Morning-evening difference of team-handball-related short-term maximal physical performances in female team handball players.

This study investigated the two different time-of-day effect on team-handball-related short-term maximal physical performances. At two different time-of-day, fifteen young female team handball players performed different physical tests: HandGrip (HG) test, Ball-Throwing Velocity (BTV) test, Modified Agility T-test (MAT) and Repeated Shuttle-Sprint and Jump Ability (RSSJA) test. Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale was determined following the termination of the last test.

Review of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) medical services during the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Doha, Qatar.

Background: One of the primary roles of Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) is to promote athlete health. The planning and delivery of major international event medical services is carried out in collaboration with the Local Organizing Committee Medical Commission (LOCMC). Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital provided the medical services to the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) creating a unique opportunity for collaboration with FINA.

Examining the External Training Load of an English Premier League Football Team With Special Reference to Acceleration.

Akenhead, R, Harley, J, and Tweddle, S. Examining the external training load of an English Premier League football team with special reference to acceleration. J Strength Cond Res 30(9): 2424-2432, 2016-Practitioners and coaches often use external training load variables such as distance run and the number of high-speed running (HSR) activities to quantify football training.

Agility in Team Sports: Testing, Training and Factors Affecting Performance.

Background: Agility is an important characteristic of team sports athletes. There is a growing interest in the factors that influence agility performance as well as appropriate testing protocols and training strategies to assess and improve this quality.

Objective: The objective of this systematic review was to (1) evaluate the reliability and validity of agility tests in team sports, (2) detail factors that may influence agility performance, and (3) identify the effects of different interventions on agility performance.

The Transition Period in Soccer: A Window of Opportunity.

The aim of this paper is to describe the physiological changes that occur during the transition period in soccer players. A secondary aim is to address the issue of utilizing the transition period to lay the foundation for the succeeding season. We reviewed published peer-reviewed studies if they met the following three selection criteria: (1) the studied population comprised adult soccer players (aged >18 years), (2) time points of physiological and performance assessments were provided, and (3) appropriate statistics for the calculation of effect sizes were reported.

Effects of Intermittent Fasting, Caloric Restriction, and Ramadan Intermittent Fasting on Cognitive Performance at Rest and During Exercise in Adults.

The aim of this review was to highlight the potent effects of intermittent fasting on the cognitive performance of athletes at rest and during exercise. Exercise interacts with dietary factors and has a positive effect on brain functioning. Furthermore, physical activity and exercise can favorably influence brain plasticity.

Strength training in soccer with a specific focus on highly trained players.

Background: Data concerning the physical demands of soccer (e.g., activity pattern) suggest that a high level of performance requires well-developed neuromuscular function (NF).

Do Match-Related Contextual Variables Influence Training Load in Highly Trained Soccer Players?

This study analyzed training loads of youth soccer players and examined the influence of match-related contextual variables in internal training load and fatigue. A secondary aim was to investigate the variability of these parameters throughout the season. Thirteen highly trained under-19 players (18.

The association of environmental heat stress with performance: analysis of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

Objective: The 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil included 64 matches in temperate to tropical environmental conditions. We analysed performance data in relation to the environmental conditions to identify potential association.

Methods: Wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) parameters were obtained at the centre of the field 1 h before the start of play.

Yo-Yo Intermittent Endurance Test-Level 1 to monitor changes in aerobic fitness in pre-pubertal boys.

The present study aimed to examine the performance and heart rate responses during the Yo-Yo Intermittent Endurance Test-Level 1 (Yo-Yo IE1) in children under the age of 10. One hundred and seven male children (7-9 years) performed the Yo-Yo IE1 at the beginning (M1), middle (M2) and end (M3) of the school year. Data from individual heart rate curves of the Yo-Yo IE1 were analysed in order to detect the inflection point between an initial phase of fast rise in heart rate values and a second phase in which the rise of the heart rate values is much smaller.

Testing strength and power in soccer players: the application of conventional and traditional methods of assessment.

Soccer is a highly complex sport influenced by many physical, psychological, tactical, and technical factors. In terms of basic physical components, strength and power are considered requisites for many important actions such as tackling, jumping, and shooting. Hence, assessment of strength and power is commonly performed within a soccer club's test battery.

Outcome After Surgical Repair of Proximal Hamstring Avulsions: A Systematic Review.

Background: At the present time, no systematic review, including a quality assessment, has been published about the outcome after proximal hamstring avulsion repair.

Purpose: To determine the outcome after surgical repair of proximal hamstring avulsions, to compare the outcome after acute (≤4 weeks) and delayed repairs (>4 weeks), and to compare the outcome after different surgical techniques.

Study Design: Systematic review and best-evidence synthesis.

The second Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, People's Republic of China: preparing youth athletes to compete in the heat.

The second Summer Youth Olympic Games will take place August 16-28, 2014 in Nanjing, People's Republic of China during the peak of the summer. Nanjing has been reported as one of the hottest cities in the People's Republic of China, with temperatures reaching as high as 40°C. There is limited clinical evidence of the real risks that youth athletes face when training and competing in the heat, but some recommendations can be made.

Peripheral fatigue is not critically regulated during maximal, intermittent, dynamic leg extensions.

Central motor drive to active muscles is believed to be reduced during numerous exercise tasks to prevent excessive peripheral fatigue development. The purpose of the present study was to use hypoxia to exacerbate physiological perturbations during a novel, intermittent exercise task and to explore the time-course and interplay between central and peripheral neuromuscular adjustments. On separate days, 14 healthy men performed four sets of 6 × 5 maximal-intensity, isokinetic leg extensions (1 repetition lasting ∼7 s) at 300°/s (15 and 100 s of passive rest between repetitions and sets, respectively) under normoxia (NM, fraction of inspired O2 0.

Electromyography Activation Levels of the 3 Gluteus Medius Subdivisions During Manual Strength Testing.

Study Design: Cross-sectional.

Context: Gluteus medius (GM) muscle dysfunction is associated with overuse injury. The GM is functionally composed of 3 separate subdivisions: anterior, middle, and posterior.

Short-term performance effects of three different low-volume strength-training programmes in college male soccer players.

This study aimed to analyse the short-term performance effects of three in-season low-volume strength-training programmes in college male soccer players. Fifty-seven male college soccer players (age: 20.3±1.

Acute responses of soccer match play on hip strength and flexibility measures: potential measure of injury risk.

Regular measurements of groin risk factors may offer a preventive measure against injury. Therefore, the aim of this study was to (1) determine minimal detectable change (MDC) and reliability of hip flexibility and strength measures and to (2) identify the effect soccer match play load has on these measures. Reliability was determined for bent knee fall out test, hip abduction and adduction (hand-held dynamometry (HHD)) in 20 trained youth male soccer players.

High-intensity intermittent training in hypoxia: a double-blinded, placebo-controlled field study in youth football players.

This study examined the effects of 5 weeks (∼60 minutes per training, 2 d·wk) of run-based high-intensity repeated-sprint ability (RSA) and explosive strength/agility/sprint training in either normobaric hypoxia repeated sprints in hypoxia (RSH; inspired oxygen fraction [FIO2] = 14.3%) or repeated sprints in normoxia (RSN; FIO2 = 21.0%) on physical performance in 16 highly trained, under-18 male footballers.

MR arthrography of the shoulder: optimizing pulse sequence protocols for the evaluation of cartilage and labrum.

Objectives: To compare axial T1weighted fat-saturated (T1w fs) and T1w non-fs sequences, and coronal T1w-fs and T2w-fs sequences, for evaluation of cartilage and labrum using CT arthrography (CTA) as the reference.

Methods: Patients had MR arthrography (MRA) and CTA of the shoulder on the same day. Cartilage was assessed for superficial and full thickness focal and diffuse damage.

Tennis in hot and cool conditions decreases the rapid muscle torque production capacity of the knee extensors but not of the plantar flexors.

Objectives: To assess the time course of changes in rapid muscle force/torque production capacity and neuromuscular activity of lower limb muscles in response to prolonged (∼2 h) match-play tennis under heat stress.

Methods: The rates of torque development (RTD) and electromyographic activity (EMG; ie, root mean square) rise were recorded from 0 to 30, -50, -100 and -200 ms during brief (3-5 s) explosive maximal isometric voluntary contractions (MVC) of the knee extensors (KE) and plantar flexors (PF), along with the peak RTD within the entirety of the torque-time curve. These values were recorded in 12 male tennis players before (prematch) and after (postmatch, 24 and 48 h) match-play in HOT (∼37°C) and COOL (∼22°C) conditions.