RECOVERY PRACTICES OF SLOVENIAN SPORT CLIMBERS

Abstract

Post-exercise recovery interventions enable athletes to overcome greater training loads and thereby enhancing their performance. Post-exercise recovery strategies serve to optimize recovery, help lower performance decline and prevent overtraining. The purpose of this study was to examine the current practices and attitudes towards post-exercise recovery among Slovenian sport climbers. 339 sports climbers from Slovenia (186 males, 153 females), consisting of 330 recreational sport climbers and 9 competitive sport climbers completed an online survey which was active from February to May 2022. The most common recovery strategies among sport climbers are sleep/rest (84%) and stretching (77%). A significant proportion of sport climbers (87%) reported sleeping duration below the recommended amount of sleep. Personal opinions notably influence the choice of recovery strategies (6 out of 9 competitive sport climbers and 71% of recreational sport climbers). Our findings reveal discrepancies between individual beliefs regarding the effectiveness of specific strategies and their practical implementation. Competitive sport climbers have more individualized recovery strategies (p = 0.012) and use a greater number of recovery strategies (p = 0. 005). Even though that such recovery practices of sport climbers are often in conflict with the literature, we can conclude that sport climbers recover solidly. This data may suggest that recovery does not play a major role in sport climbing performance.