The leukocyte formula of the blood, established by the methods of Schilling, Arneth, and A. Egorov, is in a large and regular dependence on major muscular work and the degree of training. Cytomorphosis of the blood can be quite favorable with moderate training. A picture of some rejuvenation of the blood^- is obtained. With overtraining, on the contrary, an excess of stab-nuclear and other elements of white blood—young forms—appear, signaling some danger. Overtraining is also confirmed by many other objective clinical and subjective signs: a sudden drop in weight, a decrease in achievements, insomnia, loss of appetite, a general decline in energy, poor well-being. All this indicates the need for medical supervision and the participation of a physician, a specialist in physical culture, in mass preparation for competitions. Important subjective signs in training should include: the increase in euphoria, which athletes already feel at the beginning of training with weight loss. The feeling of fatigue is difficult to assess, as it depends on psychological causes and biochemical moments. As training develops, fatigue as a subjective feeling decreases or appears only with overload. The useful automatism of movements acquired saves strength; the expenses for work from improved motor skills become less and less. The biochemical factor is more difficult to take into account. Well-trained muscles with large work consume relatively less oxygen and release less CO₂ than in an untrained person with adequate work. This better coefficient is the result of adaptation; it is very beneficial, as depending on it, fatigue decreases. Moreover, under the influence of systematic exercises during training, a more complete elimination of metabolic products occurs by various routes (sweat, urine, breathing). If the excretion of these products is insufficient, the body is excessively* loaded with them. This causes fatigue resembling auto-intoxication. A properly training person easily gets rid of these products, and this is his advantage. The beneficial aspects of training thus consist in improving the composition of the blood, in increasing muscle strength, in increasing performance capacity, especially in a sports specialty, but, as is now confirmed, also in relation to general work capacity. In well-trained athletes, the general activity of the body increases and well-being improves, for this reason they do not abandon training. A worsening of all subjective symptoms and at the same time an increase in weight is noted in cases where training is suddenly interrupted. Keeping oneself in 'form' becomes a habit for athletes. This is a moment of great preventive importance. The scientific verification of training results and the determination of the degree of preparedness should be under the control of physicians. In reality, they are carried out in rare cases and mainly by workers of various scientific institutes and are very rarely conducted in sports and physical culture practice, which often leads to distortion and loss of health. Each individual type of sport should have, in essence, a special type of training. Practitioners-coaches not only recommend this but also implement it; their empiricism (e.g., preliminary motor skills in preparing boxers for sports performances) can be scientifically justified, but in most cases this empiricism is deeply individual, poorly substantiated, accidental, and therefore does not deserve special attention. The regimen and hygiene during training have much in common with the hygiene of the physical culturist (see Physical Culture).