Running as a form of active leisure - running paths as a substantial element of local society development strategies

The civilizational progress has brought many conveniences that allowed us to choose leisure and recreation as the preferred way of spending our free time. The interest in the advantages of open-air activities keeps growing, together with the number of needs emerging with the constant improvement of the economic status of our society. Meeting those needs has become the aim of many projects. The more fashionable running becomes, the higher amount of people get interested in it and start running. The dynamic development of tourism related to running is a challenge for the tourism market. The astonishing popularity of this form of sport is especially visible in the number of people taking part in official runs and the growing number of the runs themselves. Promoting the region through active tourism is more than desirable. The goal is to show the right direction in creating the local society development strategies in fields such as health and active leisure for local governments. This direction is the proposition to create more running paths. The way of creating them has been described on the example of Świdnica city in Lower Silesian region ofPoland. The project should perfectly match the development strategy of the city and become helpful for the municipality. Having the area of the city and the number of its inhabitants in mind one could apply the guidelines written above to other cities with similar conditions without hesitation

The Applicability of Using Parameters of the Autocorrelation Function in the Assessment of Human Balance During Quiet Bipendal Stance

The purpose of the study was to analyze the parameters of the autocorrelation function when assessing time series ground reaction force (GRF) signals during quiet standing. GRF in the three directions were recorded on two Kistler force plates during three 15-s trials in a sample of 82 (31 females and 51 males) participants. Autocorrelation was performed on the GRF data and four parameters characterizing the function were computed. Comparisons of the right- and left-foot parameter means showed significant differences in mediolateral GRF for the time of the function's decay to 0, magnitude of the derivative output, and mean decay velocity to the extremum. Significant correlations were observed among all parameters – weak correlations between the time of the function's decay to 0 and the time to the first extremum and strong correlations between the derivative output and mean decay velocity to the extremum. The analyzed autocorrelation function parameters can serve as a precise measure of the motor control process during quiet standing. The strong correlations observed between the four parameters indicate that they evaluate similar properties of the central nervous system as a regulator of balance maintenance

Motives of physically active adults to participate in the 5 PKO Wroclaw Night Half Marathon

Introduction and aim: Running has become an integral part of social life around the world. It is the simplest and most natural form of movement, which is the basis of human existence. The popularity of this physical activity is increasing rapidly due to many sports and recreational events which are being more frequently organized. In Poland, long-distance running events are held, not only in big cities, but also in small towns and villages. Being by nature a “social animal”, people feel pressure from their environment to participate in such events. Thus, what motivates them to frequently make extreme physical effort?Materials and methods: The research group was comprised of 450 runners from all over Poland (331 men, 119 women). Diagnostic survey techniques and a questionnaire were used in the study.Results: Nearly one-third of the respondents declared their willingness to participate and complete another half marathon (29.11%). Only 28 people wanted to become champions in their age group, and another 23 subjects wanted a prize sponsored by an employer or other organization interested in their participation in a run. More than half of the respondents replied that participation in the half marathon was the result of many months of leading a healthy lifestyle.Conclusions: Participation in a half marathon allows competitors to fight their weaknesses. Runners want to participate in sports events because of the atmosphere and opportunity to spend time with their loved ones

The Relationship between Selected Motor Ability Determinants and Anthropometric Characteristics in Adolescent Athletes from Various Sport

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between speed, lower extremities explosive power, simple, and complex responses in adolescent athletes from various disciplines. Thirty nine athletes of 16.5 years old, N=13 sprinters and jumpers, N=13 soccer players, and N=13 judokas participated in the experiment. Pearson correlations, a one–way ANOVA and an independent t-test for establishing differences between those three groups of athletes was applied. Additionally the Ward method of hierarchical cluster analysis also was applied. The strong correlation occurred between complex responses and speed; 20 m from standing and 20 m fl ying start (r=0.62 and r=0.65 respectively). In other cases, no strong association was found. The substantial differences between groups occurred in the 20 m run from fl ying start (t=5.92) and standing triple jump (t=4.16). The study indicates that adolescent athletes may need to be assessed differently to a certain extent, including sport specialization

Characteristics of Autocorrelation Structure of Lower Extremity Functional Laterality in Disturbed and Undisturbed Bipedal Upright Stance

Purpose. It is posited that functional laterality is influenced by the generation and conduction of neural signals and therefore associated with sensorimotor control. The question arises if symmetry or asymmetry in sensorimotor processing affects the development of symmetric or asymmetric motor programs in the lower extremities. The purpose of the study was to examine the mechanisms of the human mobility moto-control - the process of maintaining body balance in a standing position through an appropriate course of distribution of ground reaction forces in a time frame, in a situation requiring lower extremity movement symmetry. Methods. The autocorrelation function was calculated for ground reaction forces (in the three orthogonal axes) registered during 45 s of bipedal upright stance in two conditions (eyes open and closed). Results. Minor albeit significant deficiencies in postural muscle control were revealed as a function of time, as evidenced in the decay of the autocorrelation function to zero (T0) between the right and left foot for the mediolateral ground reaction force signal. However, the results attest to symmetrical sensorimotor control between both feet. Conclusions. Motor actions (postural corrections) performed in long-duration tasks may have less of an effect on sensorimotor control than those applied in shorter duration projections. ANOVA and correlation analysis (across all variables) of the right and left foot T0 indicate considerable symmetry in the control of force magnitude and direction during upright standing

The characteristics of feet center of pressure trajectory during quiet standing

To investigate the level of bilateral symmetry or asymmetry between right and left foot center of pressure (COP) trajectory in the mediolateral and anteroposterior directions, this study involved 102 participants (54 females and 48 males). Ground reaction forces were measured using two Kistler force plates during two 45-s quiet standing trials. Comparisons of COP trajectory were performed by correlation and scatter plot analysis. Strong and very strong positive correlations (from 0.6 to 1.0) were observed between right and left foot anteroposterior COP displacement trajectory in 91 participants11 individuals presented weak or negative correlations. In the mediolateral direction, moderate and strong negative correlations (from −0.5 to −1.0) were observed in 69 participants, weak negative or weak positive correlations in 30 individuals, and three showed strong positive correlations (0.6 to 1.0). Additional investigation is warranted to compare COP trajectories between asymptotic individuals as assessed herein (to determine normative data) and those with foot or leg symptoms to better understand the causes of COP asymmetry and aid clinicians with the diagnosis of posture-related pathologies

The effect of respiratory muscle training on the pulmonary function, lung ventilation, and endurance performance of young soccer players

This study investigated whether the addition of eight weeks of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) to a regular preseason soccer training program, including incremental endurance training (IET), would change pulmonary function, lung ventilation, and aerobic performance in young soccer players. Sixteen club-level competitive junior soccer players (mean age 17.63 ± 0.48 years, height 182 ± 0.05 cm, body mass 68.88 ± 4.48 kg) participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups: experimental (n = 8) and control (n = 8). Both groups performed regular preseason soccer training, including endurance workouts as IET. In addition to this training, the experimental group performed additional IMT for eigght weeks with a commercially available respiratory muscle trainer (Threshold IMT), with a total of 80 inhalations (twice per day, five days per week). Preand post-intervention tests of pulmonary function, maximal inspiratory pressure, and the Cooper test were implemented. Eight weeks of IMT had a positive impact on expiratory muscle strength (p = 0.001)however, there was no significant effect on respiratory function parameters. The results also indicate increased efficiency of the inspiratory muscles, contributing to an improvement in aerobic endurance, measured by VO$_2$max estimated from running distance in the cardiorespiratory Cooper test (p < 0.005)

Evaluation of the pre-planned and non-planned agility performance

This study assessed differences in agility performance between athletes of team and individual sports by assessing change-of-direction speed (CODS) as pre-planned agility and reactive agility (RA) as non-planned in different spatial configurations. The study involved 36 individual (sprint, hurdles, jumping, tennis, and judo) and 34 team (soccer, basketball, and handball) athletes. CODS and RA were measured with a light-based reactive training system in a frontal (FR), universal (UN), semicircular (SC), and lateral (LA) design. Lower limb power and sprint performance were also measured in a 10 m single leg jump test and 15 m sprint. Individual athletes showed significantly better performance in three of the eight agility tests: LA-RA, UN-RA, and SC-CODS (p < 0.008, p < 0.036, and p < 0.027, respectively) and were found to present stronger correlations (p < 0.01) between jump test performance and the CODS condition. Team athletes showed stronger associations between sprint performance and the CODS condition. In the RA condition both jump and sprint performance showed stronger correlations in the group of individual athletes. Agility performance as measured by CODS and RA should improve with enhanced of motor proficiency. Finally, the tests applied in this experiment seem to be multidimensional, but require spatio-temporal adjustment for their implementation, so that they meet the requirements of the particular sport