The Effects of Verbal Encouragement and Compliments on Physical Performance and Psychophysiological Responses During the Repeated Change of Direction Sprint Test

Abstract

The general and sports psychology research is limited regarding the difference between the effects of verbal encouragement (VE) or compliment methods during high-intensity functional exercise testing. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of VE and compliments on the performance of the repeated change-of-direction (RCOD) sprint test. A total of 36 male students in secondary school participated voluntarily in the study. They were divided equally into three homogeneous groups [VE group, compliment group (CG), and control group) and performed a standardized one repetition RCOD. The RCOD (6 × 20 m with 25-s active recovery) test consisted of a 100°change in the direction at every 4 m. Outcomes included performance indices (fast time, average time, and total time), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and feeling scale scores. VE and the compliment increased the performance indices and RPE compared with the control group. In conclusion, VE during the exercise testing would be more beneficial for optimal performance and RPE compared with the compliment and control groups. However, the moods, during RCOD, reproduce more positively during compliment conditions than the VE and control groups.

The Effects of Verbal Encouragement during a Soccer Dribbling Circuit on Physical and Psychophysiological Responses: An Exploratory Study in a Physical Education Setting

“…It is believed that verbal encouragement (VE) from the practitioners can enhance intrinsic motivation [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ], which clearly affects physical commitment and positive interaction with physical exertion and desire to do exercises [ 7 , 12 ]. This, in turn, leads to better technical, physical, and emotional responses [ 8 , 13 , 14 ].…”

The influence of verbal encouragement on heart rate, maximum oxygen uptake, and distance covered in young male adults during beep test

“…Some testing guidelines recommend VE as one stimulus of motivation for better results [9][10][11], but unfortunately, most of the studies that used the beep test in their research do not include information on whether VE was given during the test [12] and therefore it is unclear how many of them are using VE in praxis. Some researchers investigated the effects of VE on different fitness abilities, and positive changes were found in strength [6,[13][14][15] and speed parameters [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Furthermore, many studies on athletes [17][18][19] have found just small changes after applying VE and have described that athletes and females are more self-motivated than non-athletes and males.…”

The Effects of Combined Verbal Encouragement and Technical Instruction on Technical Skills and Psychophysiological Responses During Small-Sided Handball Games Exercise in Physical Education

“…At handball clubs and at school to learn handball or similar team sports, exercises based on the small games with less rules have become the most used to improve the sports initiation of both players and physical education pupils (Dellal et al, 2012;Halouani et al, 2014;Selmi et al, 2017). Several studies have shown the beneficial effects of exercises based on small games on physical, tactical, technical, and mental parameters in a training and a learning context (Sampaio et al, 2014;Selmi et al, 2017;Sahli et al, 2020Sahli et al, , 2021.…”