Muscle dysmorphia: Current insights

Since 1997, there has been increasing research focused on Muscle Dysmorphia, a condition underpinned by people’s beliefs they have insufficient muscularity, in both the Western and non-western medical and scientific communities. Much of this empirical interest has surveyed nonclinical samples, and there is limited understanding of people with the condition beyond knowledge about their characteristics. Much existing knowledge about people with the condition is unsurprising and inherent in the definition of the disorder, such as dissatisfaction with muscularity and adherence to muscle-building activities. Only recently have investigators started to explore questions beyond these limited tautological findings that may give rise to substantial knowledge advances, such as the examination of masculine and feminine norms. There is limited understanding of additional topics such as etiology, prevalence, nosology, prognosis, and treatment. Further, the evidence is largely based on a small number of unstandardized case reports and descriptive studies (involving small samples), largely confined to Western (North American, British, and Australian) males. Although much research has been undertaken since the term Muscle Dysmorphia entered the psychiatric lexicon in 1997, there remains tremendous scope for knowledge advancement. A primary task in the short term is for investigators to examine the extent that the condition exists among well-defined populations to help determine the justification for research funding relative to other public health issues. A greater variety of research questions and designs may contribute to a broader and more robust knowledge base than currently exists. Future work will help clinicians assist a group of people whose quality of life and health is placed at risk by their muscular preoccupation

Searching for Masculine Capital: Experiences Leading to High Drive for Muscularity in Men

Studies on the drive for muscularity (DFM) have primarily been quantitative, focused on identifying correlates. Currently little is known about men’s experiences leading them to desire high levels of muscle and engage in behaviours to increase their masculine capital. Our purpose was to explore the stories of men with high DFM revealing the socio-cultural and personal factors leading to DFM and their search for masculine capital. In-depth life-history interviews and multiple in-the-field conversations were undertaken with twenty men (Mean age=28.45, SD=6.96, years) scoring ≥ 3 on the Drive for Muscularity Scale (Mean=4.30, SD=0.70). Men’s stories focused on a set of dysfunctional childhood and adolescent socio-cultural interactions, including forms of symbolic violence, between them and significant others. In these interactions men were exposed to dominant social narratives of masculinity, and through comparisons and reinforcement they identified discrepancies between themselves and these narratives. In late adolescence and early adulthood men came to believe that they lacked masculine capital. Men struggled to increase their masculine capital through engagement with other traditional masculine activities (e.g., sport) and driven by activating events, they compensated through DFM desires and behaviours. This study advances knowledge by revealing the socio-cultural and personal processes participants believed led to their high DFM. Findings disclose that men’s search for masculine capital may have led them to develop and maintain high levels of DFM

Predicting Muscularity-Related Behavior, Emotions, and Cognitions in Men: The Role of Psychological Need Thwarting, Drive for Muscularity, and Mesomorphic Internalization

We examine the relationships that internalization, need thwarting (NT), and drive for muscularity (DFM), along with their interactions, had with weightlifting, muscle dissatisfaction (MD), and muscle-related-worry (MRW). A sample of 552 men (MAGE = 20.5 years, SD = 3.1) completed the Psychological Need Thwarting Scale, the Internalization subscale of the male version of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire, the Drive for Muscularity Scale-Attitudes subscale, the Male Body Attitudes Scale-Muscularity subscale, the Body Change Inventory-Worry subscale, and an inventory assessing weightlifting behavior. DFM significantly predicted weightlifting, MRW, and MD. Internalization significantly predicted weightlifting and MRW. NT significantly predicted weightlifting and MD, and its relationship with MRW approached significance. The interaction terms did not predict weightlifting or MRW. The NT/DFM and NT/Internalization interaction terms predicted MD. These results highlight the role of NT in predicting appearance variables in men

Professional Development for Sport Psychology Practice

Applied sport psychology practice and research date back to the late 19th century. During this period investigators have largely examined the interventions practitioners employ to help athletes. More recently, researchers have begun addressing the person employing those interventions, including identifying their attributes and how they develop expertise, in recognition that practitioners are central to effective practice. Research focused on practitioners can inform educational and registration pathways, helping trainees to develop the knowledge, skills, and characteristics needed to meet their clients’ needs. In this article major lines of inquiry in this area are reviewed. It is suggested that examining practitioner identity represents novel research that has educational and applied value

Effects of mental imagery on muscular strength in healthy and patient participants: A systematic review

The aims of the present review were to (i) provide a critical overview of the current literature on the effects of mental imagery on muscular strength in healthy participants and patients with immobilization of the upper extremity (i.e., hand) and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), (ii) identify potential moderators and mediators of the “mental imagery-strength performance” relationship and (iii)determine the relative contribution of electromyography(EMG) and brain activities, neural and physiological adaptations in the mental imagery-strength performance relationship. This paper also discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the contemporary literature and suggests possible directions for future research. Overall, the results reveal that the combination of mental imagery and physical practice is more efficient than, or at least comparable to, physical execution with respect to strength performance. Imagery prevention intervention was also effective in reducing of strength loss after short-term muscle immobilization and ACL. The present review also indicates advantageous effects of internal imagery (range from 2.6 to 136.3%) for strength performance compared with external imagery (range from 4.8 to 23.2%). Typically, mental imagery with muscular activity was higher in active than passive muscles, and imagining “lifting a heavy object” resulted in more EMG activity compared with imagining “lifting a lighter object”. Thus, in samples of students, novices, or youth male and female athletes, internal mental imagery has a greater effect on muscle strength than external mental imagery does. Imagery ability, controllability, past experiences, and self-efficacy have been shown to be the variables mediating the effect of mental imagery on strength performance. Finally, the greater effects of internal imagery than those of external imagery could be explained in terms of neural adaptations, stronger brain activation, higher muscle excitation, greater somatic and sensorimotor activation and physiological responses such as blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration rate

Conducting a systematic review: demystification for trainees in health psychology.

The purpose of this article is to define and detail the steps in conducting systematic reviews for trainees and supervisors. We also offer suggestions garnered from our experiences reading, conducting, publishing, and reviewing such manuscripts. Steps include developing specific questions and inclusion/exclusion criteria, undertaking a multi-strategy literature search, implementing replicable data extraction methods, assessing study quality, and employing transparent procedures for synthesising and presenting results. Suggestions include developing a proposal and having it critiqued, allowing sufficient time to conduct a review, keeping meticulous records, and adhering to established procedures

Do cognitive training strategies improve motor and positive psychological skills development in soccer players? Insights from a systematic review

Soccer players are required to have well-developed physical, technical and cognitive abilities. The present systematic review, adhering to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, examined the effects of cognitive training strategies on motor and positive psychological skills development in soccer performance and identified the potential moderators of the “cognitive training-soccer performance” relationship. Thirteen databases were systematically searched using keywords related to psychological or cognitive training in soccer players. The review is based on 18 studies, employing 584 soccer players aged 7-39 years. Cognitive strategies, particularly imagery, appear to improve sports performance in soccer players. Regarding imagery, the combination of two different types of cognitive imagery training (i.e., cognitive general and cognitive specific) have a positive influence on soccer performance during training, whereas motivational imagery (i.e., motivational general-arousal, motivational general-mastery, and motivational specific) enhance competition performance. Younger soccer players employ cognitive general and cognitive specific imagery techniques to a greater extent than older soccer players. Combined cognitive training strategies were more beneficial than a single cognitive strategy relative to motor skills enhancement in elite (particularly midfielders) and amateur (i.e., when practicing complex and specific soccer skills in precompetitive period) soccer players. In conclusion, it appears that there are differences in cognitive/psychological training interventions, and their efficacy, according to whether they are directed towards training or competition, and the age, standard and playing position of the players

Time-of-day variation on performance measures in repeated-sprint tests: A systematic review.

The lack of standardization of methods and procedures have hindered agreement in the literature related to time-of-day effects on repeated sprint performance and needs clarification. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate and systematically review the evidence relating to time-of-day based on performance measures in repeated-sprints. The entire content of PubMed (MEDLINE), Scopus, SPORTDiscus® (via EBSCOhost) and Web of Science was searched. Only experimental research studies conducted in male adult participants aged ≥18yrs, published in English before June 2019 were included. Studies assessing repeated-sprints between a minimum of two time-points during the day (morning versus evening) were deemed eligible. The primary search revealed that a total of 10 out of 112 articles were considered eligible and subsequently included. Seven articles were deemed strong and three moderate quality. Eight studies found repeated-sprint performance across the first, first few, or all sprints, to increase in favor of the evening. The magnitude of difference is dependent on the modality and the exercise protocol used. The non-motorized treadmill established an average 3.5–8.5% difference in distance covered, average and peak velocity, and average power, across all sprints in three studies and in peak power in two studies. In cycling, power output differed across all sprints by 6.0% in one study and 8.0% for the first sprint only in five studies. All four studies measuring power decrement values (i.e. rate of fatigue) established differences up to 4.0% and two out of five studies established total work to be significantly higher by 8.0%. Repeated-sprint performance is affected by time-of-day with greater performance in the late/early afternoon. The magnitude is dependent on the variable assessed and the mode of exercise. There is a clear demand for more rigorous investigations which control factors that specifically relate to investigations of time-of-day and are specific to the sport of individuals

Psychosocial predictors and psychological prevention of soccer injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature

Objectives: To examine (a) the relationships between the psychosocial risk factors and injury rates and (b) the effects of psychological-based prevention interventions on the injury risk of soccer players. Design: Scholarly electronic databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Scopus) were searched on 1 January 2017, complemented by manual searches of bibliographies. Setting: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Participants: We identified 13 eligible studies, including a total of 1,149 injured soccer players aged between 14 and 36 years. Main Outcome Measures: Psychosocial risk factors, psychological-based prevention interventions and injury risk in soccer players. Results: Personality traits, such as trait anxiety and perceived mastery climate, along with a history of stressors, like negative-life-event stress or high level of life stress, daily hassle, and previous injury, are the main predictors of injury rates among soccer players. Also, from injury prevention studies, it has been shown that psychological-based interventions reduce injury rates (effect size = 0.96; 95% CI 0.34-1.58; p = 0.002) in senior soccer players. Conclusions: Practitioners need to ensure injured soccer players are psychologically and socially ready to play. They should also employ psychological-based interventions (i.e., mindfulness, imagery, self-talk, stress management, relaxation, goal setting) when designing injury prevention programs

Reservoir stress path and induced seismic anisotropy: Results from linking coupled fluid-flow/geomechanical simulation with seismic modelling

We present a workflow linking coupled fluid-flow and geomechanical simulation with seismic modelling to predict seismic anisotropy induced by nonhydrostatic stress changes. We generate seismic models from coupled simulations to examine the relationship between reservoir geometry, stress path and seismic anisotropy. The results indicate that geometry influences the evolution of stress, which leads to stress-induced seismic anisotropy. Although stress anisotropy is high for the small reservoir, the effect of stress arching and the ability of the side-burden to support the excess load limit the overall change in effective stress and hence seismic anisotropy. For the extensive reservoir, stress anisotropy and induced seismic anisotropy are high. The extensive and elongate reservoirs experience significant compaction, where the inefficiency of the developed stress arching in the side-burden cannot support the excess load. The elongate reservoir displays significant stress asymmetry, with seismic anisotropy developing predominantly along the long-edge of the reservoir. We show that the link between stress path parameters and seismic anisotropy is complex, where the anisotropic symmetry is controlled not only by model geometry but also the nonlinear rock physics model used. Nevertheless, a workflow has been developed to model seismic anisotropy induced by non-hydrostatic stress changes, allowing field observations of anisotropy to be linked with geomechanical models