The newly discovered coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has caused an infectious disease of pandemic proportion called coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19). The absence of an effective vaccine for the COVID-19 disease has led many National and International authorities to take some prompt strict measurements to reduce the risk of infection, including closing non-essential activities and forcing individuals to stay at home. Accordingly, several sport events have been canceled and/or postponed and, hundreds of thousands of amateur and professional athletes worldwide have abruptly been forced to train at home. As a consequence, athletes had to face an unprecedented and relatively long-term reduction or cessation in their training routine along with a substantial cutting of their physical daily activities. Such changes may result in a significant decay of the quantity and worsening of the quality of training stimuli, making athletes exposed to some potential levels of detraining (i.e., "partial or complete loss of training-induced anatomical, physiological and performance adaptations"; Mujika and Padilla, 2000b) and to increased risks of injury. Thus, sport scientists, coaches and exercise physiologists worldwide had to deal with a novel challenge consisting in how to minimize potential detraining effects induced by home confinement.
© Copyright 2020 Frontiers in Physiology. Frontiers Media. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.