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Journal article
Long-Term Development of Training Characteristics and Performance-Determining Factors in Elite/International and World-Class Endurance Athletes: A Scoping Review
Sports Medicine, Vol.53(8), pp.1595-1607
2023
PMID: 37178349
Abstract
Objective
In this scoping review, we aimed to 1) identify and evaluate existing research that describes the long-term development of training characteristics and performance-determining factors in male and female endurance athletes reaching an elite/international (Tier 4) or world-class level (Tier 5), 2) summarize the available evidence and 3) point out existing knowledge gaps and provide methodological guidelines for future research in this field.
Methods
This review was conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews.
Results
Out of 16772 screened items across a 22-year period (1990-2022), a total of 17 peer-reviewed journal articles met the inclusion criteria and were considered for further analysis. These 17 studies described athletes from seven different sports and seven different countries, with 11 (69%) of the studies being published during the last decade. Of the 109 athletes included in this scoping review, one quarter were women (27%), and three quarters were men (73%). Ten studies included information about the long-term development of training volume and training intensity distribution. A non-linear, year-to-year increase in training volume was found for most athletes, resulting in a subsequent plateau. Furthermore, 11 studies described the development of performance determining factors. Here, most of the studies showed improvements in submaximal variables (e.g., lactate/anaerobic threshold and work economy/efficiency) and maximal performance-indices (e.g., peak speed/watt during performance testing). Conversely, the development of VO2max was inconsistent across studies. No evidence was found regarding possible sex differences in development of training or performance-determining factors among endurance athletes.
Conclusion
Overall, a low number of studies describing the long-term development of training and performance-determining factors is available. This suggests that existing talent development practices in endurance sports are built upon limited scientific evidence. Overall, there is an urgent need for additional long-term studies based on systematic monitoring of athletes from a young age utilizing high-precision, reproducible measurements of training and performance-determining factors.
Details
- Title
- Long-Term Development of Training Characteristics and Performance-Determining Factors in Elite/International and World-Class Endurance Athletes: A Scoping Review
- Authors
- Hanne C Staff (Corresponding Author) - UiT The Arctic University of NorwayGuro Strøm Solli (Author) - UiT The Arctic University of NorwayJohn O Osborne - UiT The Arctic University of NorwayØyvind Sandbakk - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
- Publication details
- Sports Medicine, Vol.53(8), pp.1595-1607
- Publisher
- Adis International Ltd.
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1007/s40279-023-01850-z
- ISSN
- 1179-2035; 0112-1642
- PMID
- 37178349
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- Not applicable.
- Grant note
- This study was funded by the Tromsø Research Foundation (Project-ID: 19_FENDURA_BW) and UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Open access funding provided by UiT The Arctic University of Norway (incl University Hospital of North Norway).
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991112752202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Sport Sciences