Science of Badminton 3 - What Time of Day To Play Your Best

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by westwood_13, Jan 8, 2007.

  1. westwood_13

    westwood_13 Regular Member

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    For most of us, early in the morning is not the optimum time to play a match. Perhaps we’re groggy, tired, not fully awake enough to perform at our peak. Scientific evidence indicates that, with respect to serving and general physical gameplay, morning times are not optimal for performance. Hopefully this is helpful to organizing your training/match schedule!

    Both the long serve and short serve require a considerable amount of accuracy, as well as power in the case of the long serve. A study was conducted to see if time of day effected players’ accuracy in both of these regards. Keep in mind that the literature review indicates that overall strength (including grip), gross motor performance, whole-body flexibility, and simple reacction time were at their highest values in the evening (~18:00 hours, or 6:00PM), and at their lowest in the morning (~6:00 hours, or 6:00AM). This relates to body temperature. On the other hand, tasks that require finer motor coordination, such as balancing, manipulative dexterity, and precision work ae performed better in the morning than the evening. Added to this, when both speed and accuracy are required for successful performance, then a trade-off between the two factors is observed. That is, if speed is emphasized, accuracy is reduced; conversely, when accuracy is emphasized, speed is reduced. Because of badminton’s speed and dexterity component, a happy medium between these two needs to be found.

    Serves themselves require a speed/strength and dexterity component, and thus are a good model. Grip strength is an important factor, and was analysed. Grip strength was found to be significantly higher in the afternoon/evening, approaching its peak at ~18:00 hours (6:00PM). However, there was no statistically valid difference between grip strength at ~14:00 hours (2:00PM) and 18:00 hours. This is important because both short and long serves exhibited the highest accuracy values at ~14:00 hours, and much less so at ~20:00 hours and ~6:00 hours.

    Keep in mind that the subjects were 8 recreational male players, and results could be due to their ability. However, the science seems to indicate that if you have an important match to play, schedule it for 2:00!



    Reference: Edwards, B. J., Lindsay, K., Waterhouse, J. 2005. Effect of time of day on the accuracy and consistency of the badminton serve. Ergonomics. 48: 1488-1498
     
  2. GunBlade008

    GunBlade008 Regular Member

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    Time of day makes a huge difference...in the morning of tournaments, I'm nowhere near my peak and my body is still sleeping haha
     
  3. chris-ccc

    chris-ccc Regular Member

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    In the evening, the mind gets a little tired

    Hi westwood_13,

    If I have an important match/play, I would schedule it for 3:00pm or 9:00pm.
    At 2:00pm or 8:00pm, I could still feel the lunch/dinner in my stomach. :):):)

    However, if I have coaching/training, I would schedule it for 10:00am-12:00noon or 3:00pm-5:00pm.

    In the evening, the mind gets a little tired. ;););)

    Cheers... chris@ccc
     
    #3 chris-ccc, Jan 9, 2007
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2007
  4. westwood_13

    westwood_13 Regular Member

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    You're still awake enough to play an important match at 9:00 PM? That's remarkable!!!

    I know I'm a yawning bag of bones at that point, heh.
     
  5. Dummey

    Dummey Regular Member

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    Lol, I probably play the best at 10ish PM =) yay for night practice.
     
  6. Crazypeetee246

    Crazypeetee246 Regular Member

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    I've always had this suspicion! Whenever I practiced in the mornings, I felt like my feet weren't moving like I wanted them to. :rolleyes:
     
  7. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Ohh good find westwood:)

    I hate playing in the mornings - yuck.

    On the whole I agree but being me, there are points of issue.

    It's mainly this one.
    This part about grip strength is very much open to misinterpretation. I am worried that many people will interpret that as holding the racquet tightly throughout the whole of the stroke - which obviously is not the case.
     
  8. Loh

    Loh Regular Member

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    However, for some major international tournaments like the forthcoming Malaysian Open SS, players may have to play in the morning, afternoon and evening, depending on their schedule. In tournaments where there are many entries, some players may have to play twice a day. How would they fare?

    I don't know which part of the day peak performance can be better achieved for individual professionals but your study seems to suggest that the evening is best in general. For the ordinary folks, morning seems too sluggish to play games but the mind is clear and fresh. Additionally, with a good warm up and stretching exercise, professionals may be able to play their normal game.

    It would be interesting to compare the performance of a professional player who has played during the three different times of the day in any major event. But the results may not be very meaningful as conditions may differ and his opponents may be weaker or stronger, so consistency will be lacking.
    But if we can measure just his speed, agility,flexibilty, power or other quantifiable personal aspects during these three ocassions, this may be helpful to gain some insight into his peak performance.

    On the question of measuring grip power, I agree that this is misleading. A good coach will advise his trainee not to grip the handle tight but to leave some room for the hand to do some last minute manoeuvre of the handle for better shot execution.
     
  9. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Remember, ordinary folks like us have to work/study during daytimes. Most of the badminton we play will be weekend afternoons and evenings.

    For pros, they start training in the mornings. I think they will adapt better to playing in the mornings.
     
  10. westwood_13

    westwood_13 Regular Member

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    I also agree. I decided for convenience's sake to work out of the premise that though grip strength in a testable version (the squeeze test) is not necessarily directly used in badminton, it's probably indicative of wrist strength and general muscular. But that's a completely unscientific assumption... in reality, I just don't know.
     
  11. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    It's a bit confusing as well. First, there is the statement that grip strength is an important factor in the serve. When they analyse it, they then found no association of the best grip strength (18.00hr) to the best accuracy of serves (14.00). Therefore, their study doesn't support the assumption that grip strength is an important factor! They shot themselves in the foot there:D
     
  12. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    The upshot is, if you want to create an upset win, you are better off trying to plan when it is the first match of the day before 09.00..:eek:
     
  13. jerby

    jerby Regular Member

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    the positive side: it's just as early for your opponent...:p

    Though I'm not that fast at my morning practises (before school, 2 times a week) from 07:00-08:30..but you get some courttime done, and learn a lot..
     
  14. j_e_thompson

    j_e_thompson Regular Member

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    Excellent thread! It confirms exactly what I've been experiencing. All of our home games are 10.00am on a Saturday, and I play really badly. Most of our away games are in the evening, about 7.00pm or 8.00pm (sometimes not finishing until after 11.00pm). At these games I play much better.

    Our club is currently thinking about a new venue next season and possibly a new time for our games. I think I'll use this thread as ammo to push for an evening slot!

    John
     
  15. westwood_13

    westwood_13 Regular Member

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    Haha, well glad to be of use, good luck in this regard!
     

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