Performance in sport
Sport: more than just a meaningful leisure activity
Our organism adapts to the demands placed on it. What is used develops, what is not used regresses.
Because substances are constantly being built up and broken down in our body, adaptations are possible. The cells and organs are constantly being remodelled so that they can largely adapt to our needs. The balance between building up and breaking down processes is called homeostasis. During training, the degradative processes predominate, which leads to disturbances in the balance. Under favourable conditions, the affected cells, tissues and organs react to any such "suprathreshold" stress by building up more reserves and forming more performance-determining protein structures. This makes us more resilient and more efficient.
Health, stress tolerance and performance are an important part of quality of life and can be developed, consolidated and maintained to a large extent through training. We don't need to train like top athletes to achieve this, but we do need to regularly utilise our organ functions; we need plenty of exercise and training that is adapted to our personal requirements.
In addition to the psyche, physical performance is the readiness of every member of the armed forces to endure stress, to deliver the required performance in all kinds of missions in a goal-oriented manner, even in extreme situations, and to fulfil their mission to a high standard. Sporting activity during and between deployments is therefore of central importance to the operational readiness of every member of the armed forces.
Performance in sport
How much performance an athlete is capable of delivering depends on many factors. Basically, performance is the result of a sporting action. The evaluation of this performance depends on the previously defined quality criteria. The value system used to assess performance usually allows a comparison to be made. However, the ranking, victory or defeat, does not necessarily have to be the decisive factor when evaluating performance; personal and situational circumstances can also be considered and assessed.
We differentiate between performance in popular and recreational sport, in health, rehabilitation and disabled sport, in school sport or in competitive and high-performance sport.
Every sporting performance requires the coordinated use of various resources and competences. We distinguish between endogenous (dependent on the individual) and exogenous (external) performance requirements, some of which can be influenced by training.
Physical and physiological aspects of performance
Every sporting performance can be viewed from a physical perspective:
A hiker overcomes an altitude difference of 1,500 metres on a route. This work, and therefore the (approximate) energy requirement, can be calculated. This is limited to the potential energy; the kinetic energy, which is also involved, is neglected.
Power: force x speed
Force (F)
Force [N] = mass [kg] x acceleration [m/s2]
Path (s)
Distance here means height difference in metres (m)
Work
Work [Nm] = force [N] x distance [m]; 1 Nm = 1 joule (J), 1,000 Nm = kilojoule (kJ)
Energy (E)
Example with a 70 kg hiker:
Distance (height difference) = 1,500 m
Force = 70 kg x 10 m/s2 = 700 N
Work = 700 N x 1,500 m = 1,050,000 Nm [J] = 1,050 kJ
Power (P)
P = force x distance/time (F x s/t) = force x speed (F x v) = work / time (ΔE/Δt)
Example with a 70 kg hiker who needs 3 hours to cover the distance:
Work: 1,050,000 J = 1,050 kJ; time 3 hours (10,800 seconds)
Power: 1,050,000 J/10,800 s ≈ 97.2 J/s = 97.2 W
The physical approach only partially does justice to sporting performance in its entirety, as every performance also has psychological-emotional, intellectual-cognitive and coordinative-technical aspects. In sporting competitions, it is not performance that is measured, but only time, height, distance or distance.
Efficiency is the ratio between input (energy consumption) and output (performance). To calculate the total energy requirement (for climbing a mountain), it must be taken into account that the muscles work with an efficiency of around 20%. Approximately 80% of the converted energy is released in the form of heat.
Example: The work required to "transport" 70 kg of body mass over an altitude difference of 1,500 m is 1,050 kJ (at an efficiency of 20%). The actual energy input is therefore 5 times as great: 5 x 1,050 kJ = 5,250 kJ.
Exercise parameters
Three aspects can be considered for any physical exertion: The scope (or duration or volume), the intensity (or power) and the dynamics (or cadence).
The intensity determines which metabolic pathways are used to provide energy (ATP production). The lower the power, the more the aerobic (oxygen-dependent) metabolism contributes to covering the energy requirement and the longer a performance can be maintained. The higher the intensity, the greater the energy turnover per unit of time and the more the anaerobic metabolic processes are utilised. The greater the effort, the less time we can maintain it and the longer the recovery phase.
