Adding whole body vibration to preconditioning exercise increases subsequent on-ice sprint performance in ice-hockey players.

The phenomenon postactivation potentiation can possibly be used to acutely improve sprint performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of body-loaded half-squats with added whole body vibration (WBV) on subsequent 20 m on-ice sprint performance. Fifteen male ice-hockey players performed 4 test sessions on separate days and in a randomized order. Two of this test sessions were with WBV and 2 were with noWBV and the best sprint time was used to determine effectiveness. Each test session included preconditioning 30 seconds half-squat exercise, 2 of which were supplemented with 50 Hz WBV at a amplitude of 3 mm. One minute after the cessation of the preconditioning exercise, the 20 m sprint test was performed. Intermediate time was sampled after 10 m. Preconditioning exercise performed with 50 Hz WBV resulted in superior 10 m and 20 m sprint performance compared to preconditioning exercise performed without WBV (1.84 6 0.10 seconds vs. 1.89 6 0.10 seconds and 3.14 6 0.13 vs. 3.17 6 0.13 seconds, respectively, p # 0.01). There was no difference between the protocols in perceived well-being of the legs before the warm-up or after the warm up (p = 0.3). However, there was an improved well-being in the legs immediately after the preconditioning exercise with WBV (p , 0.05). In conclusion, preconditioning exercise performed with WBV at 50 Hz seems to enhance on-ice sprint performance in ice-hockey players. This suggests that coaches can incorporate such exercise into the preparation to specific sprint training to improve the quality of the training.

High-intensity interval training every second week maintains VO2max in soccer players during off-season.

Reduced endurance training among semiprofessional soccer players during off-season may have negative effect on game performance during the competition season. This negative effect can be prevented by adding high-intensity interval training (HIT) to normal activity. In this study, we want to compare 2 different frequencies of HIT (5 bouts of 4 minutes on 87-97% peak heart rate) session on maintenance of aerobic fitness among semiprofessional soccer players during a 6-week off-season period. Seventeen male players at second and third highest soccer division in Norway participated. The subjects were randomized into 1 HIT session every second week (HIT 0.5) or 1 HIT session per week (HIT 1). All participants performed a 20-m shuttle run test and a maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) test on treadmill before and after the training intervention. VO2max (HIT 0.5, 63.4 ± 5.9 ml·kg-1·min-1; HIT 1, 65.6 ± 2.1 ml·kg-1·min-1) and 20-m shuttle run performance (HIT 0.5, 2335 ± 390 m, HIT 1, 2531 ± 106 m) were not different between the groups before the training intervention. VO2max was maintained after the training intervention in both HIT 0.5 and HIT 1 (64.0 ± 5.9 ml·kg-1·min-1 and 64.3 ± 1.3 ml·kg-1·min-1, respectively). There was a reduction in distance covered during the 20-m shuttle run test in HIT 1 and when groups were pooled (-7.9 ± 5.7% and -6.4 ± 7.9%, respectively, p ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, HIT 1 did not maintain VO2max better than HIT 0.5 when added to normal off-season activity. However, performance in 20-m shuttle run, which is a more soccer-specific fitness test than VO2max test, was slightly reduced when both groups was pooled.

The effects of being told you are in the intervention group on training results: a pilot study.

Little is known about the placebo effects when comparing training interventions. Consequently, we investigated whether subjects being told they are in the intervention group get better training results compared to subjects being told they are in a control group. Forty athletes (male: n = 31, female: n = 9) completed a 10-week training intervention (age: 22 ± 4 years, height: 183 ± 10 cm, and body mass: 84 ± 15 kg). After randomization, the participants were either told that the training program they got was individualized based on their force-velocity profile (Placebo), or that they were in the control group (Control). However, both groups were doing the same workouts. Measurements included countermovement jump (CMJ), 20-m sprint, one-repetition maximum (1RM) back-squat, a leg-press test, ultrasonography of muscle-thickness (m. rectus femoris), and a questionnaire (Stanford Expectations of Treatment Scale) (Younger et al. in Clin Trials 9(6):767-776, 2012). Placebo increased 1RM squat more than Control (5.7 ± 6.4% vs 0.9 ± 6.9%, [0.26 vs 0.02 Effect Size], Bayes Factor: 5.1 [BF10], p = 0.025). Placebo had slightly higher adherence compared to control (82 ± 18% vs 72 ± 13%, BF10: 2.0, p = 0.08). Importantly, the difference in the 1RM squat was significant after controlling for adherence (p = 0.013). No significant differences were observed in the other measurements. The results suggest that the placebo effect may be meaningful in sports and exercise training interventions. It is possible that ineffective training interventions will go unquestioned in the absence of placebo-controlled trials.

Irisin in blood increases transiently after single sessions of intense endurance exercise and heavy strength training.

PURPOSE: Irisin is a recently identified exercise-induced hormone that increases energy expenditure, at least in rodents. The main purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that Irisin increases acutely in blood after singular sessions of intense endurance exercise (END) and heavy strength training (STR). Secondary, we wanted to explore the relationship between body composition and exercise-induced effects on irisin, and the effect of END and STR on muscular expression of the irisin gene FNDC5. METHODS: Nine moderately trained healthy subjects performed three test days using a randomized and standardized crossover design: one day with 60 minutes of END, one day with 60 minutes of STR, and one day without exercise (CON). Venous blood was sampled over a period of 24h on the exercise days. RESULTS: Both END and STR led to transient increases in irisin concentrations in blood, peaking immediately after END and one hour after STR, before gradually returning to baseline. Irisin responses to STR, but not END, showed a consistently strong negative correlation with proportions of lean body mass. Neither END nor STR affected expression of FNDC5, measured 4h after training sessions, though both protocols led to pronounced increases in PGC-1α expression, which is involved in transcriptional control of FNDC5. CONCLUSION: The results strongly suggest that single sessions of intense endurance exercise and heavy strength training lead to transient increases in irisin concentrations in blood. This was not accompanied by increased FNDC5 expression, measured 4h post-exercise. The results suggest that irisin responses to resistance exercise are higher in individuals with lower proportions of lean body mass.

Training effects on skeletal muscle calcium handling in human chronic heart failure.

PURPOSE: Patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) typically complain about skeletal muscle fatigue. In rat experiments, reduced intracellular calcium release seems to be related to fatigue development in normal skeletal muscle but not in muscle from rats with CHF. We therefore hypothesize that training may not improve intracellular calcium cycling to the same extent in muscles from patients with CHF compared with healthy controls (HC). METHODS: Thirteen HC and 11 CHF patients performed 6 wk of unilateral knee extensor endurance training. Computed tomographic examinations of the thigh and biopsies of vastus lateralis were obtained bilaterally before and after the training period. RESULTS: Peak power of the trained leg was 10% and 14% greater than that in the untrained leg in HC and CHF, respectively. For the HC, training resulted in a higher Ca2+ release rate and a lower leak in the trained leg associated with a tendency of increased ryanodine receptor (RyR) content with reduced phosphorylation level. In the trained leg of CHF patients, RyR content was reduced without associated changes of either Ca2+ leak or release rate. CONCLUSIONS: Training in HC has an effect on Ca2+ leak and release of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, but in CHF patients, training is achieved without such changes. Thus, calcium handling seems not to be the site of decreased exercise tolerance in CHF.