Pre-season training responses and their associations with training load in elite rugby league players

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Science and Medicine in Football on 2019-forthcoming, available online: doi to be added when available.Strength, power and endurance characteristics and their association with training load during a 7-week preseason training phase was assessed in elite rugby league players. Twenty-two players (age 23.3 ± 4.4 years) performed bench throw, one repetition maximum (1RM) bench press, squat jumps, three repetition maximum (3RM) squats, prone pull ups and prone Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (Yo-Yo IR1) before and after the 7-week preseason period. Training was classified into Gym, Field and Wrestle, with training load of each monitored using session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE) multiplied by training duration (sRPE-TL). There were most likely improvements in 3RM back squat, prone pull-ups and Yo-Yo IR1 and likely improvements in bench press, bench throw and squat jump after the 7-week training programme (ES = 0.3 to 1.2). Accumulated sRPE-TL for Gym, Field and Wrestle sessions was 9176 ± 1187, 10906 ± 2162, and 1072 ± 315 AU, respectively. Relationships between mean weekly sRPE-TL and changes in physical qualities was trivial to large (r = -0.67 to 0.34). This study suggests sRPE-TL is unsuitable to detect dose-response relationships between training load and the changes in physical qualities of elite rugby league players during the pre-season period

Error Rates, Decisive Outcomes and Publication Bias with Several Inferential Methods

Correction to this article published Hopkins, W.G. & Batterham, A.M. Sports Med (2016) 46: 923. doi:10.1007/s40279-016-0530-

Variability of serum markers of erythropoiesis during 6 days of racing in highly trained cyclists

The athlete biological passport for the fight against doping is currently based on longitudinal monitoring for abnormal changes in cellular blood parameters. Serum parameters related to altered erythropoiesis could be considered for inclusion in the passport. The aim of this study was to quantify the changes in such parameters in athletes during a period of intense exercise. 12 highly trained cyclists tapered for 3 days before 6 days of simulated intense stage racing. Morning and afternoon blood samples were taken on most days and analysed for total protein, albumin, soluble transferrin receptor and ferritin concentrations. Plasma volume was determined via total haemoglobin mass measured by carbon-monoxide rebreathing. Percent changes in means from baseline and percent standard errors of measurement (analytical error plus intra-athlete variation) on each measurement occasion were estimated with mixed linear modelling of log-transformed measures. Means of all variables changed substantially in the days following the onset of racing, ranging from −13% (haemoglobin concentration) to +27% (ferritin). After the second day, errors of measurement were generally twice those at baseline. Plasma variables were affected by heavy exercise, either because of changes in plasma volume (total protein, albumin, haemoglobin), acute phase/inflammatory reactions (ferritin) or both (soluble transferrin receptor). These effects need to be taken into consideration when integrating a plasma parameter into the biological passport model for athletes

Feedback of GPS training data within professional English soccer: A comparison of decision making and perceptions between coaches, players and performance staff

The aim of the study was to examine the perceptions of training data feedback from key stakeholders within the coaching process of professional soccer clubs. A survey assessed the importance of training data towards reflection and decision-making, potential barriers and player preferences. 176 participants comprising coaches, players and performance staff completed the survey. The training data coaches most commonly identified as wanting to see to support reflection was ‘high-intensity’ actions and variables recognised by the coach as ‘work rate/intensity’. All stakeholders reported training data as at least somewhat important in guiding their coaches’ practices, with lack of a common goal and high volumes of information being the main barriers to effective feedback of training data. Players deemed feedback as positive to changing their behaviour, with total distance, high-speed running and sprint distances as the information they would most like to see. It would be likely to be looked at via message or pinned up in the changing room. Training data is seen as an impactful and effective tool for use by all key stakeholders. Despite this, its use can be optimised by increasing opportunities for informal reflection, using less information, and improving communication of data

Injury Risk Estimation Expertise Assessing the ACL Injury Risk Estimation Quiz

Background: Available methods for screening anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk are effective but limited in application as they generally rely on expensive and time-consuming biomechanical movement analysis. A potential efficient alternative to biomechanical screening is skilled movement analysis via visual inspection (ie, having experts estimate injury risk factors based on observations of athletes’ movements). Purpose: To develop a brief, valid psychometric assessment of ACL injury risk factor estimation skill: the ACL Injury Risk Estimation Quiz (ACL-IQ). Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 3. Methods: A total of 660 individuals participated in various stages of the study, including athletes, physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers, exercise science researchers/students, and members of the general public in the United States. The ACL-IQ was fully computerized and made available online (www.ACL-IQ.org). Item sampling/reduction, reliability analysis, cross-validation, and convergent/discriminant validity analysis were conducted to optimize the efficiency and validity of the assessment. Results: Psychometric optimization techniques identified a short (mean time, 2 min 24 s), robust, 5-item assessment with high reliability (test-retest: r = 0.90) and consistent discriminability (average difference of exercise science professionals vs general population: Cohen d = 1.98). Exercise science professionals and general population individuals scored 74% and 53% correct, respectively. Convergent and discriminant validity was demonstrated. Scores on the ACL-IQ were most associated with ACL knowledge and various cue utilities and were least associated with domain-general spatial/decision-making ability, personality, or other demographic variables. Overall, 23% of the total sample (40% exercise science professionals; 6% general population) performed better than or equal to the ACL nomogram. Conclusion: This study presents the results of a systematic approach to assess individual differences in ACL injury risk factor estimation skill; the assessment approach is efficient (ie, it can be completed in\3 min) and psychometrically robust. The results provide evidence that some individuals have the ability to visually estimate ACL injury risk factors more accurately than other instrument-based ACL risk estimation methods (ie, ACL nomogram). The ACL-IQ provides the foundation for assessing the efficacy of observational ACL injury risk factor assessment (ie, does simple skilled visual inspection reduce ACL injuries?). It also provides a representative task environment that can be used to increase our understanding of the perceptual-cognitive mechanisms underlying observational movement analysis and to improve injury risk assessment performance

Bovine colostrum supplementation and upper respiratory symptoms during exercise training: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Abstract Background Bovine colostrum is proposed as a nutritional countermeasure to the risk of upper respiratory symptoms (URS) during exercise training. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the size of the effect of bovine colostrum supplementation on URS. Methods Databases (CDSR, CENTRAL, Cinahl, ClinicalTrials.gov, Current Controlled Trials, DARE, EMBASE, Medline, PROSPERO and Web of Science) of published, unpublished and ongoing studies were searched for randomised controlled trials of healthy adults (≥18 years), evaluating the effect of oral bovine colostrum supplementation compared to a concurrent control group on URS. Results Five trials (152 participants) met the inclusion criteria, all of which involved individuals involved in regular exercise training. Over an 8–12 week follow-up period, bovine colostrum supplementation when compared to placebo significantly reduced the incidence rate of URS days (rate ratio 0.56, 95 % confidence intervals 0.43 to 0.72, P value < 0.001) and URS episodes (0.62, 0.40 to 0.99, P value = 0.04) by 44 and 38 % respectively. There were limited data and considerable variation in results of included studies for duration of URS episodes hence a meta-analysis of this outcome was deemed inappropriate. The risk of bias assessment in this review was hindered by poor reporting practices of included studies. Due to incomplete reporting of study methods, four of the five studies were judged to have a moderate or high risk of overall bias. Our findings must be interpreted in relation to quantity and quality of the available evidence. Conclusions The present systematic review and meta-analysis provides evidence that bovine colostrum supplementation may be effective in preventing the incidence of URS days and episodes in adults engaged in exercise training. The fact that the majority of included studies did not report significant effects on URS outcomes mitigates concerns about publication bias. The point estimates of the random-effects meta-analyses are greater than the smallest clinically important difference, but the low precision of the individual study estimates means the evidence presented in this review needs to be followed up with an appropriately designed and adequately powered, randomised control trial

Altering fatty acid availability does not impair prolonged, continuous running to fatigue: evidence for carbohydrate dependence

We determined the effect of suppressing lipolysis via administration of nicotinic acid (NA) on fuel substrate selection and half-marathon running capacity. In a single-blinded, Latin square design, 12 competitive runners completed four trials involving treadmill running until volitional fatigue at a pace based on 95% of personal best half-marathon time. Trials were completed in a fed or overnight fasted state: 1) carbohydrate (CHO) ingestion before (2 g CHO·kg−1·body mass−1) and during (44 g/h) [CFED]; 2) CFED plus NA ingestion [CFED-NA]; 3) fasted with placebo ingestion during [FAST]; and 4) FAST plus NA ingestion [FAST-NA]. There was no difference in running distance (CFED, 21.53 ± 1.07; CFED-NA, 21.29 ± 1.69; FAST, 20.60 ± 2.09; FAST-NA, 20.11 ± 1.71 km) or time to fatigue between the four trials. Concentrations of plasma free fatty acids (FFA) and glycerol were suppressed following NA ingestion irrespective of preexercise nutritional intake but were higher throughout exercise in FAST compared with all other trials (P < 0.05). Rates of whole-body CHO oxidation were unaffected by NA ingestion in the CFED and FAST trials, but were lower in the FAST trial compared with the CFED-NA trial (P < 0.05). CHO was the primary substrate for exercise in all conditions, contributing 83-91% to total energy expenditure with only a small contribution from fat-based fuels. Blunting the exercise-induced increase in FFA via NA ingestion did not impair intense running capacity lasting ∼85 min, nor did it alter patterns of substrate oxidation in competitive athletes. Although there was a small but obligatory use of fat-based fuels, the oxidation of CHO-based fuels predominates during half-marathon running

The effects of a sleep/recovery supplement: 'Night Time Recharge' on sleep parameters in young adults.

BACKGROUND: Concentrated cherry juice reportedly contains melatonin which, in turn, has been highlighted as an important regulator in initiating sleep. AIM: The present investigation aims to clarify whether Night Time Recharge (NTR), a marketed sleep aid containing cherry extract, improves key sleep parameters in young, active adults with mildly poor sleep. METHODS: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over study design was employed. Twenty participants (nine female) consumed either NTR or a placebo for seven days. Accelerometers were used to assess sleep quality and physical activity levels. Urinary levels of 6-sulphatoxymelatonin (6-SMT), a marker of melatonin synthesis, was assessed via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: 6-SMT levels increased following NTR treatment (28.95 ng/ml) compared with placebo (4.0 ng/ml) (p < 0.001). There was also a significant difference (p = 0.047) in dietary tryptophan consumption during the NTR treatment (1236 mg) versus placebo (1149 mg). No trace of melatonin was detected from our analysis of the supplement. NTR had no significant effect on any sleep parameters with the exception of sleep latency (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: As chemical analysis of NTR by liquid-chromatography mass-spectrometry identified no detectable melatonin, the tryptophan content of the supplement is a likely reason for improvement in sleep latency. These results are in contrast to previous studies which have found a positive effect on sleep following cherry supplementation. Future work should focus on sleep latency and investigating whether cherry juice is effective in participants with problems in initiating sleep

Physiological and Biomechanical Responses of Highly Trained Distance Runners to Lower-Body Positive Pressure Treadmill Running

Background: As a way to train at faster running speeds, add training volume, prevent injury, or rehabilitate after an injury, lower-body positive pressure treadmills (LBPPT) have become increasingly commonplace among athletes. However, there are conflicting evidence and a paucity of data describing the physiological and biomechanical responses to LBPPT running in highly trained or elite caliber runners at the running speeds they habitually train at, which are considerably faster than those of recreational runners. Furthermore, data is lacking regarding female runners’ responses to LBPPT running. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the physiological and biomechanical responses to LBPPT running in highly trained male and female distance runners. Methods: Fifteen highly trained distance runners (seven male; eight female) completed a single running test composed of 4 × 9-min interval series at fixed percentages of body weight ranging from 0 to 30% body weight support (BWS) in 10% increments on LBPPT. The first interval was always conducted at 0% BWS; thereafter, intervals at 10, 20, and 30% BWS were conducted in random order. Each interval consisted of three stages of 3 min each, at velocities of 14.5, 16.1, and 17.7 km·h−1 for men and 12.9, 14.5, and 16.1 km·h−1 for women. Expired gases, ventilation, breathing frequency, heart rate (HR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and stride characteristics were measured during each running speed and BWS. Results: Male and female runners had similar physiological and biomechanical responses to running on LBPPT. Increasing BWS increased stride length (p \u3c 0.02) and flight duration (p \u3c 0.01) and decreased stride rate (p \u3c 0.01) and contact time (p \u3c 0.01) in small-large magnitudes. There was a large attenuation of oxygen consumption (VO2) relative to BWS (p \u3c 0.001), while there were trivial-moderate reductions in respiratory exchange ratio, minute ventilation, and respiratory frequency (p \u3e 0.05), and small-large effects on HR and RPE (p \u3c 0.01). There were trivial-small differences in VE, respiratory frequency, HR, and RPE for a given VO2 across various BWS (p \u3e 0.05). Conclusions: The results indicate the male and female distance runners have similar physiological and biomechanical responses to LBPPT running. Overall, the biomechanical changes during LBPPT running all contributed to less metabolic cost and corresponding physiological changes. Keywords: AlterG, Lower-body positive pressure, Body weight support, Anti-gravity, Running, Stride characteristics, Physiological characteristics, Metabolic demand, Oxygen demand, Oxygen cos