Athletes heart

PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of a 7-day high-intensity interval training shock microcycle (HIIT-SM) with or without additional low-intensity training (LIT) on aerobic fitness and endurance performance compared to a control group. METHODS: Thirty-three endurance-trained athletes (7 women, 26 men, mean ± SD: age, 30.2 ± 6.9 yr; maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2max), 59.8 ± 4.9 mL·min-1·kg-1) performed exercise testing at T1 and were randomly assigned to one of three groups: i) HSM: 10 running-based HIIT sessions (5 x 4 min at 90-95% maximal heart rate) over 7 days ii) HSM + LIT: equal to HSM with additional 30-min of LIT after each HIIT iii) CG: regular training...

The search for increased performance and physical performance are linked to the use of ergogenic resources. The vertical jump is one of the measures commonly used to evaluate the performance of lower limbs in athletes. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive, safe, economically viable technique that can modulate cortical excitability, which can influence the increase in the performance of athletes in general. This study aimed to investigate whether the use of tDCS on the primary motor cortex (M1) improves the performance of soccer players...

BACKGROUND: Sports have been a fundamental component of any culture and legacy for centuries. Athletes are widely regarded as a source of national pride, and their physical well-being is deemed to be of paramount significance. The attainment of optimal performance and injury prevention in athletes is contingent upon physical fitness. Technology integration has implemented Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) to augment the athletic training milieu. OBJECTIVE: The present study introduces an approach for assessing athlete physical fitness in training environments: the Internet of Things (IoT) and CPS-based Physical Fitness Evaluation Method (IoT-CPS-PFEM)...

OBJECTIVES: To enhance the daily training quality of athletes without inducing significant physiological fatigue, aiming to achieve a balance between training efficiency and load. DESIGN METHODS: Firstly, we developed an activity classification training model using the random forest algorithm and introduced the "effective training rate" (the ratio of effective activity time to total time) as a metric for assessing athlete training efficiency. Secondly, a method for rating athlete training load was established, involving qualitative and quantitative analyses of physiological fatigue through subjective fatigue scores and heart rate data...

The permanently growing interest in amateur and professional sports activities among young, middle-aged and elderly athletes raises serious concerns about athletes' health, the safety of physical training, and the sports-related risk of sudden cardiac death and other cardiovascular complications during exercise. In recent years there has been an increasing number of cases of sudden cardiac death during physical effort. At present, life expectancy in the most developed countries grows rapidly and the number of people >65 years dramatically increases...

BACKGROUND: Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a useful method for assessing the heart's ability to adapt to endogenous and exogenous loads. Data from African population on HRV are scarce and even more so in sports populations. This study aimed to compare cardiac autonomic modulation response in Cameroonian athletes and sedentary. Methodology . We conducted a prospective and analytical study in sports teams in the city of Yaoundé, Cameroon. The participants in our study were divided in three groups; people who practiced little or no sporting activity (sedentary as group 1) or who were regularly physically active as part of a sports team (footballers or handballers as second and third groups)...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to compare various factors, namely perceived enjoyment (PE), percentage of peak heart rate (%HRpeak), blood lactate (La), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and technical-tactical performance among soccer players across different bout durations (CB: continuous bout, MIB: medium intermittent bouts, and SIB: short intermittent bouts) and between male and female players during four-a-side (4vs4) small-sided games (SSGs) including goalkeepers. METHODS: sixteen female soccer players (age: 20...

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to determine the body accelerations (BA) profile of the judo contest of the male and female weight divisions and to ascertain the involvement of the vertical, mediolateral and anteroposterior axes in it. METHODS: Forty-eight male and forty-eight female national and international level athletes (some of them medalists in World, European and national championships) participated in a 5-min simulated contest (official fight time plus breaks) against an opponent of the same sex and weight division, wearing an accelerometer...

BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest that participation in recreational and even competitive sports is generally safe for patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). However, these studies included only patients with implanted transvenous ICD (TV-ICD). Nowadays, subcutaneous ICD (S-ICD) is a safe and effective alternative and is increasingly implanted in younger ICD candidates. Data on the safety of sport participation for patients with implanted S-ICD systems is urgently needed...

Iron deficiency (ID) is a common and challenging problem in adolescence. In order to prevent, recognize, and treat ID in this age range, it is critical to understand the recommended daily intake of iron in relation to an adolescent's activity, dietary habits, and basal iron losses. Adolescents following vegetarian or vegan diets exclusively rely on plant based, non-heme iron which has decreased bioavailability compared to heme iron and requires increased total iron intake. Individuals with disordered eating habits, excessive menstrual blood loss, and certain chronic health conditions (including inflammatory bowel disease and heart failure) are at high risk of ID and the development of symptomatic iron deficiency anemia (IDA)...

BACKGROUND: Ultra-trail running races pose appreciable physiological challenges, particularly for glucose metabolism. Previous studies that yielded divergent results only measured glycaemia at isolated times. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to explore the impact of an ultra-endurance race on continuously measured glycaemia and to understand potential physiological mechanisms, as well as the consequences for performance and behavioural alertness. METHODS: Fifty-five athletes (78% men, 43...

BACKGROUND: Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in Canada. Many heart disease patients are referred for cardiac rehabilitation, a multidisciplinary outpatient program often consisting of exercise training. Cardiac rehabilitation has been proven to be a successful secondary preventative measure in reducing mortality and improving overall health in heart disease patients, and its completion is important for both sexes as there is growing evidence that women benefit as much as men, if not more, with regard to mortality...

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Background: Before starting PA, pregnant women should select the appropriate type of training and adjust its components to the development of pregnancy and her capabilities. This review aimed to analyze current recommendations for pregnant women on methods for determining and assessing PA intensity levels and characterize the extent and nature of the information provided to pregnant women in official documents published by public health and sports medicine institutions. Methods: The review was conducted as per the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR)...

(1) Background: Years of research have identified ischemic preconditioning (IPC) as a crucial endogenous protective mechanism against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, enhancing the myocardial cell's tolerance to subsequent ischemic damage. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is promoted by athletes because it reduces exercise duration and improves metabolic response and cardiopulmonary function. Our objective was to evaluate and compare whether HIIT and IPC could reduce myocardial ischemia and reperfusion injury in rats...

BACKGROUND: Sweat and thermal responses in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) are impaired depending on lesion characteristics. This is particularly problematic for athletes and may ultimately lead to reduced performance. This exploratory study investigated the feasibility of field-usable methods to objectively collect data relevant to sweat response in elite athletes with SCI. Differences in sweat response were also evaluated for different athlete characteristics. METHODS: Measurements were performed during exercise and included core temperature (Tc), heart rate, urine specific gravity, fluid intake, sweat rate, and sweat electrolyte concentration...

This study compared the acute physiological responses and performance changes during an integrated high-intensity interval aerobic and power protocol. Sixteen moderately trained athletes (age: 20.1 ± 2.2 years, body height: 180.0 ± 6.5 cm, body mass: 75.7 ± 6.4 kg, VO2max : 55.8 ± 4.3 mL/kg/min) performed a 2 × 6 min interval training protocol with 2 min passive recovery between sets on two different occasions in random and counterbalanced order. Each 6 min set included repeated periods of 15 s exercise interspersed with 15 s passive rest...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to compare acute hemodynamic, metabolic (glucose and blood lactate concentrations), hormonal (growth hormone and normetanephrine), heart rate variability (HRV), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) responses before and after bouts of a boxing exergame with and without blood flow restriction (BFR) in non-athlete young individuals. METHODS: Fourteen participants (age: 30 ± 10 y; BMI: 21 ± 3 kg.m-2 ) participated in two sessions of a 20 min boxing exergame...

This short-term survey examined the effect of body part pain on subjective and objective handball performance in Japanese male national handball athletes. Fourteen athletes participated in this study. Assessments of pain in 10 body parts and subjective performance ( concentration and satisfaction with body movement ) were performed using a visual analog scale from 0 to 10 over four consecutive training days. Monitoring of heart rate and body acceleration during training was also performed to quantify the objective performance...

INTRODUCTION: Collegiate coaches and integrative support staff often utilize pre-season as a brief and intense training period to prepare athletes technically, tactically, and physiologically, to meet the demands of competition during a soccer season. This study sought to examine the dose-response from performing on-field soccer activities during a four-week pre-season period in female collegiate soccer players, and if the magnitude in response was associated with accumulated exercise stress...