Quantifying the Training Loads and Corresponding Changes in Physical Qualities among Adolescent, Schoolboy Rugby League Players.

Objectives: The adolescent development period is critical for rugby league athletes, given the physical growth, neuromuscular adaptation, and skill acquisition that occurs. Secondary schools play an important role in the development of adolescent rugby league players; however, players may be selected into rugby league academies and development programs outside of school, as well as participating in additional sports. In turn, the training loads these young athletes accrue and the implications of these loads are currently unknown.

The Retest Reliability of Common Tests to Assess Physical Qualities in Adolescent Rugby League Players.

Purpose: Rigorous evidence concerning the reliability of physical tests among young athletes is lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to comprehensively determine the retest reliability of the most commonly used tests to assess physical qualities in adolescent rugby league players, and to provide the standard error of measurement and minimal detectable change for each test to support objective athlete monitoring.

Method: A repeated-measures design was employed with 50 adolescent, schoolboy rugby league players (16.

The effect of age on heart rate variability indices during and following high-intensity continuous exercise in masters and young cyclists.

This study compared heart rate variability (HRV) parameters of cardiovascular autonomic regulation between well-trained masters and young cyclists at rest, during and following a continuous cycle (CTS) protocol. Ten masters (age = 56 ± 5 years) and eight young (age = 26 ± 3 years) cyclists completed a 100 min experimental protocol consisting of a 60 min CTS cycling bout at 95% of Ventilatory Threshold 2 followed by 40 min of supine recovery. Beat-to-beat heart rate was measured continuously, and HRV parameters analysed at standardised 5 min intervals during rest, exercise and recovery.

A two-year examination of the relation between internal and external load and heart rate variability in Australian Rules Football.

The relationship between heart rate variability (HRV) and training load in team-sport is unknown. We therefore assessed relations between completed training-load in the previous 1-, 3- and 7-days and waking HRV in professional Australian Rules Football. Linear-mixed models analysed changes in HRV, considering training load from the previous 1-, 3- and 7-days.

Amino acid distribution in blood following high-intensity interval exercise: a preliminary study.

This study investigated the effect of high-intensity interval exercise on total and individual amino acid concentrations in red blood cells (RBCs) and plasma. Seven males (31 ± 13 yr) provided venous blood samples at rest, immediately and 15 min and 30 min following an 8-min high-intensity exercise bout. The exercise bout was 16 × 15 s cycle efforts at 0.

What Tests are Used to Assess the Physical Qualities of Male, Adolescent Rugby League Players? A Systematic Review of Testing Protocols and Reported Data Across Adolescent Age Groups.

Background: Understanding the physical qualities of male, adolescent rugby league players across age groups is essential for practitioners to manage long-term player development. However, there are many testing options available to assess these qualities, and differences in tests and testing protocols can profoundly influence the data obtained.

Objectives: The aims of this systematic review were to: (1) identify the most frequently used tests to assess key physical qualities in male, adolescent rugby league players (12-19 years of age); (2) examine the testing protocols adopted in studies using these tests; and (3) synthesise the available data from studies using the most frequently used tests according to age group.

A comparison of activity demands between trial matches and in-season matches across multiple teams and seasons in semi-professional, male rugby league players.

Trial matches are frequently used for team preparation in rugby league competitions, making it essential to understand the demands experienced to assess their specificity to actual competition. Consequently, this study aimed to compare the activity demands between pre-season trial matches and early in-season rugby league matches. Following a repeated-measures observational design, 39 semi-professional, male rugby league players from two clubs were monitored using microsensors during two trial matches and the first two in-season matches across two consecutive seasons.

Exercise is associated with younger methylome and transcriptome profiles in human skeletal muscle.

Exercise training prevents age-related decline in muscle function. Targeting epigenetic aging is a promising actionable mechanism and late-life exercise mitigates epigenetic aging in rodent muscle. Whether exercise training can decelerate, or reverse epigenetic aging in humans is unknown.

Does initial skeletal muscle size or sex affect the magnitude of muscle loss in response to 14 days immobilization?

We aimed to determine whether there was a relationship between pre-immobilization skeletal muscle size and the magnitude of muscle atrophy following 14 days of unilateral lower limb immobilization. Our findings ( = 30) show that pre-immobilization leg fat-free mass and quadriceps cross-sectional area (CSA) were unrelated to the magnitude of muscle atrophy. However, sex-based differences may be present, but confirmatory work is required.

The muscle proteome reflects changes in mitochondrial function, cellular stress and proteolysis after 14 days of unilateral lower limb immobilization in active young men.

Skeletal muscle unloading due to joint immobilization induces muscle atrophy, which has primarily been attributed to reductions in protein synthesis in humans. However, no study has evaluated the skeletal muscle proteome response to limb immobilization using SWATH proteomic methods. This study characterized the shifts in individual muscle protein abundance and corresponding gene sets after 3 and 14 d of unilateral lower limb immobilization in otherwise healthy young men.

Effect of short-term hindlimb immobilization on skeletal muscle atrophy and the transcriptome in a low compared with high responder to endurance training model.

Skeletal muscle atrophy is a physiological response to disuse, aging, and disease. We compared changes in muscle mass and the transcriptome profile after short-term immobilization in a divergent model of high and low responders to endurance training to identify biological processes associated with the early atrophy response. Female rats selectively bred for high response to endurance training (HRT) and low response to endurance training (LRT; n = 6/group; generation 19) underwent 3 day hindlimb cast immobilization to compare atrophy of plantaris and soleus muscles with line-matched controls (n = 6/group).

Meta-analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation and integrative omics of age in human skeletal muscle.

Background: Knowledge of age-related DNA methylation changes in skeletal muscle is limited, yet this tissue is severely affected by ageing in humans.

Methods: We conducted a large-scale epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis of age in human skeletal muscle from 10 studies (total n = 908 muscle methylomes from men and women aged 18-89 years old). We explored the genomic context of age-related DNA methylation changes in chromatin states, CpG islands, and transcription factor binding sites and performed gene set enrichment analysis.

Low responders to endurance training exhibit impaired hypertrophy and divergent biological process responses in rat skeletal muscle.

New Findings: What is the central question of this study? The extent to which genetics determines adaptation to endurance versus resistance exercise is unclear. Previously, a divergent selective breeding rat model showed that genetic factors play a major role in the response to aerobic training. Here, we asked: do genetic factors that underpin poor adaptation to endurance training affect adaptation to functional overload? What is the main finding and its importance? Our data show that heritable factors in low responders to endurance training generated differential gene expression that was associated with impaired skeletal muscle hypertrophy.

Effects of Eight Interval Training Sessions in Hypoxia on Anaerobic, Aerobic, and High Intensity Work Capacity in Endurance Cyclists.

This study aimed to determine if eight sessions of supramaximal but steady-state, set duration interval training in hypoxia enhanced measured anaerobic capacity and work performed during high intensity exercise. 21:370-377, 2020. Eighteen cyclists (O: 57 ± 7 ml·kg·min) were pair-matched for anaerobic capacity determined by maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAOD) and allocated to a 4-week interval training in hypoxia (IHT; FiO = 14.

Effect of Divergent Solar Radiation Exposure With Outdoor Versus Indoor Training in the Heat: Implications for Performance.

O'Connor, FK, Doering, TM, Minett, GM, Reaburn, PR, Bartlett, JD and Coffey, VG. Effect of divergent solar radiation exposure with outdoor versus indoor training in the heat: implications for performance. J Strength Cond Res 36(6): 1622-1628, 2022-The aim of this study was to determine physiological and perceptual responses and performance outcomes when completing high-intensity exercise in outdoor and indoor hot environments with contrasting solar radiation exposure.

Effect of Individual Environmental Heat-Stress Variables on Training and Recovery in Professional Team Sport.

Context: Exercise in hot environments increases body temperature and thermoregulatory strain. However, little is known regarding the magnitude of effect that ambient temperature (Ta), relative humidity (RH), and solar radiation individually have on team-sport athletes.

Purpose: To determine the effect of these individual heat-stress variables on team-sport training performance and recovery.

An epigenetic clock for human skeletal muscle.

Background: Ageing is associated with DNA methylation changes in all human tissues, and epigenetic markers can estimate chronological age based on DNA methylation patterns across tissues. However, the construction of the original pan-tissue epigenetic clock did not include skeletal muscle samples and hence exhibited a strong deviation between DNA methylation and chronological age in this tissue.

Methods: To address this, we developed a more accurate, muscle-specific epigenetic clock based on the genome-wide DNA methylation data of 682 skeletal muscle samples from 12 independent datasets (18-89 years old, 22% women, 99% Caucasian), all generated with Illumina HumanMethylation (HM) arrays (HM27, HM450, or HMEPIC).

A Comparison of Heart Rate Training Load and Perceptual Effort Between Masters and Young Cyclists.

Purpose: Due to age-related changes in the psychobiological state of masters athletes, this brief report aimed to compare training load responses using heart rate (HR) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) during standardized training sessions between masters and young cyclists.

Methods: Masters (n = 10; 55.6 [5.

Repeated muscle glycogen supercompensation with four days' recovery between exhaustive exercise.

Objectives: To determine if a 4 d period of high carbohydrate intake can supercompensate muscle glycogen and exercise work capacity on back-to-back occasions.

Design: Seven trained cyclists (6 male, VOpeak: 57 ± 4 mL kg min) completed a 9-d experimental period, consisting of three intermittent exhaustive cycling trials on days 1 (trial 1), 5 (trial 2) and 9 (trial 3). Following trial 1 cyclists were fed a high carbohydrate diet (˜10 g kg day) for eight days to assess their capacity to repeatedly supercompensate muscle glycogen with 4 d recovery.

Do multi-ingredient protein supplements augment resistance training-induced gains in skeletal muscle mass and strength? A systematic review and meta-analysis of 35 trials.

Objective: To determine the effects of multi-ingredient protein (MIP) supplements on resistance exercise training (RT)-induced gains in muscle mass and strength compared with protein-only (PRO) or placebo supplementation.

Data Sources: Systematic search of MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL and SPORTDiscus.

Eligibility Criteria: Randomised controlled trials with interventions including RT ≥6 weeks in duration and a MIP supplement.

Age-related changes in physical and perceptual markers of recovery following high-intensity interval cycle exercise.

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare physical performance, perceptual and haematological markers of recovery in well-trained masters and young cyclists across 48 h following a bout of repeated high-intensity interval exercise.

Methods: Nine masters (mean ± SD; age = 55.6 ± 5.

Autonomic cardiovascular modulation in masters and young cyclists following high-intensity interval training.

Purpose: This study aimed at examining the autonomic cardiovascular modulation in well-trained masters and young cyclists following high-intensity interval training (HIT).

Methods: Nine masters (age 55.6 ± 5.

Lower Integrated Muscle Protein Synthesis in Masters Compared with Younger Athletes.

Purpose: The objective of this study is to compare the integrated muscle protein synthesis (MPS) rates of masters and younger triathletes over three consecutive days of intense endurance training. Recovery of cycling performance, after muscle-damaging running, was also compared between groups.

Methods: Five masters (age, 53 ± 2 yr; V˙O2max, 55.

The Effect of Higher Than Recommended Protein Feedings Post-Exercise on Recovery Following Downhill Running in Masters Triathletes.

Following exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD), masters athletes take longer to recover than younger athletes. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of higher than recommended postexercise protein feedings on the recovery of knee extensor peak isometric torque (PIT), perceptions of recovery, and cycling time trial (TT) performance following EIMD in masters triathletes. Eight masters triathletes (52 ± 2 y, V̇O, 51.

Comparison of Postexercise Nutrition Knowledge and Postexercise Carbohydrate and Protein Intake Between Australian Masters and Younger Triathletes.

Postexercise nutrition is a critical component of an athlete's recovery from training and competition. However, little is known about athletes' postexercise dietary practices or knowledge of dietary recommendations, particularly among masters athletes. The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the knowledge of postexercise nutritional recommendations, and typical postexercise intakes of carbohydrate and protein, between masters and younger triathletes.