WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 Well, my practical advice is to just give athletes 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.940 more time to cope with what's happening around 00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:08.359 them, around the competition. So when he's lifting 00:00:08.359 --> 00:00:11.960 or she, just be a little bit more thoughtful 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:16.239 and more encouraging to them, which younger athletes 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:21.550 appreciate much more in the long term. Hi Ivan, 00:00:21.730 --> 00:00:24.050 it's my pleasure to have you on Evidence Strong 00:00:24.050 --> 00:00:26.469 Show. Please introduce yourself. Hello, it's 00:00:26.469 --> 00:00:29.390 a pleasure to be here. My name is Iron Perasovic 00:00:29.390 --> 00:00:32.570 and I'm a PhD student at the University of the 00:00:32.570 --> 00:00:34.189 Kingdom of Georgia of Split. First year now. 00:00:34.329 --> 00:00:36.710 I'm also a strength and conditioning coach and 00:00:36.710 --> 00:00:40.070 I'm hoping to do research more on the impact 00:00:40.070 --> 00:00:43.170 of stress and the performance levels of athletes 00:00:43.170 --> 00:00:46.070 in various sports, mainly now focused on team 00:00:46.070 --> 00:00:48.770 sports, but also in weightlifting and other strength 00:00:48.770 --> 00:00:51.990 and different sports. the short story you also 00:00:51.990 --> 00:00:55.429 have some experience in weightlifting i was a 00:00:55.429 --> 00:00:58.649 three times national champion in weightlifting 00:00:58.649 --> 00:01:02.530 in the category of 94 and 100 afterwards yes 00:01:02.530 --> 00:01:06.150 so i was around 10 years in active olympic weightlifting 00:01:06.150 --> 00:01:08.670 was part of the national team so my results were 00:01:08.670 --> 00:01:12.219 good for this vision. So I'm quite well aware 00:01:12.219 --> 00:01:15.159 of how it is to train, how it is to compete, 00:01:15.340 --> 00:01:18.040 and how it is to implement those Olympic techniques 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:21.079 in other sports. So that's my background. And 00:01:21.079 --> 00:01:23.319 I also teach Olympic weightlifting at the college. 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:26.019 I'm a lecturer at the college that involves Olympic 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:28.219 weightlifting and strength in tradition. Today 00:01:28.219 --> 00:01:31.719 we'll be talking about hormones and Olympic weightlifting. 00:01:31.980 --> 00:01:35.439 So let's start with that. Could you explain the 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:38.959 three hormones you used in your study and measured? 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:41.980 them during the competition. But what are the 00:01:41.980 --> 00:01:44.620 main roles of these hormones in weightlifting 00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:47.239 performance? Okay, so we have actually two hormones 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:50.239 and one enzyme. So cortisol and testosterone 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:53.000 are hormones. Alpha -amylase is an enzyme. So 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:55.379 basically cortisol is the hormone of stress, 00:01:55.459 --> 00:01:59.019 as you all know. The body produces when you're 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:01.260 under stress. And alpha -amylase is an enzyme 00:02:01.260 --> 00:02:04.500 that is neuro -based. It's being produced by 00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:07.180 the salivatory glands in the mouth. And it is 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:10.669 not hormonal. based it is more based on the central 00:02:10.669 --> 00:02:13.069 nervous system and it's a response also to stressful 00:02:13.069 --> 00:02:16.129 situations but mainly it causes to dilute sugar 00:02:16.129 --> 00:02:19.169 so basically it's an enzyme for digestion but 00:02:19.169 --> 00:02:21.750 it has been shown that it has been excreted when 00:02:21.750 --> 00:02:24.590 you're under stress and testosterone is the hormone 00:02:24.590 --> 00:02:27.030 yes male hormone for strength and power that 00:02:27.030 --> 00:02:30.830 we all need when you do some exercises that are 00:02:30.830 --> 00:02:33.710 mainly strength based so what we found out and 00:02:33.710 --> 00:02:36.509 what is already in the research enzyme alpha 00:02:36.509 --> 00:02:38.689 amylase and cortisone are very good correlated. 00:02:38.949 --> 00:02:40.949 The thing is, and the main difference is, except 00:02:40.949 --> 00:02:42.810 that there are enzymes and hormones, the thing 00:02:42.810 --> 00:02:45.050 is that alpha -amylase is produced instantly, 00:02:45.250 --> 00:02:47.770 not instantly, but very close because it is neuro 00:02:47.770 --> 00:02:49.969 -based. And the cortisol is afterwards produced 00:02:49.969 --> 00:02:52.590 after 2, 20, 30 minutes after it fails. So the 00:02:52.590 --> 00:02:55.849 main thing is, if our main thing was that when 00:02:55.849 --> 00:02:58.810 we extrude the enzymes and the hormones, how 00:02:58.810 --> 00:03:00.909 does that affect our performance? Does it go 00:03:00.909 --> 00:03:02.969 down? Does it go up? And how does it variate 00:03:02.969 --> 00:03:05.610 during the lifts, before the lifts, and somewhere 00:03:05.610 --> 00:03:07.740 in the middle? you have the part between the 00:03:07.740 --> 00:03:09.759 snatch and the clean and jerk. And of course, 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:12.939 the testosterone was also based to see how does 00:03:12.939 --> 00:03:15.699 that go up and down during those phases. So that 00:03:15.699 --> 00:03:18.580 was our main thing when we were trying to conduct 00:03:18.580 --> 00:03:21.099 this study. Now, this study is very, very special 00:03:21.099 --> 00:03:24.800 because not only you were trying to measure hormones 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:28.120 and an enzyme during weightlifting performance, 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:31.780 but it was performance during a real competition. 00:03:31.979 --> 00:03:34.199 Could you speak about that? Yes. Yes, because 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:36.860 actually the idea of the... research came when 00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:39.199 I was talking to my professor at college, who 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:42.039 has lately become my mentor on the PhD. So he 00:03:42.039 --> 00:03:45.500 did conduct these studies on various team sports 00:03:45.500 --> 00:03:48.840 as nagball and volleyball, also with the players, 00:03:49.020 --> 00:03:50.939 but also with the coaches and with the referees. 00:03:51.099 --> 00:03:54.259 And since I'm involved in weightlifting, we were 00:03:54.259 --> 00:03:57.740 talking and the competition was just coming up. 00:03:57.819 --> 00:04:00.520 It was December and we had this competition, 00:04:00.580 --> 00:04:02.819 but it was not individual. It was team -based, 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:05.120 but it was still a competition, the national. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:08.500 finals so the difference is you have individuals 00:04:08.500 --> 00:04:11.560 you have clubs that are competing with five individual 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:14.419 lifters and they combine their core and that's 00:04:14.419 --> 00:04:17.720 how you get the main the winner so and we were 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:20.560 while we were talking we were kind of we're looking 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:22.639 a little bit but research is every research that 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:24.860 was done on olympic weightlifting was mostly 00:04:24.860 --> 00:04:28.980 done during some training exercises some mock 00:04:28.980 --> 00:04:31.439 competitions as in training competitions so this 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:34.040 was a little bit more specific because it was 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:37.029 a real championship we had 46 in total maybe 00:04:37.029 --> 00:04:39.410 one or two didn't want to come didn't want to 00:04:39.410 --> 00:04:41.569 participate but mostly because they were a little 00:04:41.569 --> 00:04:44.430 bit more anxious and so it was all in all it 00:04:44.430 --> 00:04:47.449 was good but this was a good way to see how the 00:04:47.449 --> 00:04:50.389 hormones behave in a real life competition national 00:04:50.389 --> 00:04:53.509 level competition team competition all the teams 00:04:53.509 --> 00:04:56.769 from the country come to combat for the title 00:04:56.769 --> 00:04:59.810 of the fourth team in the country now how did 00:04:59.810 --> 00:05:02.350 you design the measurement so how did you design 00:05:02.350 --> 00:05:04.910 when you will measure, what time points were 00:05:04.910 --> 00:05:07.649 they, and so on, and how you collected the data. 00:05:07.850 --> 00:05:09.790 Well, so how we collected the saliva samples, 00:05:09.889 --> 00:05:12.689 first and foremost, you have cotton swabs that 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:15.449 the individual has to put inside their mouth. 00:05:15.569 --> 00:05:18.430 Prior to that, he must not take any fluids, like 00:05:18.430 --> 00:05:20.470 maybe five to ten minutes. We kept it ten minutes 00:05:20.470 --> 00:05:22.629 to be safe. He has to put it underneath his tongue, 00:05:22.730 --> 00:05:25.490 keep it there two to three minutes. We also kept 00:05:25.490 --> 00:05:27.230 it maybe two and a half minutes, two minutes, 00:05:27.310 --> 00:05:30.529 and then he takes it out, puts it in a small 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:33.420 plastic container. We type his code. we had to 00:05:33.420 --> 00:05:36.220 take the baseline what we did is we took when 00:05:36.220 --> 00:05:39.139 they came inside the hall lifting hall we took 00:05:39.139 --> 00:05:42.220 the baselines and then afterwards we took before 00:05:42.220 --> 00:05:45.699 they before their group was coming out on on 00:05:45.699 --> 00:05:48.709 the podium to lift So how the championship is, 00:05:48.829 --> 00:05:51.069 how the competition is conducted. You have groups, 00:05:51.149 --> 00:05:53.810 A, B, C, D group, Aero, International. And when 00:05:53.810 --> 00:05:55.750 you have the P in championship, it's not that 00:05:55.750 --> 00:05:58.449 important who is, how much you lift. So basically, 00:05:58.470 --> 00:06:00.209 they come up to a mutual agreement, who is going 00:06:00.209 --> 00:06:02.009 to be in the first group, second group, third 00:06:02.009 --> 00:06:04.709 group. We decided to take, when they came into 00:06:04.709 --> 00:06:07.670 the weightlifting hall, to do the weights, to 00:06:07.670 --> 00:06:09.850 do the weigh -in. So we done it there. They then 00:06:09.850 --> 00:06:12.420 took a quick questionnaire. And afterwards, they 00:06:12.420 --> 00:06:15.439 were warming up. And before they go to the first 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:18.379 lift, they took the swab. And when they did the 00:06:18.379 --> 00:06:21.379 3D, so snatch 1, 2, 3. After the third one, they 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:24.500 got the swab, took it, hold it. And then we had 00:06:24.500 --> 00:06:27.519 rest before skin and jerk. Also 1, 2, 3. And 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.300 afterwards, we took the third sample. So that's 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:32.660 how we conducted it. And afterwards, it was analyzed 00:06:32.660 --> 00:06:35.639 by our biochemist in our laboratory. They went 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:39.199 off to analysis and you were after measuring 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:44.029 the levels. of the hormones and the enzyme to 00:06:44.029 --> 00:06:47.029 know how these levels changed across the competition. 00:06:47.149 --> 00:06:51.910 What we did see is for alpha amylase, so it went 00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:55.129 in males, it went much significantly higher than 00:06:55.129 --> 00:06:59.250 in females. So the baseline is the same, but 00:06:59.250 --> 00:07:01.709 it was much higher in males than in females. 00:07:01.949 --> 00:07:04.629 The cortisol levels were in the middle, higher 00:07:04.629 --> 00:07:07.709 for males than in females, but afterwards, after 00:07:07.709 --> 00:07:10.879 the last lift, it got lowered. the males and 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:13.699 it was higher for the females and later on testosterone 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:17.920 has been showing to be also higher than males 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:20.459 and white course are the females because you 00:07:20.459 --> 00:07:22.639 know males have more testosterone of course of 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:25.920 course much much uh but uh all in all the cortisol 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:28.120 levels this shows significant difference because 00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:31.040 all the other markers were basically what we 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:33.339 expect expecting them to be of course testosterone 00:07:33.339 --> 00:07:35.399 levels of course they're going to be higher and 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:37.339 especially in the middle afterwards that will 00:07:37.339 --> 00:07:40.170 work out you of course you have have a spike 00:07:40.170 --> 00:07:44.529 in testosterone. And later on, it goes down after 00:07:44.529 --> 00:07:48.189 the second workout. And females was basically 00:07:48.189 --> 00:07:50.589 the same, but only lower. But cortisol levels 00:07:50.589 --> 00:07:53.790 were also higher in the middle from both males 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:56.170 and females. But afterwards, it was much higher 00:07:56.170 --> 00:07:58.829 in females than in males. So what was our conclusion 00:07:58.829 --> 00:08:01.920 is basically... The coping mechanisms of female 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:04.519 lifters are a little bit more different and they 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:08.860 lack testosterone for coping with cortisol levels. 00:08:09.139 --> 00:08:13.339 And also do note that most of the female lifters 00:08:13.339 --> 00:08:16.040 were much younger than their male counterparts. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:20.939 So they were much less experienced in that area. 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:24.720 And usually when it comes to strength in strength 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:27.620 sports, males tend to be a little bit more in 00:08:27.620 --> 00:08:29.680 advance because of the testosterone that they 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:31.970 have. which is normally and the body weight that 00:08:31.970 --> 00:08:35.460 they possess. because the females were a little 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:37.700 bit more insecure, didn't know how to cope with 00:08:37.700 --> 00:08:41.620 the level of stress that they faced there. So 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:45.399 basically that was our explanation for why their 00:08:45.399 --> 00:08:48.279 cortisol levels were much higher than the males. 00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:51.960 I forgot to say about the testosterone levels 00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:55.559 because the females did exhibit a greater relative 00:08:55.559 --> 00:08:58.039 increase in testosterone throughout the competition, 00:08:58.299 --> 00:09:02.139 which is from 27 .5 to 29 plus snatch and pre 00:09:02.139 --> 00:09:06.139 -competition. So in contrast, the percentage 00:09:06.139 --> 00:09:08.879 increase in males was significantly lower. And 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:13.220 this also can be attributed to the fact that 00:09:13.220 --> 00:09:16.299 there was a heightened acute stress response 00:09:16.299 --> 00:09:18.659 to the competition that was highly linked to 00:09:18.659 --> 00:09:22.419 psychological and physiological demand during 00:09:22.419 --> 00:09:24.700 the competition that I forgot to say about those 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:27.879 things about the T -levels. So basically that's... 00:09:28.090 --> 00:09:30.690 That's the thing. What was the difference? I 00:09:30.690 --> 00:09:33.250 didn't catch. What was the percentage in females 00:09:33.250 --> 00:09:38.309 versus no? There was an increase of 27 .5 % from 00:09:38.309 --> 00:09:41.889 pre -competition to post -snatch and 29 % from 00:09:41.889 --> 00:09:43.789 pre -competition to post -cleaning and jerk. 00:09:43.970 --> 00:09:46.970 In contrast, the increase in males was significantly 00:09:46.970 --> 00:09:52.899 lower. 14 .5 % and 5 % respectively. And this 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:57.639 relative surge in testosterone among female athletes 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:00.159 may indicate the high -concuse stress response 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:02.659 to the competitions that was linked to psychological 00:10:02.659 --> 00:10:05.580 arousal and physiological demand. So although 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:08.740 female athletes have typically lower T -levels, 00:10:09.070 --> 00:10:11.129 In the competitions, they did increase the T 00:10:11.129 --> 00:10:14.230 levels more than their male counterparts because 00:10:14.230 --> 00:10:18.110 of these psychological levels, motivations, and 00:10:18.110 --> 00:10:20.669 so on, so on. And about the alpha amylase and 00:10:20.669 --> 00:10:23.370 cortisol levels, they increased significantly 00:10:23.370 --> 00:10:26.429 during the competitions. And so what that indicates 00:10:26.429 --> 00:10:30.950 that the... sympathetic nervous system and the 00:10:30.950 --> 00:10:35.470 petroleum adrenaline was activated. It does suggest 00:10:35.470 --> 00:10:38.690 that the alpha amylase levels were heightened 00:10:38.690 --> 00:10:42.639 during the post -snatch and post -cleaning. fasting 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:45.360 which also consists the previous studies show 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.840 that alpha amylase is a reliable indicator of 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:50.659 the sympathetic nervous system activation during 00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:54.159 high intensity exercises so that's what i wanted 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:56.799 to say why the alpha amylase is a good way because 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:00.519 it's non -invasive and you can see that the nervous 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:03.179 system is highly activated during that time so 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:05.679 if you have a high level high intensity workout 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:09.049 it's quite a reliable indicator that the sympathetic 00:11:09.049 --> 00:11:11.909 nervous system was activated and the tumor aroused 00:11:11.909 --> 00:11:15.409 quite good. So that's why I wanted to highlight 00:11:15.409 --> 00:11:18.690 also. Awesome. And when it comes to cortisol 00:11:18.690 --> 00:11:20.990 levels, cortisol levels, the post -snatch, like 00:11:20.990 --> 00:11:24.450 I said, they kept after the post -clean and jerk, 00:11:24.549 --> 00:11:27.690 it was heightened also because of the testosterone 00:11:27.690 --> 00:11:30.409 levels were more heightened in females than in 00:11:30.409 --> 00:11:32.750 males, possibly due to those things. And also 00:11:32.750 --> 00:11:35.929 because of the way they react to certain stresses 00:11:35.929 --> 00:11:38.659 and so on and so on. That was... We also wanted 00:11:38.659 --> 00:11:41.379 to, what was one of the things that we will try 00:11:41.379 --> 00:11:44.500 to do if we have the chance for, is how to cope 00:11:44.500 --> 00:11:47.440 with these mechanisms. So how to lower the cortisol 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:51.740 levels much more than to lower the beating, lower 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:54.419 the heart rate and try to do the best performance 00:11:54.419 --> 00:11:58.049 as we can during that time. Okay, I have a question 00:11:58.049 --> 00:12:01.649 about it. So my understanding is that for optimal 00:12:01.649 --> 00:12:04.289 performance in Olympic weightlifting, you have 00:12:04.289 --> 00:12:07.789 to have some level of arousal. So you can't be 00:12:07.789 --> 00:12:10.769 tall, built and relaxed because you will not 00:12:10.769 --> 00:12:14.009 perform the best. So how it relates to the levels 00:12:14.009 --> 00:12:18.529 of cortisol is go as high as you can or obviously... 00:12:19.080 --> 00:12:21.720 If you go too high, that's too much. And yeah. 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:24.320 That's the thing about arousal. Arousal is different 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:26.200 for everyone. For me, something that arouses 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:29.139 me doesn't necessarily arouse you the same way. 00:12:29.220 --> 00:12:32.340 So be it negatively, be it positively. So arousal 00:12:32.340 --> 00:12:34.720 can be like, I have this, my personal experience 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:36.840 when I was in the national championships, I did 00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:39.580 my best snatch when the European, well, European 00:12:39.580 --> 00:12:42.019 championship wasn't split. I did 130 on the snatch, 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:44.399 which was my best in the competition. Afterwards, 00:12:44.620 --> 00:12:47.559 I was so aroused by that. I was so, as I said, 00:12:47.620 --> 00:12:49.960 I wasn't afraid. That wasn't anything. We didn't 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:52.320 do anything. Unfortunately, we didn't have any 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:55.259 of these bell markers then. But I went on the 00:12:55.259 --> 00:12:58.519 clean and jerk and I was planning on to do 160. 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:01.299 But just to keep it short, my coach told me, 00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:04.639 okay, go 145, just in case. I went there, I went 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:07.379 out on the stage, I was completely frozen. So 00:13:07.379 --> 00:13:10.740 I didn't do anything. So the way that actually 00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:15.860 I do sets with, the threes or fives in five or 00:13:15.860 --> 00:13:18.159 four sets, I couldn't even lift it. My whole 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:21.240 technique was terrible. I was too much aroused 00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:23.379 to do it. So the thing is, this is individually 00:13:23.379 --> 00:13:26.139 based, of course, but the stress levels and the 00:13:26.139 --> 00:13:28.789 cortisol levels must be high, of course. have 00:13:28.789 --> 00:13:31.169 to be high because you're doing something and 00:13:31.169 --> 00:13:34.009 it automatically releases the hormones that are 00:13:34.009 --> 00:13:36.389 responsible for you to do something at all and 00:13:36.389 --> 00:13:38.450 one of the hormones is cortisol because it prepares 00:13:38.450 --> 00:13:40.409 you for something you're doing something especially 00:13:40.409 --> 00:13:44.220 when you're high level stress but Not too much. 00:13:44.340 --> 00:13:46.559 And that is the thing is the coping mechanisms 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:49.299 to do it. One of the reasons why maybe the females 00:13:49.299 --> 00:13:52.159 were all hormone -based, there are differences. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:54.899 But also the age, they were much younger. So 00:13:54.899 --> 00:13:57.039 they were not... Also, I do have to note that 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:00.080 Olympic weightlifting in Croatia is not a professional 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:02.279 sport. You have to understand. It's a semi -professional 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:04.679 sport. We have a couple of professional athletes, 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:07.039 but nobody lives from this sport. So everybody 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:10.000 does a side job. While I was competing, I was 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.090 working as a coach myself. so on so it's a bit 00:14:14.090 --> 00:14:17.409 harder to go all in into it so that's also one 00:14:17.409 --> 00:14:19.509 of the drawbacks of this study but this is the 00:14:19.509 --> 00:14:22.870 best that we have here in in our country so also 00:14:22.870 --> 00:14:26.309 i think the experience level is also to be noted 00:14:26.309 --> 00:14:29.399 that They're much less experienced. That's maybe 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:32.480 why they were aroused a bit more and had a little 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:35.220 bit more stress than the male counterparts. The 00:14:35.220 --> 00:14:38.559 level of arousal is also subjective. It's not 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:40.620 objectively, unfortunately, because like I said, 00:14:40.659 --> 00:14:43.159 something that arouses you in a good way doesn't 00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:45.799 necessarily arouse me the same way. And because 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:47.639 I'm aroused doesn't mean I'm going to do the 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:50.490 same good job. If you're not there, I mean, you 00:14:50.490 --> 00:14:53.070 have to be somewhere. Arousal has to be high, 00:14:53.250 --> 00:14:55.070 but it doesn't mean that I'm going to do a better 00:14:55.070 --> 00:14:57.330 job than you're going to do with a better job 00:14:57.330 --> 00:15:00.110 without that arousal. So that's one of the things, 00:15:00.210 --> 00:15:02.289 if I made myself clear, I hope. All right. Did 00:15:02.289 --> 00:15:05.490 you look at the performance level or maybe the 00:15:05.490 --> 00:15:08.370 success rate? So how many lifts they hit versus 00:15:08.370 --> 00:15:11.389 how high their cortisol or testosterone level 00:15:11.389 --> 00:15:14.350 was? Yes. Yes, we did. And it was good courses. 00:15:14.370 --> 00:15:17.500 So all in all, all of them. succeed at their 00:15:17.500 --> 00:15:21.179 stretch goals so most of them hit the goals that 00:15:21.179 --> 00:15:23.980 they were planning to hit but like i said these 00:15:23.980 --> 00:15:27.179 goals were not their highest results what they 00:15:27.179 --> 00:15:30.980 usually do their trs so like i said this when 00:15:30.980 --> 00:15:33.299 you do a team championship you already know what 00:15:33.299 --> 00:15:35.610 you're gonna lift And you make sure that you 00:15:35.610 --> 00:15:38.269 can lift it. So you're not going to gamble that 00:15:38.269 --> 00:15:40.970 much. The thing is, this is also experience -based. 00:15:41.049 --> 00:15:44.350 So what we found is that mostly experienced lifters, 00:15:44.409 --> 00:15:46.769 we also had some, you know, we call them sideliners 00:15:46.769 --> 00:15:49.929 because we had three, I think four that were 00:15:49.929 --> 00:15:52.279 really high level. high -level athletes that 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:54.940 did the Olympics, that they were competing here, 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:57.700 but they were past their prime also. But they 00:15:57.700 --> 00:16:02.360 showed basically no significant cortisol levels 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:06.799 or stress levels. But they were sideliners because 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:10.740 out of the 46 that we had, 47, there were three 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:13.220 of them who were basically retired. We had one 00:16:13.220 --> 00:16:16.100 Hungarian, we had also two from Croatia. They 00:16:16.100 --> 00:16:18.340 were professional ones, like I said. The thing 00:16:18.340 --> 00:16:21.820 is, and this is unfortunately the biggest drawback, 00:16:22.019 --> 00:16:25.500 in my opinion, is that most of our lifters are 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:29.480 semi -professional. That is also a bad thing 00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:31.720 for our sport, but we have to take that into 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:34.100 account, that they're semi -professional, they 00:16:34.100 --> 00:16:36.490 train. but that's the best that we have in our 00:16:36.490 --> 00:16:38.850 country and they also all go into the national 00:16:38.850 --> 00:16:41.330 team and so on but what but these are not as 00:16:41.330 --> 00:16:43.429 we put aside because it was too much of a gap 00:16:43.429 --> 00:16:47.090 between them so you know so i hope that we do 00:16:47.090 --> 00:16:50.169 try to conduct in an environment where we have 00:16:50.169 --> 00:16:53.370 professional lifters who only do and mainly do 00:16:53.370 --> 00:16:55.950 these things. Because, you know, working and 00:16:55.950 --> 00:16:59.029 training are not two best combinations when you're 00:16:59.029 --> 00:17:02.070 doing active sports. Probably in high -level 00:17:02.070 --> 00:17:04.289 professional weightlifters, as we saw it in the 00:17:04.289 --> 00:17:07.210 sideliners, probably the results would be different. 00:17:07.349 --> 00:17:09.569 I don't think significantly, but they would be 00:17:09.569 --> 00:17:11.250 different because they're more professional, 00:17:11.349 --> 00:17:14.569 they're used to this, they know how to handle 00:17:14.569 --> 00:17:17.220 and cope with stress, but also... What was one 00:17:17.220 --> 00:17:19.539 of the things that we will try to do is to have 00:17:19.539 --> 00:17:21.339 these same lifters, that they still compete, 00:17:21.460 --> 00:17:24.119 all of them, try to do some breathing exercises 00:17:24.119 --> 00:17:28.099 to lower their stress levels and try to see if 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:30.640 that's going to help. So that's one of the, for 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:32.099 the future studies, that's going to be one of 00:17:32.099 --> 00:17:35.759 the main focuses on that. One of the thing is, 00:17:35.900 --> 00:17:39.019 what I would like to do is try to educate the 00:17:39.019 --> 00:17:40.880 athletes, which is one of the most important 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:43.579 thing is how to cope with those stress levels. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.299 Because if they can lower their... biological 00:17:46.299 --> 00:17:48.900 physiological size of stress they can maybe perform 00:17:48.900 --> 00:17:52.259 much better during the whole competition or during 00:17:52.259 --> 00:17:55.059 the game so trying to figure that out is one 00:17:55.059 --> 00:17:57.839 of the things that we will try to do so according 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:01.440 to breeding intervention and so on but from my 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:05.460 knowledge now and what we've seen in these researches 00:18:05.460 --> 00:18:07.680 and other research papers is that experience 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:11.259 is key to all of that so more experienced players 00:18:11.259 --> 00:18:14.339 more experienced athletes have fans The stress 00:18:14.339 --> 00:18:16.339 level is the same. It's just the way they deal 00:18:16.339 --> 00:18:19.519 with that stress is much more different. And 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:22.119 when it comes to stressful situations, they have 00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:25.079 coping mechanisms that they developed by themselves 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:28.220 to deal much better with them, which are also 00:18:28.220 --> 00:18:30.599 based individually. But what I would like to 00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:34.359 do and what we will all like to do is try to 00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:37.819 unificate that and try to standardize those coping 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:41.200 mechanisms to make it available to younger athletes, 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:43.750 which is mainly the focus here. Because the older 00:18:43.750 --> 00:18:45.890 athletes, they already know how to deal with 00:18:45.890 --> 00:18:48.690 lots of stress and how to better themselves in 00:18:48.690 --> 00:18:51.690 that place. Okay, so let's try to bring it together. 00:18:51.789 --> 00:18:55.250 What would be your practical advice for the coaches 00:18:55.250 --> 00:18:57.589 coming out of your study? Well, my practical 00:18:57.589 --> 00:19:00.529 advice, and this is also from the study, but 00:19:00.529 --> 00:19:05.089 also from the experience -wise, would be to better, 00:19:05.130 --> 00:19:08.529 as in, not better prepare, but to just give athletes 00:19:08.529 --> 00:19:11.609 more time. to cope with what's happening around 00:19:11.609 --> 00:19:14.029 them, around the competition. So when he's lifting 00:19:14.029 --> 00:19:17.390 or she, just be a little bit more, as you say, 00:19:17.470 --> 00:19:20.950 more thoughtful and more encouraging to them, 00:19:21.049 --> 00:19:24.849 which younger athletes appreciate much more in 00:19:24.849 --> 00:19:27.809 the long term. So just keep them calm. Don't 00:19:27.809 --> 00:19:31.490 give them too much of an anxiety or don't arouse 00:19:31.490 --> 00:19:33.450 them too much because they're already aroused, 00:19:33.470 --> 00:19:35.910 but we see. They already have enough arousal 00:19:35.910 --> 00:19:38.329 for them. They're already woken up. They already 00:19:38.329 --> 00:19:40.990 know how to do it. Just to keep them calm and 00:19:40.990 --> 00:19:44.970 let them breathe in, breathe out and to encourage 00:19:44.970 --> 00:19:48.569 them a little bit more during the phases of the 00:19:48.569 --> 00:19:51.049 lifting. For instance, and this is also experience 00:19:51.049 --> 00:19:53.809 -based, the difference between individual and 00:19:53.809 --> 00:19:56.849 team sport is that individual sports require 00:19:56.849 --> 00:19:59.230 much more calmness because they need to be a 00:19:59.230 --> 00:20:00.630 little bit more calm. They only have one task 00:20:00.630 --> 00:20:02.450 to do and they have to do it good. They have 00:20:02.450 --> 00:20:04.710 to do it perfect. Team sport -based, they have 00:20:04.710 --> 00:20:07.250 to do a lot more things. Run, shoot, tackle, 00:20:07.450 --> 00:20:10.299 defend. is that and the coaches they're much 00:20:10.299 --> 00:20:12.720 more aggressive than the individual coaches of 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:15.380 the individual sports so they also but when i 00:20:15.380 --> 00:20:18.299 when we do the analysis i'll have much more clearer 00:20:18.779 --> 00:20:21.220 how much more stress they do. Because also I 00:20:21.220 --> 00:20:23.299 have the coaches here in weightlifting we have 00:20:23.299 --> 00:20:25.059 to do and also I have the coaches in basketball. 00:20:25.339 --> 00:20:27.900 We'll see how the different coaches level. I 00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:30.859 think the team coaches will be much, much more 00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:34.880 aroused than the individual coaches from the 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:36.900 individual sports. That's my thing that that 00:20:36.900 --> 00:20:39.779 will be a bigger difference. As I saw it, you 00:20:39.779 --> 00:20:42.940 know, visually while I was competing and while 00:20:42.940 --> 00:20:46.420 I was doing coaching myself. But mostly... So 00:20:46.420 --> 00:20:48.779 like I said, keep them calm because they're already 00:20:48.779 --> 00:20:51.880 aroused. No matter how much you think they look 00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:55.039 calm, as we see, they're already aroused enough. 00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:57.579 It's just how you push them in the right way 00:20:57.579 --> 00:21:00.039 should you. So don't kill them because they already 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:03.339 have. Maybe they're just too nervous to perform. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.640 Too much aroused. So giving them too much arousal 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.539 will be just, we're just going to leave them. 00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:12.180 I think you not lift the best they can lift. 00:21:12.539 --> 00:21:14.619 when it comes to this. Would you have any advice 00:21:14.619 --> 00:21:18.900 on how to guide male athletes versus female athletes? 00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:21.660 Well, when it comes to those things, I think 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:23.980 you shouldn't make that much of a difference. 00:21:24.180 --> 00:21:27.119 Although maybe female athletes do need a little 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:28.859 bit more support when it comes to these sort 00:21:28.859 --> 00:21:31.859 of things because usually the competition level, 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.319 because of the testosterone, male athletes tend 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:36.660 to be highly, highly, highly competitive, especially 00:21:36.660 --> 00:21:38.880 in these sort of things. And I think females 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:41.079 are a little bit more calmer. And they do tend 00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:43.220 to deal with these sorts of situations a little 00:21:43.220 --> 00:21:45.359 bit more harder than their male counterparts. 00:21:45.539 --> 00:21:48.880 So I think more supportiveness would come much 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:51.279 better to them. Although, of course, males also 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:53.640 need it. But to guide them a little bit more, 00:21:53.779 --> 00:21:56.900 less stricter than the male counterparts, I think, 00:21:56.920 --> 00:21:59.500 because in my experience coaching girls and coaching 00:21:59.500 --> 00:22:03.240 boys, girls tend to be a bit more responsible 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:05.240 when it comes to training and when it comes to 00:22:05.240 --> 00:22:09.160 doing the tasks that they have. versus the boys 00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:11.259 they have tend to be a little bit more everywhere 00:22:11.259 --> 00:22:14.779 but there when they're especially when they're 00:22:14.779 --> 00:22:17.619 training so personally found that being stricter 00:22:17.619 --> 00:22:19.660 with boys gets you much better results than being 00:22:19.660 --> 00:22:21.960 stricter with girls so that's one of the things 00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:24.779 that i my personal opinion but also when you 00:22:24.779 --> 00:22:29.019 see these uh these results it's much more better 00:22:29.019 --> 00:22:31.880 to be calmer and more supportive with with girls 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:36.019 especially younger girls than their male counterparts 00:22:36.019 --> 00:22:38.900 one of the things also that this gender -specific 00:22:38.900 --> 00:22:41.319 training like i said with creamers you have to 00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:44.130 be a little bit more thoughtful also to give 00:22:44.130 --> 00:22:46.849 them more time to rest and more sleep which i 00:22:46.849 --> 00:22:48.710 believe will positively affect them more i mean 00:22:48.710 --> 00:22:51.029 everybody will affect that but for them much 00:22:51.029 --> 00:22:53.829 more because of their because of their way of 00:22:53.829 --> 00:22:56.309 their coping mechanisms with stress in usual 00:22:56.309 --> 00:22:58.849 so that's basically do you think it's females 00:22:58.849 --> 00:23:02.430 in general or females young females in this study 00:23:02.430 --> 00:23:05.589 who were a little bit less experienced well uh 00:23:05.589 --> 00:23:09.769 to be honest we when it comes to i think when 00:23:09.769 --> 00:23:12.700 it comes to this particular study. I think their 00:23:12.700 --> 00:23:15.859 experience levels played a key role inside this 00:23:15.859 --> 00:23:19.200 because they were younger. Also... general females 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:22.859 do tend to cope with stress levels a little bit 00:23:22.859 --> 00:23:25.039 different than their male counterparts, like 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:28.720 I said. So, to be honest, I would have to research 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:31.460 a little bit more to see if other females react 00:23:31.460 --> 00:23:33.680 the same, but I think it's probably the same. 00:23:33.700 --> 00:23:38.019 Maybe the more experienced level females tend 00:23:38.019 --> 00:23:40.259 to cope with stress better, but I think when 00:23:40.259 --> 00:23:42.119 you compare them to their male counterparts, 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:45.029 so the high level, I think the males have slightly 00:23:45.029 --> 00:23:47.529 more advantage when it comes to dealing with 00:23:47.529 --> 00:23:50.029 those things. But like I said, I would have to 00:23:50.029 --> 00:23:52.869 look up that a little bit more. But I think if 00:23:52.869 --> 00:23:56.369 you compare them, I think females tend to be 00:23:56.369 --> 00:23:58.410 more stressful in these sorts of situations. 00:23:58.710 --> 00:24:01.109 I have two short questions to finish. The first 00:24:01.109 --> 00:24:04.430 one is, what is your favorite lift? Snatch, definitely. 00:24:04.829 --> 00:24:08.210 Because it's more technical and I'm better at 00:24:08.210 --> 00:24:11.200 it. Fair enough, fair enough. And the last question 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:13.700 is where people can find you if they want to 00:24:13.700 --> 00:24:16.259 follow your work or ask a question, where should 00:24:16.259 --> 00:24:19.619 they go? Well, since I'm not there in the social 00:24:19.619 --> 00:24:21.700 media too much, I have my private account, Ivan 00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:25.400 .Perasovich on Instagram. That's my private Instagram 00:24:25.400 --> 00:24:28.799 account, but also my email address, Ivan .Perasovich. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:31.740 perasso at gmail .com, which is my private email 00:24:31.740 --> 00:24:34.000 address. If you have any questions, you can feel 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:37.420 free to ask or to clarify other things. So that's 00:24:37.420 --> 00:24:39.460 basically it. I'm not that involved in social 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:45.240 media. And I'm also on LinkedIn also. So there 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:48.700 you can find me on those places. Awesome. Thank 00:24:48.700 --> 00:24:51.500 you so much, Ivan. It was a pleasure. Yeah, it 00:24:51.500 --> 00:24:52.680 was a pleasure also.