The Impact of High Intensity Training on the Fitness of Middle School Students

Obesity and lack of physical activity (PA) pose a risk to an individual’s physical health through both short-term and long-term effects. A decline in PA occurs between 5th and 8th grades, with the greatest decreases in activity being seen between the ages of 13-19. Further, many students in that grade range are unable to reach the healthy fitness zones (HFZ) on the Fitnessgram, the assessment used in physical education classes to gauge health status. Many interventions have been tried in schools to increase fitness but few have been successful. High intensity training (HIT) has been shown to be an effective, quick, and an enjoyable fitness intervention that has not yet been used in a physical education setting to improve Fitnessgram scores. This will allow for more repetitions and time on task for the traditional physical education class while improving fitness for each student as they are pulled out to do the HIT intervention. In order to examine the effects of HIT on fitness scores, Coastal Carolina University students implemented 4-minute HIT sessions at least 2 days per week at a local middle school reaching approximately 5-8 groups of students each day. Results will be discussed

The Effect of Foam Rolling on Post-Activation Potentiation Responses

Post-activation potentiation (PAP) refers to an acute increase in performance as a result of a conditioning stimulus such as heavy back squat. Previous research has documented improvement in several athletic parameters, including jump performance, as a result of PAP. However, the conditioning stimulus can also induce fatigue, thereby, impairing the effect of PAP induced increase in performance. Recent research has shown that foam rolling can enhance recovery from exercise. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of foam rolling and heavy back squats on vertical jump performance. Therefore, it was hypothesized that foam rolling immediately following the PAP stimulus may lead to a quicker recovery from fatigue effects while allowing the individual to capitalize on the PAP induced increase in jump performance. The results of this study may inform strength and conditioning coaches about the necessary program design variables in order to capitalize on PAP effects