European Journal of Sport Science最新文献

Wearable temperature sensors offer the potential to overcome several limitations associated with current laboratory- and field-based methods for core temperature assessment; however, their ability to provide accurate data at elevated core temperatures (Tc) has been questioned. Therefore, this investigation aimed to determine the concurrent validity of a wearable temperature sensor (CORE) compared to a reference telemetric temperature pill (BodyCAP) during a team-sport heat training camp prior to the 2020 Olympic Games. Female field hockey players (n = 19) in the Australian national squad completed 4 sessions in hot conditions where their temperature was monitored via CORE and BodyCAP. Concurrent validity of the wearable CORE device was determined with reference to the ingested BodyCAP pill. Lin's Concordance Correlation Coefficients determined there was "poor" agreement between devices during all sessions. Mean bias demonstrated that CORE underestimated Tc in all sessions (-0.06°C to -0.34°C), with wide mean 95% confidence intervals (±0.35°C to ±0.56°C). Locally estimated scatterplot smoothing regression lines illustrated a non-linearity of error, with greater underestimation of Tc by the CORE device, as Tc increased. The two devices disagreed more than ±0.3°C for 41-60% of all data samples in each session. Our findings do not support the use of the CORE device as a valid alternative to telemetric temperature pills for Tc assessment, particularly during exercise in hot conditions where elevated Tc are expected.

HighlightsPrior to participation in meet marathon races such as Berlin marathon, elite runners should select the group that they will join during the race according to their current performance level as a preassigned pace set by a pacemaker will be adopted.Athletes could follow an even rather than positive pacing behaviour which will allow them to achieve a more optimal performance.Female runners should consider being paced by a male runner of greater performance level as runners of both sexes are allowed to run the race altogether during this type of races.

Training and rehabilitation programmes involving neuromuscular electrical stimulation superimposed onto voluntary contractions (NMES+) have gained popularity in the last decades. Yet, there is no clear consensus on the effectiveness of such intervention. The aim of this review was to evaluate the effect of chronic exposure to NMES+ on muscle strength and mass compared to conventional volitional training or passive electrical stimulation alone. Two authors conducted an electronic search to identify randomized controlled trials that investigated the effect of NMES+ training, involved healthy participants or orthopaedic patients, detailed a well-defined NMES training protocol, and provided outcomes related to muscle strength and/or mass. The authors extracted data on participants, intervention characteristics, muscle-related outcomes, and assessed the methodological quality of the studies. A total of twenty-four studies were included in the review. The majority of these reported an increase in muscle strength following NMES+ training compared to an equivalent voluntary or passive NMES training. The highest improvements were found when NMES was superimposed on sub-maximal exercises involving both concentric and eccentric contractions. Two studies reported an increase in muscle mass after NMES+, while two other studies exhibited no differences. This review indicated that chronic exposure to NMES+ determines muscle strength improvements greater or equal compared to volitional training alone. However, differences in the methodological characteristics of the stimulation and the type of exercise associated with NMES+ revealed significant discrepancies in the results. A deeper understanding of the neurophysiological adaptations to NMES+ is crucial to fully explain the muscle-related enhancement resulting from such intervention.HighlightsNMES+ consists of simultaneously applying neuromuscular electrical stimulation while voluntarily contracting the stimulated muscle.Although a growing number of studies have suggested that intervention based on NMES+ have a strong potential in enhancing as well as preserving muscle function, there is still no clear consensus on the effectiveness of such technique.This review revealed that training based on NMES+ can induce a significant improvement of muscle strength in both healthy and orthopaedic individuals.

We explored the association of physical fitness (PF) during pregnancy with maternal body composition indices along pregnancy and postpartum period. The study comprised 159 pregnant women (32.9 ± 4.7 years old). Assessments were carried out at the 16th and 34th gestational weeks (g.w.) and six weeks postpartum. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), muscular strength (absolute and relative values) and flexibility were measured. Body composition indices were obtained by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at postpartum. The results, after adjusting for potential covariates at the 16th g.w., indicated that greater CRF was associated with lower postpartum indices total fat mass, android and gynoid fat mass (all, p < 0.05). Greater absolute upper-body muscular strength was associated with greater pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain (GWG); and postpartum indices body weight, BMI, lean mass, fat free mass, fat mass, gynoid fat mass, T-score and Z-score bone mineral density (BMD) (all, p < 0.05). Greater upper-body flexibility was associated with lower pre-pregnancy BMI; and postpartum indices body weight, BMI, lean mass, fat free mass, fat mass, android fat mass and gynoid fat mass, and with greater GWG (all, p < 0.05). At the 34th g.w., greater CRF was additionally associated with greater postpartum T-score and Z-score BMD (both, p < 0.05). In conclusion, this study reveals that greater PF levels, especially during early pregnancy, may promote a better body composition in the postpartum period. Therefore, clinicians and health promoters should encourage women to maintain or improve PF levels from early pregnancy.

The study aimed to track psychological wellbeing (PWB) across two consecutive soccer seasons examining the effects of injury, illness, training load (TL) and contextual match factors (playing status, match selection and individual win rate). Furthermore, examine PWB prior to injury or illness event. Thirty-two English Premier League (EPL) soccer players completed the "Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale" every two weeks. No differences were found for group averaged PWB across the seasons (52.2 ± 0.3 vs. 51.8 ± 1.1) (p > 0.05). Previous 7-day TL measured using GPS (session duration, total distance, explosive distance, low-intensity distance, high-speed distance (HSD) and sprint distance (SD)) were not related to current PWB (p > 0.05). Yet, previous 14-day HSD (r (385) = -0.095) and 21-day SD (r (385) = 0.100) were related to current PWB (p < 0.05). Only 100% (vs. 0%) win rate in the previous 14-days to the questionnaire revealed a higher current PWB score (52.7 ± 4.7 vs. 50.9 ± 5.6 (p < 0.05)). PWB did not differ prior to an injury or illness event, when players were injured or had low contextual match factors at time of questionnaire or previous match, and the previous 7-days (p > 0.05). In conclusion, PWB fluctuations across the season are associated with prior TL and multiple negative results. But prior PWB was not linked to injury or illness events. Implications for prioritising interventions to improve PWB during periods of chronic high intensity TLs and losing streaks, monitoring PWB, and use in injury and illness prediction are discussed.HighlightsPsychological wellbeing responses, as measured by the "Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale" did not change significantly at a group level between the phases of the two seasons.Prior training load was associated with wellbeing scores, specifically previous 14-day high-speed distance and 21-day sprint distance.Psychological wellbeing scores were only affected by win/loss rate in the previous 14-days.These findings highlight the importance of timely interventions to improve wellbeing in periods of negative results, and the recommendation of longitudinally monitoring wellbeing.

We studied the long-term effects of a multicomponent exercise training protocol (recreational team handball training, RTH) on global health status in inactive postmenopausal women. Participants (n = 45; age 65 ± 6 years, stature 157 ± 6 cm, body mass 66.2 ± 9.4 kg, fat mass 41.4 ± 5.5%, VO_2peak 25.7 ± 3.6 mL/min/kg) were randomised into a control group (CG; n = 14) and a multicomponent exercise training group (EXG; n = 31, performing two to three weekly 60-min RTH sessions). Attendance was 2.0 ± 0.4 sessions/week (first 16 weeks) and 1.4 ± 0.5 (following 20 weeks) and mean heart rate (HR) loading was 77 and 79% of maximal HR (p = .002) for the first 16 and the following 20 weeks, respectively. Cardiovascular, bone, metabolic health, body composition and physical fitness markers were evaluated at baseline, and after 16 and 36 weeks. An interaction (p ≤ .046) was shown for the 2-h oral glucose tolerance test, HDL, Yo-Yo intermittent endurance level 1 test (YYIE1) and knee strength, in favour of EXG. At 36 weeks, YYIE1 and knee strength were higher (p ≤ .038) for EXG vs CG. Also, within-group improvements (p ≤ .043) were observed after 36 weeks for EXG in VO_2peak, lumbar spine bone mineral density, lumbar spine bone mineral content, P1NP, osteocalcin, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, body mass, android fat mass, YYIE1, knee strength, handgrip strength and postural balance. At 36 comparatively to 16 weeks, EXG showed an increase (p ≤ .036) in fasting blood glucose, HDL, knee strength and handgrip strength, and a decrease (p ≤ .025) in LDL. Collectively, this multicomponent exercise training (RTH) induces beneficial changes in global health status in postmenopausal women.HighlightsWe evaluated the long-term effects of a recreational team handball-based multicomponent training on broad-spectrum health and physical fitness markers of inactive postmenopausal women.Improvements in VO_2peak and aerobic performance achieved after 16 weeks of training were maintained at 36 weeks.The 20-week extension of the training intervention resulted in further improvements in lipid profile markers and physical fitness variables.Recreational team handball could be suggested as an effective and safe strategy to counteract postmenopausal health-related constrains.

This study investigated whether walking with blood flow restriction (BFR) increases acute cardio-respiratory demands to the point that it can be considered an alternative for jogging. Sixteen physically active adults completed five experimental sessions (order randomised), comprising 10 min of treadmill exercise. Two sessions included unrestricted walking, two sessions required walking with BFR cuffs positioned on the lower limbs inflated to 60% of individualised arterial occlusion pressure, and one session was conducted at a jogging pace. Comfortable walking and jogging speeds were calculated during the familiarisation session. Walking speeds were individualised to either 100% (speed: 6.0 ± 0.3km·h-1[low-intensity]) or 120% (speed: 7.2 ± 0.3km·h-1[moderate-intensity]) of comfortable walking speed. The jogging session was unrestricted (speed: 9.1 ± 0.7km·h-1). Initial analysis compared walking conditions across heart rate, left cardiac work index, systolic blood pressure, relative oxygen consumption, minute ventilation, rating of perceived exertion and limb discomfort. Secondary analysis compared the walking session with the highest cardio-respiratory demands to jogging. Initial analysis identified that moderate-intensity with BFR induced the highest cardio-respiratory and perceptual responses compared with any other walking sessions (p < 0.01). Secondary analysis revealed that all cardio-respiratory measures were higher during jogging when compared with moderate-intensity with BFR (p < 0.01), except systolic blood pressure (p = 0.10). All perceptual measures were higher during moderate-intensity with BFR (p < 0.01) compared with jogging. Low- to moderate-intensity BFR-walking produces lower acute cardio-respiratory responses at higher ratings of perceived exertion and discomfort compared with jogging. Overall, BFR-walking does not seem to provide an equivalent exercise modality for unrestricted jogging in physically active adults.HighlightsIn young active adults, walking with blood flow restriction increases cardio-respiratory demands, yet not to a level equivalent to jogging.Moderate-intensity blood flow restricted walking elicits higher exercise-related sensation of exertion and leg discomfort than jogging.Blood flow restriction application increases exercise severity whereby moderate-intensity BFR-walking and jogging are both considered vigorous-intensity exercise.

Walking or balancing on a slackline has gained increasing popularity as a recreational and school sport, and has been found to be suitable for developing neuromuscular control. The metabolic requirements for neuromuscular control on slackline, however, have not been well described. Therefore, the aim of the study was to determine the metabolic demands of slacklining in less and more advanced slackliners. Nineteen slackliners performed several 4 min balance tasks: parallel and one-leg stance on stable platform (2LS and 1LS), 1 leg stance on a slackline (1LSS), walking at a self-selected speed and at a given speed of 15 m min^-1 on a slackline (WSS and WGS). Expired gas samples were collected for all participants and activities using a portable metabolic system. During1 LS and 1LSS, there were 140% and 341% increases in oxygen uptake (V̇O₂) with respect to V̇O₂ rest, respectively. During slackline walking, V̇O₂ increased by 460% and 444% at self-selected and given speed, respectively. More advanced slackliners required mean metabolic demands 0.377 ± 0.065 and 0.289 ± 0.050 kJ·kg^-1·min^-1 (5.7 ± 0.95 and 3.9 ± 0.6 MET) for WGS and 1LSS, respectively, whilst less advanced slackliners, 0.471 ± 0.081 and 0.367 ± 0.086 kJ·kg^-1·min^-1 (6.4 ± 1.2 and 5.0 ± 1.1 MET) for WGS and 1LSS, respectively. Our data suggest that balancing tasks on slackline require V̇O₂ corresponding to exercise intensities from light to moderate intensity. More advanced slackliners had a ∼25% reduced energy expenditure when compared with lower ability counterparts during simple balance tasks on the slackline.HighlightsBalancing on a slackline is metabolically demanding and slackline training is suitable not only to develop neuromuscular control but also to meet cardiovascular fitness demands.Improved postural control demonstrated by skilled slackliners reduces by ∼25% metabolic cost of balancing tasks on a slackline when compared to less skilled counterparts.Falls during slacklining increase the metabolic demands of the activity. Three falls per minute during walking on a slackline increase the oxygen uptake by ∼50%.

The aging process reflects, in many cases, not only a decline in physical activity (PA) and physical fitness (PF), but also an increase in overall levels of sedentary time (ST). In order to hierarchically identify the most powerful correlates related to low and high levels of objectively assessed PA, ST, and PF during the late adulthood, a total of 2666 older adults were cross-sectionally evaluated. Multidimensional correlates were obtained through interview. Using chi-squared automatic detection analysis to identify the cluster of correlates with most impact on PA (<21.4 min/day), ST (≥8 h/day), and PF (<33.3th percentile), was found that the most likely subgroup to be physically inactive consisted of widowers not owning a computer and sport facilities in the neighbourhood (94.7%), while not being widowed, reporting to have a family that exercises and a computer at home (54.3%) represented the subgroup less likely to be inactive. Widowers without sidewalks in the neighbourhood were the most sedentary group (91.0%), while being a married woman and reporting to have space to exercise at home (40%) formed the most favourable group of correlates regarding ST. Men reporting a financial income <500€ and physical problems frequently formed the group with the lowest PF level (70.3%). In contrast, the less likely subgroup to have low levels of PF level consisted of having a financial income ≥1000€ and a computer at home (3.4%). Future interventions should target widowers with limited accessibility to computer and urban/sport-related infrastructures, as well as impaired older adults with low financial income.HighlightsChi-squared automatic interaction detection was used to identify and hierarchise correlates of objectively measured physical activity, sedentary time, and fitness.Widowers not having a computer at home and sport facilities in the neighbourhood were the most likely to be physically inactive, while not being widowed, having a family that exercises and a computer at home represented the subgroup less likely to be physically inactive.The most likely to be classified as sedentary were widowers without sidewalks in the neighbourhood, while the most favourable group of correlates regarding ST was formed by married women and reporting to have space to exercise at home.Individuals with a low financial income and physical problems comprised the population subgroup with the lowest PF levels, while having a medium-high financial income and a computer at home represented the less likely subgroup to have low levels of PF.