Effect Of Extreme Conditioning Training On Body Perception

Introduction: Extreme conditioning training (ECT) has become a popular method, characterized by a wide variety of exercises. For good technical performance, practitioners must have good perception of the different parts of the body; however, it is not known whether this perception differs between practitioners and non-practitioners of ECT. Objective: To analyze the perception of body dimensions among subjects submitted to an ECT session. Methods: Adult men were divided into TRAINED (n = 10) and UNTRAINED (n = 10). All subjects were submitted to a combination of high-effort multiarticular exercises for a set period of nine minutes ("the largest possible number of repetitions"[AMRAP]). For the procedure of marking the body pattern, the subjects were scored in terms of acromioclavicular joints, waist and trochanter. Results: Regarding the general perception of body size, the TRAINED and UNTRAINED groups were classified as adequate for each stage. In the dimension of body segments, there was an overestimation of the shoulder region in both groups (TRAINED Pre = 105.2 +/- 8.37; Post = 117.23 +/- 22.11 [ES = 0.79]; 30 min = 101.34 +/- 14.21 [ES = 0.34] and UNTRAINED Pre = 96.72 +/- 12.79; Post = 99.47 +/- 12.17 [ES = 0.22]; 30 min = 111.05 +/- 11.06 [ES = 1.27]). The perception of the waist region improved significantly after training (TRAINED Pre = 114.11 +/- 16.4; Post = 117.7 +/- 20.16 [ES = 0.20]; 30 min = 104.59 +/- 11.46 [ES = 0.68] and UNTRAINED Pre = 114.66 +/- 9.88; Post = 104.64 +/- 12.87; [ES = 0.88]; 30 min = 108.36 +/- 12.32 [ES = 0.57]). Conclusion: ECT can promote better perception of body dimensions. In addition, the assessment of body size in active, but untrained individuals showed a better body perception, albeit a transitory effect.