Sports Health & Fitness – Page 10

Calculating the Acute: Chronic Workload Ratio in a Female Olympic Weightlifter: A Case Study

Authors: Jacqueline Serrano¹, Ryan Belsito³, and Brian Serrano^1,2

¹HPI Sports Medicine
²The University of Medical Sciences Arizona
³Left Coast Weightlifting Club, Director and Head Coach

Corresponding Author:
Dr. Brian Serrano
25162 Forbes Road Unit D, Laguna Niguel, CA 92866
[email protected]
818-926-7269

Dr. Jacqueline Serrano is the Clinic Director of HPI Sports Medicine. She is a practicing Sports Chiropractor and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Her field of expertise is in Sports Medicine and Functional Medicine.

Ryan Belsito currently serves as the director and head coach for Left Coast Weightlifting Club.

Dr. Brian Serrano is the Director of Rehabilitation and Performance at HPI Sports Medicine. He serves as an Assistant Professor at The University of Medical Sciences in Arizona in the Human Movement department. His current research interest include shoulder injuries in overhead athletes.

Calculating the Acute: Chronic Workload Ratio in a Female Olympic Weightlifter: A Case Study

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The idea of workload monitoring has become popular for athletes of all levels within the last 5 years with the advent of wearable technology. The purpose of this case study was to track the workload of a female Olympic weightlifter using a commercial fitness tracker..

Methods: A competitive, female Olympic Weightlifter wore a commercial fitness tracker (WHOOP) for 1 month and specifically during training session. Metrics like strain, average heart rate (HR), max HR, and duration of session were tracked. The acute: chronic workload ratio was also calculated based off her programming. Two sample t-tests were calculated between continuous variables and an ANOVA was performed between multiple continuous variables. Statistical significance was set as a p-value of (<0.05) using a confidence interval of 95%.

Results: The WHOOP fitness tracker was able to calculate differences between strain and HR average (p<.001), between HR average and HR max (p<.001), HR average and Workload (p<.001), and HR max and Workload (p<.003). ANOVA analysis showed a p-value of (<.001) between all continuous variables. The acute: chronic workload ratio over the 4 weeks ranged from (0.85-1.10).

Conclusion: Using wearable technology has become a cost-effective and efficient technique to track athlete workload even in the recreational population. This information can then be supplemented by acute: chronic workload ratios for more information. This can lead to clinicians, coaches, and athletes having higher quality information to improve sports performance and recovery while mitigating the risk of injury.

Applications in Sport: The WHOOP fitness tracker serves as a valid way to track internal workload in Olympic Weightlifters while the ACWR serves as a valid way to track external workload in Olympic Weightlifters.

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U.S. Sports Academy2021-01-07T10:14:49-06:00January 1st, 2021|Research, Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off

Kinetics and Kinematics of Commonly Used Quarterback Throwing Approaches – A Case Study

Authors: Dimitrije Cabarkapa ¹, Andrew C. Fry ¹, and Eric M. Mosier ²

¹Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
² Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO, USA

Corresponding Author:
Dimitrije Cabarkapa, MS, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, USAW
Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory
University of Kansas
1301 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66047
[email protected]
785-864-5552

Kinetics and Kinematics of Commonly Used Quarterback Throwing Approaches – A Case Study

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to analyze kinetic and kinematic components for six of the most commonly used quarterback drop throwing patterns and determine how further performance improvements can be made. One male right-handed quarterback athlete volunteered to perform multiple repetitions of the six most commonly used right-handed drop throwing approaches: standing still and throw (SST), one-step left-right (1SLR), one-step right-left (1SRL), three-step straight ahead (3SSA), three-step shot gun (3SSG), and five-step throw (5ST). Kinetic data was collected with a uniaxial force plate while kinematic data was captured with high definition cameras. One-way analysis of variance was used to determine the differences between the six throwing approaches for the kinetic and kinematic variables examined in this study. The statistical significance level was set a priori to p<0.05. Peak right leg force demonstrated significantly lower magnitudes for 1SRL when compared to 1SLR, 3SSG, and 5ST. Peak left leg force for the 3SSA was lower when compared to 1SRL and 1SLR. Throw arm elbow angle was greater for SST when compared to all other throwing approaches. No difference was observed for ball speed, non-throw arm elbow angle, front leg knee angle, and back leg knee angle between any of the examined throwing approaches. Our results indicate that the majority of ground reaction force production required for an optimal quarterback throwing motion comes from the rear leg, and the magnitudes may reach three times bodyweight forces. Ground reaction forces may be enhanced with a greater number of drop steps, which may ultimately increase quarterback throwing distance. Greater throwing arm elbow extension may be induced as biomechanical adjustment due to lack of force production caused by the inability of the quarterback to take a greater number of drop steps.

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U.S. Sports Academy2020-09-08T10:15:00-05:00December 11th, 2020|Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off

Testing the predictive validity of combine tests among junior elite football players: an 8-yr follow-up

Authors: Pierre-Luc Yao¹, Vincent Huard Pelletier¹, and Jean Lemoyne¹

¹ Department of Human Kinetics, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada

Corresponding Author:
Pierre-Luc Yao, PhD
3351 Boulevard des Forges
Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada, G8Z 4M3
[email protected]
819 376-5011, ext. 3793

Pierre-Luc Yao, PhD a lecturer and internship coordinator in the Department of Human Kinetics at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in Trois-Rivières, Québec. His research interests include psychometrics, sport retirement impacts and athlete development.

Vincent Huard Pelletier, MSc, PhD(c) is currently a doctoral student at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. Vincent research interest include athlete development, physical activity behavior amongst athletes.

Jean Lemoyne is professor of physical education in the Department of Human Kinetics at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. His research interests are practice of sport amongst teens and young adults, performance evaluation in sports, advanced statistics in sports.

Testing the predictive validity of combine tests among junior elite football players: an 8-yr follow-up

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The objective of this study was to assess the relationship and contribution of physical performance test results on the final selection of an elite under-18 football selection camp. Methods: Data were drawn from 2 876 players divided into seven position groups (DB, DL, OL, LB, QB, RB, and WR) collected over an 8-year span. Players’ evaluations included performance tests (10-yd dash, 20-yd dash, 40-yd dash, 20-yd pro agility shuttle, 3-cone drill, broad jump, vertical jump, power max test) and anthropometric measures (height and weight). Student t tests were calculated for selected and non-selected groups for all positions. Results: Mean comparisons showed that for most measures, selected players obtained significantly better results than non-selected players. Linear regression models were generated for all groups, and every position was found to have its own unique prediction model. The best models were those of the DL (R² = 0.222), OL (R² = 0.207) and LB (R² = 0.204), and the overall explained variance for each model was considered low (R² = 0.173). Weight, height and 40-yd dash were the most predominant factors in all models. Conclusion: Individually, selection camp results effectively discriminate between selected and non-selected players; together, however, they explain only a limited part of the final selection for each position. Applications in sport: These results suggest that the predictive capacity of the football combine could be improved in terms of the selection of elite football players.

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U.S. Sports Academy2021-01-07T09:57:43-06:00December 8th, 2020|Research, Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off

Who Are the Undergraduate Equestrians in the Intercollegiate Horseshows Association, and What Are Their Lifestyle Habits?

Authors: Jessie Bitler, Amanda J. Sandroni, Shelby Yeager, Helen Batisti, Diane M. DellaValle^*

Nutrition, Athletic Training and Exercise Science Department (NATES), Marywood University, Scranton, PA, USA

Corresponding Author:
Diane M. DellaValle, PhD, RDN, LDN
Marywood University
2300 Adams Ave
Scranton, PA 18509
Ph: 570-348-6211
Fax: 570-340-6029
Email: [email protected]

Jessie M. Bitler, MS was a graduate student at the time this study was conducted, and this was her thesis research.

Amanda J. Sandroni is a graduate student and dietetic intern at Marywood University. Her research interests focus on food allergies and intuitive eating in college students.

Shelby W. Yeager MEd, ATC, LAT, FMSC, NASM-CPT, PES, CES is an Associate Clinical Professor of Exercise Science and Athletic Training at Marywood University. Her interests focus on functional movement screening and injury prevention in athletes.

Helen E. Battisti, PhD, RDN, CDN was an Assistant Professor of Nutrition at the time this study was conducted. Her research interests include the use of the horse in psychosocial therapy.

Diane M. DellaValle, PhD, RDN, LDN is an Associate Professor of Nutrition. Her research interests include improving nutrition status and performance of collegiate athletes.

Who Are the Undergraduate Equestrians in the Intercollegiate Horseshows Association, and What Are Their Lifestyle Habits?

ABSTRACT

As there is currently little research available on collegiate equestrians, the purpose of the current study was to describe the health and lifestyle habits of undergraduate members of the Intercollegiate Horseshows Association (IHSA). This cross-sectional study consisted of an online survey of demographic, riding, health, and academic characteristics. Participants (n=528, 20.3±1.4 years old, 96% female, 91.7% white; BMI 23.2±3.7 kg/m²) reported 11.7±4.5 years of riding experience. Most reported very little to no alcohol consumption, and not smoking. Eighty-three percent reported 1-3 servings/day of both fruits and vegetables, and 84.6% reported sleeping 6-8 h/night. GPA was negatively related to the number of naps reported (r=-0.19, p<0.001), and alcohol servings (r=-0.15, p=0.001). Work hours per week was negatively related to hours of sleep per night (r=-0.14, p=0.006), and positively related to alcohol servings (r=0.12, p=0.03). Greater physical activity (PA) time within sport was related to more experience (r=0.13, p=0.003), horse ownership (r=0.30, p<0.001), greater vigorous PA time outside of sport (r=0.25, p<0.001), and more fruit consumed per day (r=0.16, p<0.001). While our results did show that these equestrians engaged in healthy lifestyle habits, we found that taking more naps and drinking more alcohol were both negatively related to student GPA, and that working more hours was negatively related to hours of sleep per night and was positively related to drinking more alcohol. It is important to describe the characteristics of this group due to their uniqueness in order for College and University Services to develop health and nutrition programs appropriate to serve their unique needs.

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U.S. Sports Academy2020-08-12T11:28:37-05:00November 27th, 2020|Research, Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off

Nutrition status of female division I college gymnasts: a descriptive study

Authors: Hilary Green¹, Ruth Litchfield¹, and Ulrike Genschel²

¹Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
²Department of Statistics, Iowa State University, Ames Iowa

Corresponding Author:
Hilary L. Green, MS, RDN
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition
2312 Food Sciences Building
536 Farm House Lane
Ames, IA 50011-1061
[email protected]
910-728-7063

Hilary L. Green, MS, RDN is a BS/MS graduate of Iowa State University in Diet and Exercise who performed research under the guidance of Dr. Ruth Litchfield. Her research interests focused on nutrition, inflammation, and the recovery status of division I collegiate female gymnasts.

Ruth Litchfield, PhD, RD, LD is currently a faculty member and Nutrition Extension State Specialist at Iowa State University. Her research interests include nutrition education, health promotion, sports nutrition, educational technology, and school nutrition.

Ulrike Genschel, PhD is an associate professor of statistics. Her research interests are in the areas of statistics education, education research methodology, general statistical methodology, and robust statistics.

Nutrition status of female division I college gymnasts: a descriptive study

ABSTRACT

Research has shown the female athlete triad to be prevalent among aesthetic sports like gymnastics, where decreased energy intake can increase the risk of one or more components of the triad. The importance of nutrition in recovery for elite athletes, including collegiate gymnasts, has also been noted. The purpose of this paper is to examine anthropometric measures and dietary intake during the pre-season and competitive season among division I collegiate female gymnasts. Variable measures were collected in August, December, and April and analyzed using descriptive statistics via SPSS (v25) and SAS (v9.4). Results suggest a decrease in body fat from August to December. Energy, carbohydrate, dietary fiber, potassium, calcium, vitamins (folate, K, D) and choline intakes did not meet current recommendations and diet quality was fair. This study demonstrated suboptimal dietary intake, indicating the need for nutrition interventions to improve nutrient intake and diet quality in collegiate female gymnasts.

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U.S. Sports Academy2020-12-03T16:08:01-06:00November 20th, 2020|Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off