On-sight and red-point climbing: changes in performance and route-finding ability in male advanced climbers

Aim: In lead climbing, the ascent of the route can be defined as on-sight or red-point. On-sight is the more challenging style since it demands greater physiological and psychological commitment. The differences between the two modes in advanced climbers have not been studied much. Two essential skills needed to optimize performance, in both on-sight and in red-point climbing, are route interpretation (RI) ability and movements sequence recall. Therefore, this study aimed to compare performance between on-sight and red-point ascent in advanced climbers and evaluate how a climber’s RI ability and movement sequences recall might change before and after on-sight and red-point climbing. Methods: Eighteen advanced male climbers (age 29.2 ± 4.7 years, body mass 67.8 ± 3.6 kg, stature 175.2 ± 2.4 cm, best red-point and on-sight grades 7b+/8a and 7a+/7b+, respectively) were video-recorded during the route ascent in on-sight and red-point modes to evaluate performance and to measure static and dynamic action times. RI ability and movement sequence recall were assessed before and after each climb. Level of anxiety was evaluated via a self-report questionnaire. Heart rate (fH), lactate concentration, ([La–]), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were detected during and after each climb. Results: Compared to on-sight, an improvement in performance was observed in a red-point climb: the ascent was faster (148.7 ± 13.6 s and 179.5 ± 12.5 s, respectively, P < 0.05), smoother (significant reduction in exploratory moves and in stops times, P < 0.05), less demanding physiologically (lower fHpeak and [La–]peak, P < 0.05), and psychologically (lower RPE, cognitive and somatic anxiety and higher self-confidence, P < 0.05). The RI ability was improved in red-point versus on-sight and, in the same mode, between pre and post ascent. Conclusion: Red-point climbing was found to be less demanding than on-sight, both physiologically and psychologically, under the conditions investigated by this study. Our findings suggest that RI is a trainable skill and underscore the importance of including specific techniques in training programs designed to improve interaction between perceptual, psychological, and physiological factors

Futsal and Continuous Exercise Induce Similar Changes in Specific Skeletal Muscle Signalling Proteins

Exercise elicits skeletal-muscle adaptations which are important for improved health outcomes. We compared the effects of a futsal game (FUT) and moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MOD), on the skeletal-muscle protein signalling responses in young, healthy individuals. 16 men undertook an incremental exercise test and a resting muscle biopsy performed >48\u2009h apart. They were then randomly allocated to either FUT (n=12) consisting of 2\u2009x\u200920\u2009min halves, or MOD (n=8) consisting of a work-matched running bout performed at an intensity corresponding to the individual ventilatory threshold 1. Work matching was achieved by means of triaxial accelerometers. Immediately after FUT and MOD, participants underwent a second biopsy to assess exercise-induced changes in protein signalling. Total and phosphorylated protein abundance was assessed via western blotting. Both FUT and MOD altered signalling responses in skeletal muscle. FUT increased total ATF2 protein abundance (p=0.048) and phosphorylation (p=0.029), while no changes occurred with MOD. Both exercise regimes increased ACC phosphorylation (p=0.01) and returned a trend for increased p38MAPK phosphorylation. Futsal may be employed as an alternative to continuous exercise to elicit muscle adaptations which may be associated with improved health outcomes. As only FUT increased ATF2 activation, this protein might be a target of future investigation on exercise-induced signalling

Cardiorespiratory and Metabolic Responses to Sinusoidal Exercise of Moderate Intensity: Reliability of the Measurements and the Effects of Fatigue

The cardiorespiratory and metabolic responses to sinusoidal exercise, in which work rate follows an oscillating pattern, have been proposed to assess the effectiveness of the cardiorespiratory adjustments. The repetition of successive sinusoidal periods permits to simultaneously reduce the influence of random fluctuations and accentuate the underlying physiological response. Data analysis has been often performed by overlapping and averaging successive cycles assuming no differences among them, thus excluding the possible presence of fatigue throughout successive cycles. After assessing the reliability of the measurements during sinusoidal exercise, this study sought to investigate the possible differences among subsequent cycles of sinusoidal work. Eleven active volunteers (age: 28±6 yrs., body mass: 73±7 kg; stature: 1.79±0.06 m, maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max): 52 ml·kg−1·min−1) participated to the study that was conducted in accordance with the Basic Principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. After determining individual VO2max and critical power (CP) on a cycle ergometer, they underwent sinusoidal work rates characterized by an amplitude (A), a midpoint (MP) and a period equal to ±50W, 50W below CP and 240s, respectively, up to exhaustion. On a different day, participants repeated the same experimental session for reliability purposes. Expiratory ventilation (VE), oxygen uptake (VO2), carbon dioxide output (VCO2), and heart rate (fH) responses were fitted by the sinewave function that minimized the residuals. A, MP and the time-delay (tD, the latency between mechanical work rate and physiological responses) of all parameters were determined for each cycle. Reliability assessment between day 1 and 2 was expressed as Cronbach’s a and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). A one-way ANOVA for repeated measures tested the presence of differences among cycles. Regression analysis was also applied to explore possible relationship between each variables and time. Reliability analysis revealed a very high to high ICC values for most of the parameters, with the exception of A for VO2 and VCO2 and tD for fH (moderate reliability). A of VE and fH response increased and decreased with time, respectively (p<0.05). MP of VE and fH showed a positive regression that led to significantly higher values in the last compared to the first cycle; on the contrary, no changes were observed among cycles in all other MP data. tD was similar in each cycle for all the investigated parameters despite a very slight negative regression found for VCO2. In conclusion, most of the physiological responses to moderate sinusoidal exercise exhibited a high to very high reliability. Some of the cardiorespiratory parameters showed significant changes with time throughout the sinusoidal exercise possibly due to the onset of fatigue. Therefore, an approach that overlaps and averages all the cycles together should not be performed to avoid wrong estimation of physiological responses to sinusoidal exercise, unless the averaging approach involves only the first cycles

Technical and locomotor demands in elite soccer: manipulating area per player during small-sided games to replicate official match demands

The present study aimed to investigate the area per player (ApP) to replicate the technical and locomotor match demands using small-sided games (SSGs) in male soccer players (n = 20) competing in major European and UEFA competitions. The relative number of each individual technical activity per minute (number·min−1; technical demands) was counted and the relative (m·min−1) total (TD), high-speed running (HSRD), very high-speed running (VHSRD), sprint and acceleration+deceleration (Acc+Dec) distances were collected during different SSG formats (n = 24; 4 vs 4 to 10 vs 10 with an ApP from 60 to 341 m2 ·player−1) and official matches (n = 28). Data were collected during two full seasons. A linear mixed model analysis was used to calculate the individual relationship between technical/locomotor demands and the ApP during SSGs; the correlation coefficient was also calculated. With the exception of an inverse moderate (r = -0.457) correlation for Acc+Dec, each locomotor metric (TD, HSRD, VHSRD and sprint) showed a positive large to very large (r = 0.560 to 0.710) correlation with ApP (P < 0.001). The technical demands showed an inverse moderate correlation (r = -0.529) with ApP. Additionally, inverse moderate to large correlations (r = -0.397 to -0.600; P < 0.05) between the technical demands and the locomotor demands (TD, HSR, VHSR and sprint) were found. Lastly, an ApP of ~243 m2 ·player was found to replicate the official match technical demand and it was quite similar to the ApP required to replicate HSRD, VHSRD and sprint. These findings may help practitioners to replicate, overload and underload both technical and locomotor demands using a specific ApP during SSGs in elite soccer

Bilateral Biceps Curl Shows Distinct Biceps Brachii and Anterior Deltoid Excitation Comparing Straight vs. EZ Barbell Coupled with Arms Flexion/No-Flexion

The present study investigated the excitation of the biceps brachii and anterior deltoid during bilateral biceps curl performed using the straight vs. EZ barbell and with or without flexing the arms. Ten competitive bodybuilders performed bilateral biceps curl in non-exhaustive 6-rep sets using 8-RM in four variations: using the straight barbell flexing (STflex) or not flexing the arms (STno-flex) or the EZ barbell flexing (EZflex) or not flexing the arms (EZno-flex). The ascending and descending phases were separately analyzed using the normalized root mean square (nRMS) collected using surface electro-myography. For the biceps brachii, during the ascending phase, a greater nRMS was observed in STno-flex vs. EZno-flex (+1.8%, effect size [ES]: 0.74), in STflex vs. STno-flex (+17.7%, ES: 3.93) and in EZflex vs. EZno-flex (+20.3%, ES: 5.87). During the descending phase, a greater nRMS was observed in STflex vs. EZflex (+3.8%, ES: 1.15), in STno-flex vs. STflex (+2.8%, ES: 0.86) and in EZno-flex vs. EZflex (+8.1%, ES: 1.81). The anterior deltoid showed distinct excitation based on the arm flexion/no-flexion. A slight advantage in biceps brachii excitation appears when using the straight vs. EZ barbell. Flexing or not flexing the arms seems to uniquely excite the biceps brachii and anterior deltoid. Practitioners should consider including different bilateral biceps barbell curls in their routine to vary the neural and mechanical stimuli

Area per player in small-sided games to replicate the external load and estimated physiological match demands in elite soccer players.

The current study determined the area-per-player during small- or large-sided games with or without goalkeeper that replicates the relative (m·min-1) total distance, high-intensity running distance, sprint distance and metabolic power covered during official matches. Time-motion analysis was performed on twenty-five elite soccer-players during 26 home-matches. A total of 2565 individual samples for SSGs using different pitch sizes and different number of players were collected and classified as SSGs with (SSG-G) or without goalkeeper (SSG-P). A between-position comparison was also performed. The area-per-player needed to replicate the official match demands was largely higher in SSG-G vs SSG-P for total distance [187±53 vs 115±35 m2, effect size (ES): 1.60 95%CI 0.94/2.21], high-intensity running distance [262±72 vs 166±39 m2, ES: 1.66(0.99/2.27)] and metabolic power [177±42 vs 94±40, ES: 1.99(1.31/2.67)], but similar for sprint distance [(316±75 vs 295±99 m2, ES: 0.24(-0.32/0.79)] with direction of larger area-per-player for sprint distance > high-intensity running > total distance ≌ metabolic power for both SSG-G and SSG-P. In SSG-G, forwards required higher area-per-player than central-defenders [ES: 2.96(1.07/4.35)], wide-midfielders [ES: 2.45(0.64/3.78)] and wide-defenders [ES: 3.45(1.13/4.99)]. Central-midfielders required higher area-per-player than central-defenders [ES: 1.69(0.20/2.90)] and wide-midfielders [ES: 1.35(-0.13/2.57)]. In SSG-P, central defenders need lower area-per-player (ES: -6.01/-0.92) to overall replicate the match demands compared to all other positions. The current results may be used to gain knowledge of the SSGs relative to the match demands. This imply manipulating SSGs using higher or lower ApP, the presence of the goalkeeper or design specific rules to increase or decrease the position-specific demands with respect to the desired external load outcomes

The Activation of Gluteal, Thigh, and Lower Back Muscles in Different Squat Variations Performed by Competitive Bodybuilders: Implications for Resistance Training

The present study investigated the activation of gluteal, thigh, and lower back muscles in different squat variations. Ten male competitive bodybuilders perform back-squat at full (full-BS) or parallel (parallel-BS) depth, using large feet-stance (sumo-BS), and enhancing the feet external rotation (external-rotated-sumo-BS) and front-squat (FS) at 80% 1-RM. The normalized surface electromyographic root-mean-square (sEMG RMS) amplitude of gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, adductor longus, longissimus, and iliocostalis was recorded during both the ascending and descending phase of each exercise. During the descending phase, greater sEMG RMS amplitude of gluteus maximus and gluteus medius was found in FS vs. all other exercises (p &lt; 0.05). Additionally, FS elicited iliocostalis more than all other exercises. During the ascending phase, both sumo-BS and external-rotated-sumo-BS showed greater vastus lateralis and adductor longus activation compared to all other exercises (p &lt; 0.05). Moreover, rectus femoris activation was greater in FS compared to full-BS (p &lt; 0.05). No between-exercise difference was found in vastus medialis and longissimus showed no between-exercise difference. FS needs more backward stabilization during the descending phase. Larger feet-stance increases thigh muscles activity, possibly because of their longer length. These findings show how bodybuilders uniquely recruit muscles when performing different squat variations

Long-term passive leg stretch improves systemic vascular responsiveness as much as single-leg exercise training

Purpose: The current study compared the local and systemic vascular responsiveness after small muscle mass endurance training or passive stretching training (PST). Methods: Thirty-six sex-matched healthy participants underwent 8-week single-leg knee extension (SLKE) (N = 12) training or PST (N = 12), or no intervention (control, N = 12). Before and after the intervention, local and systemic vascular responsiveness was assessed by Doppler ultrasound at the femoral (local effect) and brachial artery (systemic effect) during single passive leg movement (sPLM) and brachial flow-mediated dilation (FMD) test, respectively. Results: After training, delta femoral blood flow (representing the local vascular responsiveness) increased after SLKE and PST by +54(7)% (effect size: 2.72, P &lt; 0.001) and + 20(2)%, (effect size: 2.43, P &lt; 0.001), respectively, albeit with a greater extent in SLKE [post-SLKE vs. post-PST: +56(8)%, (effect size: 2.92, P &lt; 0.001)]. Interestingly, the %FMD (standing for the systemic effect) increased after SLKE and PST by +12(2)% (effect size: 0.68, P &lt; 0.001) and + 11(1)% (effect size: 0.83, P &lt; 0.001), respectively, without any between-groups difference (P &gt; 0.05). No changes occurred in control. Conclusion: The present findings revealed that both active and passive training modalities induced similar improvements in the brachial artery dilatation capacity, while the former was more effective in improving femoral artery blood flow. Passive stretching could be used in people with limited mobility to improve vascular responsiveness both at the local and systemic level, and in this latter case has similar effects as small muscle mass endurance training