Neuromuscular fatigue and recovery in elite female handball players.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of neuromuscular fatigue and recovery from fatigue, following handball training and handball matches at elite level. The focus was specifically on changes in physical performance when playing three matches over the course of 3 days, which simulates a sequence in international championships. Female players from the Norwegian national handball team were tested during a 5-day training camp (seven players) and a 3-day international tournament (eight players).

Energy balance in weight stable athletes with and without menstrual disorders.

The energy balance and nutritional adequacy was assessed in a group of runners with irregular menstrual function (IR, n = 10) and in a comparable group of runners with normal menstrual function (R, n = 10). Based on computerized records of 3 days food intake, the mean content of energy and macronutrients were estimated. Excess energy expenditure (EEE) during training hours was estimated using HF monitoring and individual HF/VO2 nomograms.

Aerobic fitness in young Norwegian men: a comparison between 1980 and 2002.

The purpose of this study was to compare the maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) in 18-19-year-old Norwegian men from 1980 to 1985 and 2002. In addition, we investigated the relationship between VO2max and education and smoking habits in the sample from 2002. From 1980 to 1985, VO2max was predicted using the Astrand-Rhyming bicycle test for 183 610 eighteen-year-old Norwegian men (91% of the male Norwegian population in this age group).

The female athlete triad exists in both elite athletes and controls.

Purpose: To examine the prevalence of the female athlete triad (the Triad) in Norwegian elite athletes and controls.

Methods: This study was conducted in three phases: (part I) screening by means of a detailed questionnaire, (part II) measurement of bone mineral density (BMD), and (part III) clinical interview. In part I, all female elite athletes representing the national teams at junior or senior level, aged 13-39 yr (N = 938) and an age group-matched randomly selected population-based control group (N = 900) were invited to participate.

Solving the heart mechanics equations with Newton and quasi Newton methods--a comparison.

The non-linear elasticity equations of heart mechanics are solved while emulating the effects of a propagating activation wave. The dynamics of a 1 cm(3) slab of active cardiac tissue was simulated as the electrical wave traversed the muscular heart wall transmurally. The regular Newton (Newton-Raphson) method was compared to two modified Newton approaches, and also to a third approach that delayed update only of some selected Jacobian elements.

Low bone mineral density is two to three times more prevalent in non-athletic premenopausal women than in elite athletes: a comprehensive controlled study.

Objective: To compare bone mineral density (BMD), investigate factors associated with BMD, and examine the prevalence of low BMD in athletes and non-athletic controls.

Methods: The study included a questionnaire (part I), measurement of BMD (part II), and a clinical interview (part III). All Norwegian female athletes on national teams (n = 938) and an aged matched random sample of non-athletic controls (n = 900) were invited to participate.

The female athlete triad: are elite athletes at increased risk?

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the percentage of elite athletes and controls at risk of the female athlete triad.

Methods: A detailed questionnaire, which included questions regarding training and/or physical activity patterns, menstrual history, oral contraceptive use, weight history, eating patterns, dietary history, and the Body Dissatisfaction (BD) and Drive for Thinness (DT) subscales of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI), was prepared. The questionnaire was administered to the total population of female elite athletes in Norway representing the national teams at the junior or senior level, 13-39 yr of age (N = 938) and non-athlete controls in the same age group (N = 900).

Urinary incontinence, pelvic floor dysfunction, exercise and sport.

Urinary incontinence is defined as "the complaint of any involuntary leakage of urine" and is a common problem in the female population with prevalence rates varying between 10% and 55% in 15- to 64-year-old women. The most frequent form of urinary incontinence in women is stress urinary incontinence, defined as "involuntary leakage on effort or exertion, or on sneezing or coughing". The aim of this article is to systematically review the literature on urinary incontinence and participation in sport and fitness activities with a special emphasis on prevalence and treatment in female elite athletes.

Knee angular displacement and extensor muscle activity in telemark skiing and in ski-specific strength exercises.

Much of the training of competitive telemark skiers is performed as dry-land exercises. The specificity of these exercises is important for optimizing the training effect. Our aim here was to study the activation of the knee extensor musculature and knee angular displacement during competitive telemark skiing and during dry-land strength training exercises to determine the specificity of the latter.

Effects of 20-s and 180-s double poling interval training in cross-country skiers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of upper body 20-s or 180-s interval training, using a double poling ergometer, on upper body power output and selected physiological and biomechanical parameters in cross-country skiers. Twenty (12 male, 8 female) well-trained cross-country skiers took part. Two intervention groups, a 20-s interval training group (IT20; n=6) and a 180-s interval training group (IT180; n=7), underwent training three times a week for 6 weeks on a double poling ergometer.

Delayed leukocytosis after hard strength and endurance exercise: aspects of regulatory mechanisms.

Background: During infections, polymorphonuclear neutrophilic granulocytes (PMN) are mobilized from their bone marrow stores, travel with blood to the affected tissue, and kill invading microbes there. The signal(s) from the inflammatory site to the marrow are unknown, even though a number of humoral factors that can mobilize PMN, are well known. We have employed a standardized, non-infectious human model to elucidate relevant PMN mobilizers.

Pelvic floor muscle strength and response to pelvic floor muscle training for stress urinary incontinence.

Aims: Several randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that pelvic floor muscle training is effective to treat stress urinary incontinence. The aim of the present study was to compare muscle strength increase and maximal strength in responders and non-responders to pelvic floor muscle training.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-two women with urodynamically proven stress incontinence who had participated in a six months randomized controlled trial on pelvic floor muscle training, mean age 45.

Transabdominal ultrasound measurement of pelvic floor muscle activity when activated directly or via a transversus abdominis muscle contraction.

Aims: The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of instruction to contract the pelvic floor muscles (PFM), the transversus abdominis (TrA), and the TrA + PFM visualized as displacement of the pelvic floor by ultrasound.

Materials And Methods: Twenty female physical therapists, mean age 41.1 years (range 26-56) participated in the study.

Recovery of skeletal muscle contractility and hormonal responses to strength exercise after two weeks of high-volume strength training.

Exercise induced neuromuscular fatigue, recovery and hormonal responses were studied before (R1) and after (R2) 2 weeks of heavy strength training. Seventeen weight-trained male students were recruited into a heavy training group (HT, n = 10) and a control group (n = 7). During heavy training HT exercised leg extensors every day while control group exercised twice a week.

Two ways related to performance in elite sport: the path of self-confidence and competitive anxiety and the path of group cohesion and group goal-clarity.

A model tested among 136 Norwegian Olympic-level athletes yielded two paths related to performance. The first path indicated that self-confidence, modeled as an antecedent of competitive anxiety, is negatively correlated with anxiety. Competitive anxiety in turn is negatively correlated with performance.

Relation of burnout with lack of time for being with significant others, role conflict, cohesion, and self-confidence among Norwegian Olympic athletes.

We studied the relationship of burnout with environmental and personal characteristics such as lack of time for being with significant others outside sport, cohesion in training groups, role conflict, and self-confidence among 136 elite athletes. Analysis indicated that the mean Burnout scores were in the low range. Cohesion in training groups and Self-confidence were negatively associated with Burnout, whereas Lack of time to be with significant others and Role conflict were positively ssociated with Burnout scores.

The effect of exercise, cognitive therapy, and nutritional counseling in treating bulimia nervosa.

Objective: The aim of this treatment study on bulimia nervosa was (i) to examine the effect of physical exercise as an experimental treatment condition against the well-documented effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and (ii) to compare the effect of CBT versus the effect of nutritional advice as one single treatment component of CBT.

Method: Normal weight female bulimic patients aged 18-29 yr were randomly assigned to a physical exercise program (N = 15), CBT (N = 16), nutritional advice (N = 17), or a waiting list control group (N = 16). Seventeen healthy female control subjects were also included.

Empowerment Through the Sport Context: A Model to Guide Research for Individuals with Disability.

Our purpose is to propose a model of "Empowerment through the sport context" to guide psychosocial research in disability sport. We discuss the concept of empowerment in relation to sport for individuals with disabilities. Expanding upon the work of Hutzler (1990), we include three levels of empowerment (societal, group, and individual level) in our approach.

Active recovery reduces the decrease in circulating white blood cells after exercise.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of different recovery regimens on white blood cell count (WBCC) and muscle enzyme activities following strenuous, submaximal, steady state workouts on a treadmill. Fourteen endurance trained, healthy, non-smoking college-aged males participated in the study. The workouts were followed by either 15-min of rest recovery (RR), or active recovery (AR).

Hormonal responses to high- and moderate-intensity strength exercise.

The hormonal responses of nine male, strength athletes to strength exercise were examined. The athletes performed one moderate- and one high-intensity strength exercise workout. In the high-intensity workout, the load was 100% of each subject's three-repetition maximum (3-RM) for squats and front squats, and 100% of each subject's six-repetition maximum (6-RM) for leg extensions.

The relationship between motivational climate, perceived ability and sources of distress among elite athletes.

Situational factors as well as individual differences are assumed to play an important role in perceptions of stress. One factor that may affect an elite athlete's perception of stress may be his or her perceived motivational climate. To examine the relative importance of dispositional and situational factors on the perceptions of distress (i.

Effect of motivational climate profiles on motivational indices in team sport.

Contemporary perspectives of achievement motivation have been based on social cognitive theories which give motivational climate a central place in the regulation of subsequent affective states, cognitions and behaviour in achievement contexts. This study examined the relationship between different profiles of the motivational climate in teamsport and achievement, and socially related cognitions among Norwegian team sport athletes. Players (N= 148) assessed their perception of the motivational climate using the Norwegian version of the Motivational climate in sport questionnaire, sources of satisfaction in team sport, achievement strategies, perceived purposes of sport, and conceptions of ability.

The role of achievement goal orientations and perceived ability upon somatic and cognitive indices of sport competition trait anxiety. A study of young athletes.

Goal orientation theory and competence motivation theory were used to examine the relationships between young athletes' achievement goals and indices of somatic and cognitive trait sport competition anxiety. Included in these analyses were also the potential mediating and moderating role of the athletes' perceived competence in sport. We examined 136 young athletes aged 13 to 18 years involved in organized sport within a community in northern Norway.

Adrenergic control of post-exercise metabolism.

After strenuous exercise there is a sustained increase in resting O2 consumption. The magnitude and duration of the excess post-exercise O2 consumption (EPOC) is a function of exercise intensity and exercise duration. Some of the mechanisms underlying the rapid EPOC component (<1 h) are well defined, while the mechanisms causing the prolonged EPOC component (>1 h) are not fully understood.