Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced worldwide shutdowns including major sporting leagues for at least 8 weeks, where athletes have been forced to train at home with remote coaching. The amount of detraining that has occurred during this break is an important factor in guiding retraining post Covid-19 shutdown. The pattern of detraining in fitness components is predicted using previous studies findings on the detraining process of specific physiological elements. The patterns are used to foresee what we can expect to happen physically during this break. The more highly trained the athlete the more vulnerable they are to detrain, as they require high level of training to maintain these characteristics. Aerobic fitness declines rapidly with training cessation but can be retrained rapidly and maintained with lower volumes. Similarly, muscular size and strength can be maintained with reduced loads in younger populations. It is harder to maintain power, agility and ‘match fitness’ during the break due to lack of facilities and competitive training. Strength and conditioning coaches need to identify the detraining that has occurred over the break and strategically prepare athletes for match play in as short as 3 weeks. A balance between preparing the athletes as fast as possible and reducing potential injury risk needs to be carefully decided, using predisposing factors to injury risk such as previous injury and information from wellness monitoring to guide the volume and intensity of training prescription for each individual. An increase in injuries could be expected as workload volumes will soar post Covid-19 break, those especially vulnerable are inexperienced athletes and those with previous soft-tissue and stress related injuries.
Keywords Covid-19, Coronavirus, Detraining, Return to play and Injury
