Acute associations between high-intensity cross-training and executive function in female athletes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v81.108041Keywords:
sport psychology, resistance training, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, processing speed, immediate memoryAbstract
Aim: This study explored the acute association between a high-intensity cross-training benchmark and executive function performance in female athletes.
Methodology: A convenience sample of trained female athletes (age: 29.17 ± 6.75 years; training experience: 29.83 ± 16.63 months) completed the Five-Digit Test (FDT) and underwent physiological assessments, including blood pressure, heart rate, and blood lactate concentration, before and immediately after the WOD Fran benchmark. A within-subject pre–post design was adopted. Paired Student’s t-tests were used to compare cognitive and physiological variables between moments, with the level of statistical significance set at p ≤ 0.05.
Results: Significant pre–post differences were observed in several executive function–related measures, including counting time, choice time, shifting time, inverse memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility.
Discussion: These findings indicate that acute exposure to a high-intensity functional exercise bout is associated with measurable changes in executive function performance and physiological responses in female athletes.
Conclusion: Although causality cannot be inferred due to the pre-experimental design and absence of a control condition, the results provide exploratory evidence supporting a link between acute cross-training exercise and executive function dynamics, contributing to the understanding of psychophysiological responses to high-intensity exercise in this population.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Michele Andrade de Brito, José Raimundo Fernandes, Diego Ignácio Valenzuela Pérez, Esteban Aedo Muñoz, Ciro J Brito, Felipe Guimarães Teixeira, Pedro H Berbeth Carvalho, Bianca Miarka
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