Self-monitoring and public posting improve competitive youth cyclists' training performance

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of self-monitoring and public posting on the cycling performance of competitive youth cyclists. We measured three primary dependent variables: performance volume, intensity precision, and performance-duration deviation. In addition, we evaluated self-monitoring accuracy and social validity. The participants were three males aged 14–16 years. We used an ABAB design to evaluate an intervention package that consisted primarily of self-monitoring and public posting. Athletes self-monitored their performance after training using an online summative Google Form. The coach publicly posted performance-based rankings on the social media application WhatsApp. Results indicate that the intervention package positively improved all performance measures across all athletes. Social-validity measures were also favorable.