International journal of sports physiology and performance最新文献

Purpose: To compare the effects of 7 weeks of training with different hang-power-clean (HPC) intensities on the maximum dynamic strength, vertical jump, and sprint performance of female handball players.

Methods: Professional handball athletes with at least 1 year of HPC experience volunteered to participate. The athletes were balanced by position and randomly assigned to a group with HPC at 90% (HPC90%) or 50% (HPC50%) of HPC 1-repetition maximum (1RM). The training volume was equalized between groups. Pretraining and posttraining assessments included 1RM HPC, jump height in the squat jump (SJ) and countermovement jump (CMJ), and sprint speeds at 5, 20, and 30 m.

Results: From pretraining to posttraining, both groups significantly increased (P ≤ .05) 1RM HPC, although a small effect size was observed in favor of HPC90%. HPC90% and HPC50% did not induce significant changes (P > .05) in the SJ and CMJ height, although for the SJ, a small effect size was observed in favor of HPC90%. Both groups induced a significant improvement (P ≤ .05) in 5-, 20-, and 30-m sprint speeds, although for all speeds, small to moderate effect sizes were observed in favor of HPC90%.

Conclusions: Both training groups induced significant improvements in 1RM HPC and sprint speeds, whereas no significant changes were observed in vertical jumps. In addition, based mainly on the effect sizes, the HPC90% group was more effective for increasing 1RM HPC, SJ, and sprint speeds than the HPC50% group.

Purpose: To investigate race-management strategies over a longitudinal case study of one of the world's best female swimmers of the 200-m freestyle to understand if only 1 race-management strategy allowed her to succeed or whether several profiles have been used over the 8 years of analysis.

Methods: Different race-management strategies within and between 50-m laps emerged from cluster analysis. To better explain race management, additional characteristics described the level of adversity, the level of competition, the performance outcome, and the type of race.

Results: Two strategies of race management between laps have been used, and both allowed her to succeed in her career. The first was characterized by a fast start and a greater decrease of the speed between laps, whereas the second exhibited a more stable speed management. When those strategies were examined in relation to the level of competition and the level of adversity, it appeared that the first strategy was used more in international competitions and associated with higher time intervals between the studied swimmer and the direct rivals, while the second one was used more in national competitions and associated with lower time intervals.

Conclusions: Findings suggested that this top elite swimmer did not adhere to a single "ideal" race-management strategy. Instead, she demonstrated flexibility and the ability to adapt her race management to contextual factors throughout her career, effectively controlling adversity. This highlights the importance of including adversity analysis in race-management studies.

Objective: Limited research has directly compared the effectiveness of aqua- and land-based exercises for postexercise recovery. This study aimed to fill this gap by comparing the effects of these 2 types of exercises on postexercise recovery.

Methods: Sixteen male college athletes participated in an 8-day experimental study. The initial 2 days were dedicated to determining the intensity levels for the muscle-damaging exercise and recovery jogging. In a crossover design, participants underwent 2 sets of experimental trials. They were randomly assigned to either an aqua or land recovery intervention for days 3 to 5, and after a 1-week washout period they switched to the opposite intervention for days 6 to 8. Muscle soreness, creatine kinase, anaerobic performance, countermovement-jump height, and flexibility were assessed at different time points: baseline, immediately after downhill running, within 1 hour after jogging, and 24 hours and 48 hours after aqua or land jogging.

Results: Significant group × time interaction effects were detected in the perceived soreness of the hamstring and quadriceps. However, the post hoc analysis showed no significant difference between aqua and land jogging groups. No significant group × time interaction effect was observed in creatine kinase, anaerobic performance, countermovement-jump height, or flexibility.

Conclusion: Aqua and land jogging have similar recovery effects on muscle soreness and performance-based parameters.