The Complexity of Research on Endurance Training

The “Editorial” by Houmard [3] offers the opportunity to debate and put forward hypotheses regarding sports training issues within the field of Sports Science that are still unclear.

Although it might be considered that there are no certainties in science, the variables within basic sciences are perhaps better controlled and consequently there may be a greater degree of “certainty” in the findings. On the other hand, applied research of quasi-experimental type that involves treatment, such as in relation to training models, is often much more complex. It brings together a large number of different components over which there is no effective control, although such components have the value of more faithfully representing situations that occur in practice.

In dealing with such complexity, Morin [4] explained that some laws governing the way in which phenomena are comprehended sometimes become insufficient for ascertaining the realities. Thus, firstly, simple knowledge of the parts does not ensure knowledge of the properties of the whole picture, given that the whole is more than the sum of the parts that form it. Knowing about the cardiovascular system, for example, does not mean knowing about an individual's physical fitness. Secondly, the whole is also less than the sum of the parts, insofar as overall understanding of an individual's physical fitness does not, for example, imply in-depth knowledge of how the cardiovascular system works. Hence, Morin [4] considered that the whole picture is simultaneously more than and less than the sum of the parts. In living organisms, the systems, organs or cells are organized according to their properties and in relation to the whole organism. Each part is interlinked both to the other parts and to the whole organism. It must be emphasized that in any living organism, cells die and are renewed in such a way that the organism seems to remain unchanged even though its constituents are undergoing renovation [4]. Furthermore, there are large numbers of structures and processes that interact nonlinearly, either through feedback or through the emergence of other functions, or even because of unexpected behaviour. These characteristics, together with the sensitivity of the initial conditions, in which small stimuli trigger large changes, ensure behaviour of chaotic nature [1] [2]. Moreover, it needs to be emphasized that the system should also be comprehended through its relationship with the environment.

Science has had the task of attempting to decipher the phenomena and thereby eliminate the imprecisions or contradictions. However, it might be of interest to accept certain imprecisions. The complexity not only includes the interactions that defy calculation, but also, above all, includes and incorporates uncertainties, indeterminations and random phenomena, even though such features are at the core of richly organized systems. Thus, the complexity is linked to a certain mixture of order and disorder [4].

This debate may be especially relevant for the field of sports training, since excessive control over the variables in laboratories may not represent the dynamics of the phenomena under real conditions. There may also be a certain incongruence between laboratory results and the findings from training grounds. Moreover, there are serious difficulties in conducting research on athletes at the highest level without interfering in their training.

Thus, within applied research involving endurance training, there are gaps that require better investigation. If on the one hand there are many studies on tapering, on the other hand there is a lack of studies elucidating the extent to which volume load and/or intensity should be reduced within these dynamics, with regard to how this is actually carried out in practice during training. Furthermore, there are also few studies comparing models or scheduling for endurance training that are used by coaches for their athletes.

Perhaps these are the paths to be explored by researchers investigating sports training. Future research may require cooperative efforts between different fields of knowledge. Physiologists and biomechanics specialists in their laboratories and coaches at the trackside could together think out new methodological designs that meet scientific rigour and training requirements.

Alexandre Palma, Paulo Nunes Costa Filho

References

• 1 Burggren WW, Monticino MG. Assessing physiological complexity.  J Exp Biol. 2005;  208 3221-3232
• 2 Garcia-Manso JM, Martín-González JM, Dávila N, Arriaza E. Middle and long distance athletics viewed from the perspective of complexity.  J Theor Biol. 2005;  233 191-198
• 3 Houmard JA. Endurance athletes: what is the optimal training strategy?.  Int J Sports Med. 2009;  30 313-314
• 4 Morin E. Introduction à la pensée complexe. Paris: ESF 1990: 158

Correspondence