Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES This system will also give him warning when athletes are likely to go sick or to become stale, and will most often betray any man who has broken his training. There is a word of warning to be uttered, however. The test should be applied only when the athlete is not suffering from an undue amount of fatigue. The coach is likely to get misleading results if he applies the pulse-ratio test after an athlete has reported to him that he is sleeping badly. One can in addition, by making use of a pulse-ratio test, detect any abnormality of the athlete's heart, and also evaluate his .endurance. The recommended scheme for ascertaining the pulse-ratio is what is known as 'stool-stepping.' The athlete is so positioned that he can begin stepping on to a stool I 3 ins. high as a metronome, to which he is to keep time, is started. On the first beat he places his normal starting-foot, let us say the right, on the stool, and on the second beat steps up with his left foot, thus attaining an upright position on the stool. On the third beat he steps down backward with the right foot, and on the fourth beat places his left foot upon the floor. This procedure is carried on for exactly 6o seGs. to the beat of the metronome, which, of course, secures a regular cadence. By varying the rate of stepping the coach who is in charge of the experiment can vary also the amount of exercise which the man carries through in the space of I min. The arbitrary figure adopted for the pulse-ratio is 2·50. The response of a normal heart varies directly with the intensity of the exercise, but the relationship always follows a straight line, or, in other words, is rectilinear. Therefore, by establishing the two pulse-ratios which correspond to standard exercises in varying degrees of intensity, the exercise which corresponds to any pulse– ratio between those which have been established by experiment can be mathematically determined. In a test undertaken for the purpose of detecting heart abnor– mality the stool-stepping exercise is again made use of, and a cer– tain number of steps within the minute produce a pulse-ratio which is above 2, but below the required level of 2·50. More strenuous exercise is then carried out, which gives a greater pulse-ratio than that at first obtained. Having regard to what has already been said concerning the increase in normal heart-rate varying directly with the intensity of exercise and the relationship to a straight line, it i~ possible to determine by mathematical calculation a pulse-ratio which corresponds to any exercise be- I34