THE PARAMETERS OF FUNCTIONAL FITNESS ASSOCIATED WITH SUCCESSFUL ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE UNDER CYCLIC LOAD

Abstract

Aim. The paper aims to identify the relationship between the parameters of functional fitness and successful athletic performance under cyclic load. Materials and methods. Our study was conducted at the Research Institute of Olympic sports (Ural State University of Physical Culture). Athletes of cyclic sports aged 16–20 years were involved in the study (sports ranks: Candidate for Master of Sport, Master of Sport, International Class Master of Sport). Two groups of athletes were formed with respect to their athletic performance (high performance and low performance athletes). Athletic performance was assessed by the coach by the total number of points in specific competitions in the selected season. A set of tests was conducted including the assessment of physical performance, functional state of the cardiovascular system, and body composition measurements. Results. The data obtained in a comprehensive examination were further used for ROC analysis to identify their relationship with athletic performance. It was found that successful athletic performance was mostly influenced by the following parameters: stroke volume, maximum power, anaerobic threshold power, aerobic capacity, maximum power to maximum HR ratio. Conclusion. Our approach to the measurement of athletic potential by the indicators of functional fitness proved to be highly effective for sports training.