'Super boots' for soldiers: theoretical ergogenic and thermoprotective benefits of energetically optimised military combat boots.

Soldiers typically perform physically demanding tasks while wearing military uniforms and tactical footwear. New research has revealed a substantial increase of ~10% in energetic cost of walking when wearing modern combat boots versus running shoes. One approach to mitigating these costs is to follow in the footsteps of recent innovations in athletic footwear that led to the development of 'super shoes', that is, running shoes designed to lower the energetic cost of locomotion and maximise performance.

Estimating Metabolic Energy Expenditure During Level Running in Healthy, Military-Age Women and Men.

Looney, DP, Hoogkamer, W, Kram, R, Arellano, CJ, and Spiering, BA. Estimating metabolic energy expenditure during level running in healthy, military-age women and men. J Strength Cond Res 37(12): 2496-2503, 2023-Quantifying the rate of metabolic energy expenditure (Ṁ) of varied aerobic exercise modalities is important for optimizing fueling and performance and maintaining safety in military personnel operating in extreme conditions.

Effects of Bed Rest on Physical Performance in Athletes: A Systematic and Narrative Review.

Background: Athletes can face scenarios in which they are confined to bed rest (e.g., due to injury or illness).

Maximizing Strength: The Stimuli and Mediators of Strength Gains and Their Application to Training and Rehabilitation.

Spiering, BA, Clark, BC, Schoenfeld, BJ, Foulis, SA, and Pasiakos, SM. Maximizing strength: the stimuli and mediators of strength gains and their application to training and rehabilitation. J Strength Cond Res 37(4): 919-929, 2023-Traditional heavy resistance exercise (RE) training increases maximal strength, a valuable adaptation in many situations.

Physical and Physiological Characterization of Female Elite Warfighters.

Introduction: This study characterized a sample of the first women to complete elite United States (US) military training.

Methods: Twelve female graduates of the US Army Ranger Course and one of the first Marine Corps Infantry Officers Course graduates participated in 3 d of laboratory testing including serum endocrine profiles, aerobic capacity, standing broad jump, common soldiering tasks, Army Combat Fitness Test, and body composition (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, three-dimensional body surface scans, and anthropometry).

Results: The women were 6 months to 4 yr postcourse graduation, 30 ± 6 yr (mean ± SD); height, 1.

US Army basic combat training alters the relationship between body mass index and per cent body fat.

Introduction/background: As a proxy for adiposity, body mass index (BMI) provides a practical public health metric to counter obesity-related disease trends. On an individual basis, BMI cannot distinguish fat and lean components of body composition. Further, the relationship between BMI and body composition may be altered in response to physical training.

Maintaining Physical Performance: The Minimal Dose of Exercise Needed to Preserve Endurance and Strength Over Time.

Maintaining physical performance: the minimal dose of exercise needed to preserve endurance and strength over time, Spiering, BA, Mujika, I, Sharp, MA, and Foulis, SA. J Strength Cond Res 35(5): 1449-1458, 2021-Nearly every physically active person encounters periods in which the time available for exercise is limited (e.g.

Predicting Soldier Task Performance From Physical Fitness Tests: Reliability and Construct Validity of a Soldier Task Test Battery.

Spiering, BA, Walker, LA, Larcom, K, Frykman, PN, Allison, SC, and Sharp, MA. Predicting soldier task performance from physical fitness tests: reliability and construct validity of a soldier task test battery. J Strength Cond Res 35(10): 2749-2755, 2021-The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and construct validity of a battery of tests designed to assess soldier task performance.

Fossil eggshell cuticle elucidates dinosaur nesting ecology.

The cuticle layer consisting mainly of lipids and hydroxyapatite (HAp) atop the mineralized avian eggshell is a protective structure that prevents the egg from dehydration and microbial invasions. Previous ornithological studies have revealed that the cuticle layer is also involved in modulating the reflectance of eggshells in addition to pigments (protoporphyrin and biliverdin). Thus, the cuticle layer represents a crucial trait that delivers ecological signals.

Altered Running Economy Directly Translates to Altered Distance-Running Performance.

Purpose: Our goal was to quantify if small (1%-3%) changes in running economy quantitatively affect distance-running performance. Based on the linear relationship between metabolic rate and running velocity and on earlier observations that added shoe mass increases metabolic rate by ~1% per 100 g per shoe, we hypothesized that adding 100 and 300 g per shoe would slow 3000-m time-trial performance by 1% and 3%, respectively.

Methods: Eighteen male sub-20-min 5-km runners completed treadmill testing, and three 3000-m time trials wearing control shoes and identical shoes with 100 and 300 g of discreetly added mass.

Bone formation is suppressed with multi-stressor military training.

Purpose: To determine the effects of US Army Ranger Training, an 8-week, physically demanding program (energy expenditure of 2,500-4,500 kcal/day) with energy restriction (deficit of 1,000-4,000 kcal/day) and sleep deprivation (<4 h sleep/night) on bone metabolism.

Methods: Blood was collected from 22 men (age 24 ± 4 years) before and after training. Follow-up measurements were made in a subset of 8 subjects between 2 and 6 weeks after training.

Recovery of endocrine and inflammatory mediators following an extended energy deficit.

Context: Due to current operational requirements, elite soldiers deploy quickly after completing arduous training courses. Therefore, it is imperative that endocrine and inflammatory mediators have fully recovered.

Objective: Our objective was to determine whether a short-term (2-6 wk) recovery period was sufficient to restore endocrine and inflammatory homeostasis after sustained energy deficit.

Quantification of physical activity performed during US Army Basic Combat Training.

Purpose: During US Army Basic Combat Training (BCT), graduation requirements, including physical readiness training (PRT), are standardized across training sites. However, there are concerns that the standardization may not be closely followed. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to measure and compare physical activity (PA) performed by recruits at 2 Army BCT sites.

Measuring physical activity during US Army Basic Combat Training: a comparison of 3 methods.

Background: An understanding of the demands of physical activity (PA) during US Army Basic Combat Training (BCT) is necessary to support Soldier readiness and resilience. The purpose of this study was to determine the agreement among 3 different PA measurement instruments in the BCT environment.

Methods: Twenty-four recruits from each of 11 companies wore an ActiGraph accelerometer (Actigraph, LLC, Pensacola, FL) and completed a daily PA log during 8 weeks of BCT at 2 different training sites.

Physiological Employment Standards III: physiological challenges and consequences encountered during international military deployments.

Modern international military deployments in austere environments (i.e., Iraq and Afghanistan) place considerable physiological demands on soldiers.

Corticostriatal contributions to musical expectancy perception.

This study investigates the functional neuroanatomy of harmonic music perception with fMRI. We presented short pieces of Western classical music to nonmusicians. The ending of each piece was systematically manipulated in the following four ways: Standard Cadence (expected resolution), Deceptive Cadence (moderate deviation from expectation), Modulated Cadence (strong deviation from expectation but remaining within the harmonic structure of Western tonal music), and Atonal Cadence (strongest deviation from expectation by leaving the harmonic structure of Western tonal music).

Changes in creatine kinase and cortisol in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I American football players during a season.

The purpose of this study was to track creatine kinase (CK) and serum cortisol over an American college football season starting with the preseason practice. A secondary purpose was to observe changes in basic clinical chemistries. Twenty-two National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football players (age: 20.

Influence of training frequency on fitness levels and perceived health status in deployed National Guard soldiers.

While studies have examined changes in body composition, fitness, and other measures pre- and postdeployment, it is more difficult to characterize physical training practices during deployment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between training frequency during deployment and changes in physical performance, body composition, and perceived health. Eighty-eight Soldiers (men, 76 and women, 12) from the National Guard performed 1 repetition maximum (1RM) bench press, 1RM back squat, and VO2peak testing within 30 days before and 10 days after deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Interleukin-6 responses to water immersion therapy after acute exercise heat stress: a pilot investigation.

Context: Cold-water immersion is the criterion standard for treatment of exertional heat illness. Cryotherapy and water immersion also have been explored as ergogenic or recovery aids. The kinetics of inflammatory markers, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), during cold-water immersion have not been characterized.

Exercise-induced insulin-like growth factor I system concentrations after training in women.

Introduction: This study examined the effects of short-term physical training on the acute hormonal response (i.e., growth hormone, total and free insulin-like growth factor I [IGF-I], and IGF binding proteins [IGFBP]-1, IGFBP-2, and IGFBP-3) to resistance exercise (RE) in women.

Implicit and explicit categorization: a tale of four species.

Categorization is essential for survival, and it is a widely studied cognitive adaptation in humans and animals. An influential neuroscience perspective differentiates in humans an explicit, rule-based categorization system from an implicit system that slowly associates response outputs to different regions of perceptual space. This perspective is being extended to study categorization in other vertebrate species, using category tasks that have a one-dimensional, rule-based solution or a two-dimensional, information-integration solution.