Olympic preparation in Brazilian judo athletes: description and perceived relevance of training practices

The aim of this study was to describe the training routines used by judo athletes and their perception concerning the relevance, effort made, concentration needed, and pleasure obtained during the training sessions conducted 6 months before their Olympic participation and to compare with medal winners and other competitors in these aspects. Sixty-one Olympic Brazilian judo athletes (men = 39; women = 22), representing 66.3% of all Brazilian participants in this Olympic sport (from 1964 to 2008), including 10 medal winners (9 men and 1 woman) answered a questionnaire concerning their training routines. Mann-Whitney and Student's t-test for independent samples were used. Judo medalists and nonmedalists in the Olympic Games did not differ in: (a) the age when they started to practice and to compete in judo, (b) the age when they competed in the Olympic Games, (c) hours of training per week and per training session and the number of training sessions per day in their preparation for this event, (d) frequency and time spent for performing judo-specific and general exercises and their perceived relevance, effort, pleasure, and concentration for these activities performed during the preparation for the Olympic Games. The only differences found were the groundwork (ne-waza) randori practice, which was less frequently performed by medal winners, and perceived relevance attributed to this activity, which was considered less relevant by the medal winners compared with nonmedal winners. Thus, judo Olympic medal winners and nonmedalists did not differ in many training aspects in the final phase of their preparation to the Olympic Games.