PROSPECTIVES OF USING THE GAS DISCHARGE VISUALISATION TECNIQUE IN THE PROCESS OF PREPARATION OF ELITE ATHLETES
Bundzen P., Kolodiy O., Korotkov K.
Research Institute of Physical Culture, Lesgaft State Academy of Physical Culture, Technical University “SPIFMO”, St.Petersburg, Russia
THE AIM OF THE STUDY
The management and self-management of the process of preparation in sport is actual for all periods of training session during the athletes’ sporting life. The search of new concepts, theoretical and practical approaches in preparation of athletes can give rise to the development of sport science and subsequent rise of sport results with preserving athletes’ health and well being. In developing this approach we need to take into account the following moments in athlete’s preparation:
• Psychological description of general and specific conditions of sports activity;
• Integral characteristic of motor sports skills and habits accentuating the problem of realizing – non-realizing the motions at various stages of habit formation;
• Conception of the polifunctionality – polimodality of the notion of movements and ideomotor training;
• Conception of the athletes methodical and psychological preparation for competitions with special attention to the pre-start states; marking out the dome signs of readiness for the performance taking into account all methodical and psychological preparation, as well as the stages of preparation for the fulfillment of the particular sporting action;
• Program of mental training for each athlete.
The problem of elaborating the dynamic control of athletes’ state under the conditions of training process and competitive activity is extremely urgent. Such methods should meet the complex of conditions:
• Non-disturbing character of the process of measurement;
• Dynamic control in real time;
• Methodical simplicity;
• Automated analysis of data with formation of significant conclusions;
• Prognostic value;
• Objectivity and independence on the skill of operator;
• Convenience of keeping a big data-bases;
• Possibility of working at the training and competition facilities.
In other words a method should be available for any coach or athlete being simple in work, reliable and with automated processing of data.
EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
The method of Gas Discharge Visualisation (GDV) pretends to the role of such a method because in many respects it satisfies the mentioned above demands; it is also becoming well adopted in medico-biological practice.
In a long-term study with hundreds of athletes of different levels involved it was revealed a great informative significance of the GDV method by the registration of athletes’ energy-informative state and the presence of particular signs in GDV BEO-grams that distinguish top-class athletes. These signs are manifested especially evidently in the process of mental modeling of a competitive readiness by athletes. The findings confirm the hypothesis about athletes’ transition to Altered State of Consciousness (ASC) by the realization of the state of competitive readiness.
Based of this data we are developing quantitative approach to the methods of top athletes’ selection and preparation. The task of the control of the methods of top athletes’ relaxation in the post-competitive period and other rehabilitation after the end of sporting career is of great significance, as well. From the point of view of the developing hypothesis the last task consists in teaching an athlete an active transition to ASC and passing on to an ordinary state which is typical of a practically healthy person under the conditions of calm vigilance.
EXAMPLE OF THE BEO-GRAMS’ ANALYSIS
There were carried out some measurements of the state of Alexander Karelin at rest and in the process of mental modeling of competitive activity by means of the GDV Camera. Karelin A. is a thrice-repeated Olympic champion, eight-fold world champion, and ten-fold European champion. The results obtained may be interpreted in the following way.
The initial state is characterized by powerful, clearly constructed BEO-grams, well manifested for all the fingers (organism systems). The intensity of BEO-grams of the 2nd-5th fingers exceeds the average statistic intensity for a relatively healthy person in the waking state. It testifies to a high-energy status of organism and the activity of all physiological systems. The symmetry of right-left on all the fingers except 1L, 1R and 4R testifies to the lack of strikingly manifested asymmetry of cerebral hemispheres activity at rest that’s to a balanced and steady nervous-psychical constitution. At the same time a relative blocking of 1L, 1R testifies to the permanent energy block which can be interpreted as the state of light nervous excitation; the asymmetric type 4R with the ejection testifies to a relative suppression of the processes of left hemisphere by the activity of right one. Thus, the sited BEO-grams at rest are typical of a physically healthy and active person, extrovert, with an intuitive attitude to life, in the state of relative excitation at the moment of the investigation.
By a mental modeling of competitive state a sharp asymmetry of the BEO-grams of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers with an increase of activity of the 1st finger is observed. On the Aura BEO-gram the state is characterized by the blocking of body right side activity. It could be interpreted as a blocking of control from the part of left cerebral hemisphere with a heightened activity of right hemisphere, which is typical of the prevailing of subcortical activity, by the suppression of conscious activity with a sharp activation of general brain activity.
Apparently the observed changes appear to be a characteristic of subject’s transition to the state of “readiness for the activity” which requires a heightened activity of subcortical processes as regards the conscious control of activity. We think that it would be advisable to speak about athlete’s transition to the ASC with an appropriate reconstruction of psycho-physiological and energy processes.
CONCLUSION
Carried out investigation for a big group of athletes of different sport levels by using a complex set of methods demonstrated good prospective for the GDV technique applications in sport. This technique seems to be easy in use, inexpensive, with clear computer interpretation of the results and high level of informativeness regarding different states of sportsmen’s psycho-emotional and physical conditions. This creates positive basis for the current applications of the GDV technique in sport medicine together with perspectives of developing useful and simple in use high-technology instrument for coaches and sportsmen.