ABSTRACT
Purpose: Badminton is a racket sport, with fast and explosive movements and mental skills employed to anticipate the opponent's movements. The COVID-19 pandemic, led to social restriction in Brazil and sport event cancellations, subsequently, sports training was banned. Thus, the objective of this study was to compare the impact of long-period detraining due to COVID-19 social restriction (8 months and 1-year) on cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, nutritional behavior, and profile of mood states in badminton athletes and to verify if the athletes who returned to their regular training 4 months earlier than athletes who stopped their daily training routine during 1-year would improve these variables. Methods: Twenty-three young badminton athletes were analyzed: retrained group (14 athletes who stopped their daily training routine for 8 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic plus 4 months of retraining), and detrained group (9 athletes who stopped their daily training routine during 1 year of the COVID-19 pandemic but performed home-based training). We evaluated body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness, nutritional behavior, and mood states profiles. Results: Retrained athletes showed lower body fat (- 24.1% vs. + 20.8%, p < 0.001) and higher fat-free mass (+ 6.0% vs. - 0.2%, p = 0.007) after 1 year compared with the detrained group. For cardiorespiratory fitness [retrained: baseline = 55.5 ± 5.3 (47.1, 63.9) and after 1 year = 58.1 ± 2.4 (54.2, 61.9), ES = 0.65 vs. detrained: baseline = 53.4 ± 6.7 (47.2, 59.5) and after 1 year = 53.1 ± 5.6 (48.0, 58.3), ES = - 0.03] and nutritional behavior, including sauces and spices [retrained: baseline = 8.9 ± 7.0 (4.5, 13.4), and after 1 year = 3.4 ± 2.9 (1.8, 5.5), ES = - 1.11 vs. detrained: baseline = 6.8 ± 6.7 (1.6, 11.9) and after 1 year = 6.3 ± 5.5 (2.1, 10.6), ES = - 0.08], the ESs were medium and large, respectively, for Retrained but trivial for detrained group. For depression, ES was trivial in the retrained [baseline = 2.7 ± 3.3 (0.7, 4.7) and after 1 year = 2.6 ± 2.9 (0.8, 4.4), ES = 0.03] and moderate for detrained [baseline = 1.0 ± 1.5 (- 0.1, 2.1) and after 1 year = 1.8 ± 2.7 (- 0.3, 3.8), ES = 0.50]. Conclusions: Young badminton athletes who returned to their regular daily training 4 months earlier than athletes who stopped their daily training routine during 1-year due to COVID-19 social restriction decreased fat mass and increased fat-free mass. There were no significant differences between groups for cardiorespiratory fitness, nutritional behavior, and profile of mood state response.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Regular physical activity is a good strategy to maintain the health of athletes, and prevent pain and decreased joint flexibility during the pandemic. On the other hand, higher sedentary time during the pandemic period can have deleterious effects. The objective of this study was to compare physical activity levels, sedentary time, and sleep parameters during the pre-COVID period and the COVID-19 pandemic period in young badminton athletes. METHODS: Fifteen young badminton athletes were evaluated during a pre-COVID period (July 2019) and during the COVID-19 period (July 2020). Sleep parameters, physical activity level, and sedentary time were measured using a tri-axial accelerometer. Participants wore the accelerometer on their dominant wrist for 7 days consecutively. In addition, the average of each sleep parameter [time in bed and total sleep time in hours per day, sleep efficiency (%), wake after sleep onset (WASO, total per day), and sleep latency (minutes per day)] was reported over the 7-day period. RESULTS: Athletes presented increased sedentary time (pre-COVID = 7.0 ± 1.1 vs.COVID-19 = 8.9 ± 1.9 h/day, p = 0.004, d = 1.30) and significant decreases in the total PA observed in counts per day (pre-COVID = 2,967,064.4 ± 671,544.1 vs. COVID-19 = 1,868,210.2 ± 449,768.4 counts/day, p = 0.001, d = 1.99), time in vigorous PA (pre-COVID = 7.7 ± 0.9 vs. COVID-19 = 6.1 ± 1.2 h/day, p = 0.001, d = 1.56), and time in moderate-to-vigorous PA (pre-COVID = 8.1 ± 0.9 vs. COVID-19 = 6.5 ± 1.3 h/day, p = 0.001, d = 1.48). There were no significant differences for time in light and moderate PA or in sleep parameters (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Young badminton athletes presented increased sedentary time, and decreased total physical activity, time in MVPA, and time in vigorous activities during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-COVID period, however, there were no significant differences in sleep parameters.
