The Performance Digest - August 2021 Sample

Research Reviewers

Fatigue &

Will is a Lecturer of Sport Coaching at Deakin University, Australia. Prior to this he has worked with Cricket NSW and Cricket Australia in an array of roles ranging from a sport scientist, development coach and a strength and conditioning coach. He completed his PhD at the University of Newcastle, Australia within the area of practice design.

Tom is a fitness coach currently working in Premier League football in England. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Sports Science from Liverpool John Moores University and recently completed his PhD titled "An exploration into the assessment of hip extension strength and its importance in professional football".

The Science of Coaching

Josh is a Performance Manager working for EXOS Tactical. He has previously held roles with English Institute of Sport, Rotherham Titans and Inspire Institute of Sport India.

Youth Development

Tom is the Head of Athletic Development at St Peters RC High School. He holds a Masters in S&C and has previously worked with West Bromwich Albion FC, Gloucester Rugby club, and Great Britain Equine. Tom is our youth research reviewer at Science for Sport.

Strength & Conditioning

James is currently the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Romanian Rugby Union. He has previously worked in America's professional rugby competition Major League Rugby with Austin Elite and the NZ Women’s National Rugby League Team. He is a published author and has completed a MSc in Sport & Exercise Science from AUT, Auckland, NZ.

Technology & Monitoring

Cody is a strength and conditioning coach and adjunct lecturer at the University of Iowa. He has an MSE in Exercise Science from the University of Kansas and also holds a CSCS from the NSCA.

Nutrition

James is a Performance Nutritionist for the English Football Association and works alongside the England national teams (men's and women's). He is also a SENr registered performance nutritionist and holds a PhD from Liverpool John Moores University.

Injury Prevention & Rehab

Jordan is a Physical Therapist and Strength Coach who currently practices in a Sports & Orthopedic clinic in Bergen County, New Jersey. He is passionate about educating athletes on ways to optimize performance while decreasing the risk of injury.

Dr. Will Vickery PhD

Chief Editor

Tom Green MSc UKAD Advisor

James de Lacey MSc

Josh Fletcher MSc

Dr. James Morehen PhD

Dr. Jordan August DPT, CSFC, SFMA, FMS

Cody Roberts MSE

Tom King MSc CSCS

Recovery

The Science of COACHING Psychological strategies improve mental toughness

How using psychological strategies can impact resiliency and stress management in competitive situations

INTRODUCTION

Mental toughness is a global term used to defne a set of characteristics relating to self -belief, commitment, selfmotivation, resiliency, maintaining control under pressure, and thriving on competition and challenges (see HERE HERE, and HERE). In a sporting context, it is related to maintaining control, composure, and skill execution, often in the face of extreme pressure and stressful situations (e.g. taking a penalty shot in a championship fnal). Often the diference between a good athlete and a great athlete is having the ability to maintain a blend of all infuences of performance like psychological skills, in addition to the tactical, technical, and physical. It is important to explore each of those pillars to nurture talent and ensure that athletes are armed with the correct psychological strategies to deal with the challenges, adversity, and pressure that arise during sport. The authors of this study investigated the relationship between mental toughness and the use of psychological strategies.

WHAT THEY FOUND

In this study, sixty-seven male and forty female athletes who regularly participated in a range of team and individual sports (mean age = 22.55 yr) from the north of England were recruited for this study. Of the participants, thirty -six were club/university athletes, seventy -one were county standard or higher, of which, fve were competing nationally. The study used the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS) (see HERE) to assess psychological skills and strategies used by the athletes in practice and competition. The questionnaires were presented to the participants away from competitive situations that were convenient, comfortable, and non -threatening for the participants.

The authors found that:

 Having used psychological strategies in the past, such as imagery, self-talk, goal setting, and relaxation, showed a signifcant relationship towards an athlete’s mental toughness. Further to this, participants who currently engage in one or more of these psychological strategies also showed a strong relationship with mental toughness.

 The higher the level of competition the greater the level of engagement that athletes had with the use of psychological strategies.

 The majority of the participants reported using some form of psychological strategy before competition to control anxiety with self -talk and emotional control exercises the most frequently reported.

WHAT THIS MEANS

There is merit for the use of psychological strategies in the athlete population and it is important to consider the following when trying to get your athletes to engage with this process:

 Athletes who engage with psychological strategies appear to have improved mental toughness, leading to greater emotional control, increased optimism, and perceived ability to deal with challenging situations.

 When athletes can understand the distinct association between thoughts, emotions, physiology, and their behaviour (action), they improve their understanding of the importance of management strategies at each level of that process.

 In this study, the psychological strategies were implemented during competition, however, by not consistently using a training environment to test out interventions an opportunity to set good performance habits may not be formed to encourage the use of these strategies.

In summary, the authors of this study found that psychological strategies have value when creating or fostering mental toughness and eforts to implement interventions can aid in athlete performance.

Practical Takeaways

Coaches can have an important input into creating mental toughness and resiliency with their athletes. From my work with Special Forces Operators, I was able to implement a specifc mental performance skills intervention which was referred to as the 3 Rs:

Recognise

 Observe and accept that there is a highly stressful activity taking place or perhaps that you have made a mistake. It helps to sometimes say this out loud as a form of self-talk.

Refocus



Josh Fletcher

Josh is a Performance Manager working for EXOS Tactical. He has previously held roles with English Institute of Sport, Rotherham Titans and Inspire Institute of Sport India.

Rethink  Understand the requirement to make a change by considering when that skill/activity has gone well in the past and that the approach needs to alter in this instance.

Accept that the error made can be dealt with later as there is still a job to do and walk step by step through the exact requirements of excellent skill execution.

Strength & Conditioning

This month’s top research in strength & conditioning.

HORIZONTAL FORCE: THE KING OF SPRINT PERFORMANCE

Morin, J. B. et al. (20 1) Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW, STOP TRAINING TO GET FASTER AND MORE POWERFUL?

Andersen, J. L., & Aagaard, P. et al. (20 Muscle & Nerve: Ofcial Journal of the American Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine.

TIME TO RETIRE REACTIVE AGILITY: CHANGE OF DIRECTION AND AGILITY ARE DIFFERENT CONCEPTS

Young, W. B. et al. (20 5) International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching.

Horizontal force: the king of sprint performance

OBJECTIVE

During acceleration, forward propulsion is characterised by positive net horizontal force where propulsive forces are greater than braking forces and based on this, one could assume that the greater the horizontal force, the faster the athlete will accelerate. The amount of force directed horizontally compared to the total force produced is known as the ratio of force (RF), which represents the technique of force application.

No research before the current study had investigated ground reaction forces (GRF) over an entire sprint acceleration, and thus, this study quantifed changes in RF over an entire sprint acceleration and investigated the relationship of these force-velocity characteristics and 100m performance.

WHAT THEY DID

Twelve male physical education students (age = 26.2 ± 3.6 yr) performed one 8-sec treadmill sprint and one 100m sprint on a standard track. The motorised instrumental treadmill measured belt speed and GRF instantaneously for each step including RF, decrement in ratio of force (Drf), and horizontal and vertical forces.

Drf simply describes the linear inverse relationship between RF and speed. As the athlete accelerates, the body becomes more vertical eventually becoming close to zero (no net forward acceleration), therefore, a high Drf equals better maintenance of RF. Correlations were calculated between mechanical (force, velocity, etc., from treadmill sprint) and performance parameters during the 100m sprint.

WHAT THEY FOUND

 Drf was signifcantly related to maximum velocity, mean 100m speed, and 4-sec distance, meaning the ability to maintain a high RF highly infuences these metrics.

 Average horizontal force over the acceleration and average 4-sec RF were also related to these sprinting metrics.

 In contrast, vertical and total force were not related to these sprinting metrics.

 The total force produced was not correlated with the average RF or Drf.

Practical

Takeaways

 The ability to apply force horizontally and maintaining it seems to be more important than being able to produce a lot of force, which should infuence how we programme for improving acceleration and top speed. Here is a list of exercises that can be used to improve the technical application of force production when sprinting:

 Resisted sprinting

 Broad jumps

 Prowler marches

 KB swing

 Hip thrust

 You can though get more detailed in assessing horizontal force capabilities in your athletes by calculating force -velocity profles while sprinting. The budget-friendly way is by using the MySprint app. With this data, you can rank athletes by either RF peak, peak RF 10m, or Drf. It seems that either method leads to similar rankings. Once ranked, calculate a zscore by comparing within-group or position (the whole group tends to be easier) and athletes who are above 1 standard deviation from the group average may require more of a velocity emphasis in training, whereas, below 1 standard deviation from the group average may require more of a force emphasis in training.

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“This is one of the papers that infuenced the last decade of research in horizontal force production and force-velocity profling and its relation to sprint performance. The other classic paper in this area is by Brughelli and colleagues, where the increasing velocity from 60 -100% of maximum sprinting speed seems to be more dependent on horizontal force production than vertical force production (see article linked).

Since this time, these fndings have been replicated in elite sprinters (see HERE) and further research has progressed to identifying an athlete's strengths and weaknesses within an individual horizontal force -velocity profle whilst sprinting to assist training programme design for developing faster athletes (for an example, see HERE).”

Forget what you know, stop training to get faster and more powerful?

OBJECTIVE

Human muscle contains three major fbre types based on myosin heavy chain isoforms: MHC I (type I) MHC IIA (type IIA), and MHC IIX (type IIX or IIB). Pure type IIX muscle fbre contracts 5-10 times faster than type I and slightly faster than type IIA, making higher proportions of type IIX muscle fbre desirable in power speed and power sports.

However, resistance or endurance training ‘switches of’ the MHC IIX gene, resulting in elevated IIA fbres and reduced IIX. The reverse happens under a period of inactivity where type IIX muscle fbres increase. This is known as the overshoot phenomenon. In this study the efects of the overshoot phenomenon were studied by implementing a period of inactivity after an intense training period and comparing this to a period of resistance training.

WHAT THEY DID

Nine sedentary men (age = 27 ± 3 yr) were put through 90 days of heavy resistance training which was performed three times a week consisting of fve lower-body exercises with a linear increase in intensity throughout the 90 days. After the 90 days of training, 90 days of detraining were implemented where the participants returned to normal daily life.

Testing was performed pre-training, post-training, and post-detraining, which consisted of maximal isometric quadriceps strength (2-3-sec at 65° knee angle), isokinetic dynamic power test (45-sec continuous maximal knee extension/fexion at an angular velocity of 180° s -1), and muscle biopsy to determine muscle fbre type.

Practical Takeaways



Putting this into practical context is difcult as this study really only showed changes at the muscle fbre level and taking 3 months of training isn’t possible in a sporting context, however, follow -up research on this topic has continued to progress since. For example, Anderson and colleagues (see HERE) found greater force and power were dramatically greater at higher angular velocities post-detraining when compared to pre- and post-training, which was accompanied by a muscle fbre overshoot.



I spent my Master’s thesis trying to work the concept of overshoot into a professional team sports setting as can be seen in this paper While we did not achieve an overshoot we saw dramatic improvements in force and power output during loaded jumps. Here are some practical takeaways of how you can potentially take advantage of this:

 Reduce resistance training volume to one session every 7-10 days with low volume and high intensity. For example:

A1) Squat variation 3 x 3 @ 85-90% 1RM

B1) Push variation 3 x 3 @ 85-90% 1RM

C1) Pull variation 3 x 5 @ 8-9 RPE

 Continue normal sports training and conditioning as it doesn't seem to afect changes in force and power.

 Start the training reduction around 21 days before the start of the season.

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WHAT THEY FOUND

 Maximal isometric strength improved by 16.7% after training, which then returned to baseline after the detraining period.

 Dynamic power output increased from pre- to post-training.

 After detraining, power was reduced except during the frst 15-sec, where there was no diference between post-training and post-detraining values.

 MHC IIA proportion increased from 42.4 to 49.6% from pre- to post-training, whereas MHC IIX proportion decreased from 9.3 to 2%, with no change in MHC I.

 After detraining, MHC IIX proportion increased past pre-training values from 9.3 to 17.2%, and MHC IIA proportion decreased below pre-training values from 42.4 to 36.7% confrming the overshoot phenomenon.

“

Sprint cycling anecdotally seems to have a practical history with the heavy reduction or detraining of resistance training leading into the Olympics, which is where I frst heard this concept being used. For sports that compete every week, a long-term detraining approach is basically

impossible. However, an aggressive taper may be a way to better recover after a hard pre-season.

It seems that the training prioritised before the tapering or detraining period is what benefts the most after the taper. For example, in my study, velocity did not improve, whereas force dramatically improved due to the heavy loading before the taper.”

Time to retire reactive agility: change of direction and agility are diferent concepts

OBJECTIVE

Agility is defined as “a rapid whole-body movement with change of velocity or direction in response to a stimulus”, whereas a pre-planned change of direction is described as change of direction speed” (CODS).

In invasion sports, which are typically team sports where athletes must invade the opponent’s territory to score points, CODS is very rare and rarely seen on the field or court.

This review explored the factors that determine CODS and agility, whilst also providing practical training and testing applications.

WHAT THEY DID

The authors frstly defned the diference between CODS and agility based on previous literature then determined whether CODS or agility is more important for sports performance by comparing higher- and lower-skilled groups (e.g. academy compared to frst team players) of athletes in each test.

The authors noted that if the higher-skilled athletes appeared to better at a certain skill (e.g. correctly identifying the direction a player is going to move) compared to the lower-skilled athletes, it could be suggested that the skill is important for sports performance Finally, the authors compiled and compared the available research on the efects of S&C on CODS and agility performance.

Practical Takeaways

 Closed chain (pre-planned) CODS drills do nothing to improve sport-specifc agility. That means various cone runs, ladder drills, and even reacting to a non-sport specifc stimulus won't transfer to the sport, however, that does not mean closed chain CODS drills don’t have a purpose. They can be used to drill the basic techniques of ofensive and defensive agility, as well as overload tissues involved within the specifc movement, for example:

Phase 1: Closed Chain Extensive CODS Circuits

    

Shufes

Crossovers

Cutting/side-stepping

Swerve running 90/180° COD

Phase 2: Extensive Open Chain

 Shufe mirror drills

 Side-step mirror follow

 Gauntlet swerve runs

Phase 3: Intensive Agility (blended into sport practice)

 Small-sided games (1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 1, etc)

 Decision-making is the major factor for agility performance, so, it's important to vary the starting positions of various intensive agility drills (e.g. if performing a 1 vs. 1, have players start head-on, then enter the grid from the same side, opposite side, diagonal, etc as this places a greater focus on problem-solving).

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WHAT THEY FOUND

Diference between CODS and Agility

 Agility and CODS tests have an average common variance of 29% and very low correlations indicating agility and CODS are independent skills. Higher skilled athletes were better at agility tests but not CODS tests.

 Decision-making time has a greater correlation with total agility time than responding movement time indicating it's more important for the sport. Higher skilled athletes only perform better when reacting to a sport-specifc stimulus.

S&C and CODS

 CODS tests report varying results, indicating each CODS is specifc to the task being tested. General strength training efects on CODS remains unclear. Reactive strength may improve CODS, but the complex CODS task may be infuenced by motor control factors rather than strength.

 The potential to improve CODS speed by linear sprint training is limited.

S&C and Agility

⇒ Agility performance is more likely infuenced by cognitive

factors. There was no evidence of training sprint, strength, power, on agility performance. Small-sided games may provide a powerful agility training stimulus due to improvements in decision-making speed.

“Seeing Warren Young present is what changed my perspective on agility training, he even shared some of his research behind diferent side-stepping techniques and how quickly defenders can react to them as well as how often defenders make the wrong decision. You can see this breakdown in the article below.

Briefy, the split step (or jump step) resulted in the greatest errors made by defenders and took them longer to make a decision. However, a jump step isn't always the right strategy, especially when evading at high speeds where a sidestep would be a better choice. These are technical aspects of agility we can teach our athletes through agility games as they fgure out themselves what works at various speeds, with varying space available, and varying opposition.”

Technology & Monitoring

This month’s top research on technology and monitoring.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VELOCITY-BASED TRAINING IN TEAM-SPORTS

Balsalobre-Fernández, C. & Torres

Ronda, L. (2021) Sports.

MANAGING THE COMPOUN D EFFECT OF INJURY RISK

Esmaeili, A. et al. (2018) Frontiers in Physiology.

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY MONITOR RESISTANCE TRAINING

Scott, B. R. et al. (2016) Sports Medicine.

Recommendations for velocity-based training in team-sports

OBJECTIVE

Velocity-based training (VBT) is an established monitoring technique that aims to provide objective feedback, assessment of performance, and guidance for resistance training. Advancements in technology (e.g. portable devices, realtime results and data visualisation) have improved the efciency and efectiveness to which coaches of team -sports athletes can implement VBT with larger groups.

This article outlined VBT; highlighting challenges, misconceptions, as well as recommendations in optimising programming and monitoring of resistance training.

WHAT THEY DID

The authors presented the need to quantify intensity within resistance training and highlighted the downsides to using the percentage of 1RM method, especially with inexperienced athletes. The opportunities ofered with VBT were outlined, explaining potential strategies that allow for an adaptable model of training based on readiness fuctuations for a given day.

The numerous options of devices (e.g. motion capture, linear transducers, accelerometers) were presented, referencing opportunities and drawbacks for each, as well as strategies on how to realistically implement VBT with teamsport athletes. In the end, ‘best practices’ for using VBT to prescribe and monitoring training load were suggested.

Practical Takeaways



Use mean concentric velocity, as it is the simplest and most reliable metric. Selecting primary barbell exercises (e.g bench press, back squat, deadlift) with a vertical bar path and an athlete with ample experience and consistent technique (e.g. consistent range of motion). Make sure you consider the sport, athlete, and goal of the training block with selection.



Perform a specifc load-velocity assessment protocol at the beginning and end of a 4-6-week training phase to determine the efectiveness of the programme (see Coach Academy Force-Velocity Profling mini-course).



Perform 4-6 sets of 2 repetitions with maximal intent using progressively heavier loads beginning with a load >1.2 m s -1 (~40% 1RM), adding 5-10 kg until mean concentric velocity is ~0.45 m s -1 (~80% 1RM), avoiding near-maximal attempts (<0.4 m s -1).



Coaches can use the sense of relative efort ofered with the load -velocity relationship to teach the ‘repetitions in reserve ’ method for improved accuracy in loading (see HERE), as well as ofering the utility to use the ‘repetitions in reserve’ method with exercises unsuitable for VBT (e.g dumbbell lunges).

 

Use a moderate (~75% 1 -RM) load for 2-3 repetitions at the beginning of a session to assess individual athlete readiness and adjust loading based on daily fuctuations (see HERE). If performance is reduced, coaches may want to consider modifying intensity or volume to help fatigue resolve.

Use the velocity loss within a given set to support the training target. Only allowing a reduction of 10-20% supports power and strength qualities but allowing upwards of 40% loss promotes closer proximity to failure and potential for increases in hypertrophy.

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WHAT THEY FOUND

 Consistency is vital for a reliable measure of VBT, this includes the type of device and the way it is used (e.g. bar placement), the metric (e.g. mean concentric-, propulsive-, or peak velocity), as well as the exercise technique, with the barbell moving in a vertical direction.

 Accelerometer devices generally have inferior accuracy when compared to linear transducers, smart applications, or motion capture devices (see HERE).

 An individual and reliable loadvelocity relationship exists for barbellbased (e.g. bench press, back squat, deadlift) exercises in predicting %1RM, suggesting 4-6 sets of incremental loads between 1.2-0.45 m s -1 (~40-80% 1RM) are best to determine this.

Cody’ s Comments

“VBT adds a layer to resistance training that provides feedback and direction as well as supporting or refuting athlete progress and the decision-making ability of coaches. Just like any training tool, it is important that the coach implementing it frst understands how and why it will help. From there, being systematic and consistent in the application, having the requisite knowledge and experience with explaining how to use it, as well as navigating any potential troubleshooting that may come up on the foor with a specifc device or application.

VBT is much more than simply a motivational tool to promote maximal intent, but rather a true measure of performance in the weight room. VBT requires critical thinking as it allows for objective evaluation of training. When used properly, it promotes a more efective training plan and individual experience for each athlete. VBT, especially within team -sports, represents the essence of monitoring; a simple, reliable, and useful metric to support the certainty of decisionmaking and appreciate the fuctuation of readiness.”

Managing the compound efect of injury risk

OBJECTIVE

The ultimate goal of training and monitoring is to reduce injury risk and increase performance potential. Much of this involves a retrospective look at data collected to understand the compounding factors that are associated with time -loss injuries.

This study examined individual and combined efects of risk factors associated with soft tissue injuries, assessing various measurements of training load in an attempt to mitigate injury due to acute overload or increased fatigue.

WHAT THEY DID

Fifty-fve elite male Australian football players from one club were monitored across two seasons for soft tissue noncontact injuries of the lower limbs. Injury history data was included from the beginning of the year prior to the seasons studied , with data also collected based on various internal- (sessio n rating of perceived exertion (sRPE)) and external training load measures (e.g. PlayerLoad TM , total distance covered, and high -intensity running distance) via global positioning system accelerometer units (Optimeye S5, Catapult Innovations) to determine the acute-to-chronic workload ratios.

Years of professional experience, weekly musculoskeletal screening, and subjective wellness reports were also analysed for the association to injury incidence.

Practical Takeaways



It is important to have a framework (see HERE) in place when returning an athlete from injury. Getting all staf members involved in developing a progressive reconditioning plan that incorporates routine monitoring metrics as soon as possible, such as subjective reports, musculoskeletal performance information (e.g. tensiomyography (see HERE), fexibility, strength, jump, or sprint measurements), and on-feld global positioning system data to assist in objectively guiding an athlete’s return, should be top priority.

Use exponentially weighted moving averages (see HERE) when calculating acuteto-chronic workload ratios as this accounts for variations and time, providing a more realistic account of an athlete’s immediate and previous workload.

Incorporate weekly musculoskeletal performance measures after the warm-up of a planned in-season session, using fexibility (e.g. sit-and-reach) or isometric strength (e.g. adductor squeeze) tests. Workloads can be modifed if signifcant reductions occur compared to preseason baseline performances (e.g. cautioning volume or intensity when there is a reduction >1 standard deviation, or unquestionably modifying workloads when there is a reduction >1.5 standard deviation).

Decreased mood is a well-being measure that needs to be appreciated by coaches. Following up with a brief conversation can be helpful for the coach in better understanding an athlete s psychological state, as well as improving athlete buy-in to the monitoring process. The athlete then can trust that their responses are being considered when providing an honest report.

Coaches should have a long-term (multiple seasons) approach when managing player workload, allowing mature players (>28 years old) with a >7-yr of professional experience to operate with a lower chronic workload than younger, developmental players.

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WHAT THEY FOUND

 The greatest risk of injury occurred when an accumulation of risk factors was present (e.g. history of previous injury and elevated acute training loads (both internal and external)).

 Professional playing experience >7-yr, signifcant decreases for sit-and-reach or adductor squeeze, and a reduced report of mood were all individual factors that had the greatest infuence on injury risk, which were independent of training load and previous injury.

 A recent injury (e.g. injury that occurred within the previous 85 days) carried the greatest risk of injury related to athlete injury history.

Cody’ s Comments

“Injuries cannot be predicted or prevented, but managing and mitigating risk factors is essential to athlete health and performance during a season, as well as across their career. There will always be a risk, especially in a contact sport or sports involving maximal intensity, but the aim is to identify risk factors and control what we can as coaches in order to put athletes in the safest and most productive position.

This is only possible through routine monitoring of workloads and identifying markers related to soft-tissue health and athlete performance. Understanding the compounding efect that exists with injury risk therefore, the more information that can be seamlessly collected during training, the clearer the picture of athlete readiness becomes and the more confdent decisions are in keeping athletes feeling good and performing well throughout the season. Every day carries a ‘cost-beneft’ analysis and recognising specifc players that are more susceptible to injury and need modifcations can be the diference-maker in the success of a season.”

How to efectively monitor resistance training

OBJECTIVE

Resistance training can have negative efects if not managed appropriately. Several techniques that quantify resistance training and allow objective monitoring of this training stressor exist to help coaches in the decisionmaking process of training prescription; accounting for volume, intensity, and athlete perception in order to optimise the training stimulus.

This article provided an overview of the various resistance training monitoring methods that are most practical for S&C coaches working with athletes.

WHAT THEY DID

The authors outlined the complexity of resistance training (exercise selection, relative intensity, set or session volume, rest periods, and repetition velocity) and theories related to capturing the variables prescribed as one simple metric. Following this, they examined external and internal load variables that can be recorded easily during or after a session, that allow a refective view of training and progress.

Practical methods (e.g. repetition method, absolute and relative volume load, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), training monotony and strain, and wellness questionnaires) were fnally explained in an attempt to fnd the most applicable feedback on an athlete’ s psychophysiological response to training load.

Practical Takeaways



Coaches should avoid getting carried away with calculating the external load of resistance training in any fashion, the information is only specifc to the arrangement of exercises performed and does not account for the internal psychophysiological response, which is a more actionable and helpful area to monitor.



Collecting sRPE value at least 15-30-min post-training (see HERE) provides a valid and reliable measure (see HERE) of training intensity that includes the physical and mental efort expended and load experienced by an individual. This method keeps monitoring metrics to a minimum and ofers comparison to all types of training sessions.

 Further calculations can be made for measures of training monotony and strain using sRPE, which have shown efective in managing and monitoring training load (see HERE).

 Provide athletes with the opportunity prior to a training session to share their individual and unbiased perspective on their level of fatigue, sleep quality, muscle soreness, stress level, and current mood through a questionnaire, using a 5-10-point Likert scale.

 The more automated this questionnaire can be, the better, as coaches should explore electronic options to routinely send notifcations through an application or electronic message. This allows the data to be easily managed, visualised, and analysed for easy to understand reports for coaches or help in identifying red fags’ that require modifcations to training because of signifcant changes (see HERE).

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WHAT THEY FOUND

 Calculating external load by multiplying sets, repetitions and percentage of 1RM for the target repetition range prescribed (e.g. 74% of 3RM) is the best representation of relative volume, but misses the rest period variable that accounts for metabolic stress endured.

 Calculating internal load by multiplying session duration by the RPE of the session (sRPE) provides a singular value that represents intensity and load experienced that is comparable to all types of training sessions (e.g. on-feld sport-specifc or gym-based strength training).

 Administering a well-being questionnaire prior to training that accounts for fatigue, soreness, sleep, stress, and mood is helpful in preventing overtraining or maladaptation.

Cody’ s Comments

“It is easy for coaches to get lost or consumed by the numbers (e.g. sets, reps, percentages, velocities) that come with resistance training, but it is important to remember that when it comes to monitoring, coaches must fnd the strategy that fts their specifc situation best. This is very contextual as it is based on the athletes (numbers and experience), coaches, sport, and time demands. Just like training, monitoring should be optimised, meaning that attention should be placed towards variables that truly matter and provide actionable insight. Using metrics that are representative of the psychophysiological stress endured or performance achieved, are sensitive to change, and can be collected without interrupting the fow and efciency of training.

Lastly, it is always important to zoom out and look at the entire picture, avoiding the isolation of one specifc variable, appreciating the holistic well-being of the athlete (e.g. stress, mood, soreness, sleep, nutrition). Keeping a measure of these variables helps to guide conversations, education, and inform decisions that ultimately enhance performance.”

Fatigue & Recovery

This month’s top research on fatigue and recovery.

THE EFFECTS OF SUPER -SET AND TRI STRENGTH TRAINING

Weakley, J. et al. (2017) European Journal of Applied Physiology.

POST-MATCH PHYSIOLOGICAL, PERCEPTUAL AND TECHNICAL FATIGUE IN SOCCER

Rampinini, E. et al. (2011) Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL IMPACT OF STRENGTH TRAINING TO FAILURE

González-Hernández, J. M. et al. (2021) Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

The efects of super-set and tri-set strength training

OBJECTIVE

The benefts of resistance training are well established (see HERE), yet committing time to such exercise is often difcult, and as a result of this, training methodologies to enhance training efciency have been extensively investigated (see HERE). Information surrounding the acute physiological response to these methods are less established though.

The aim was to investigate the acute (+24h) efects of traditional- (TRAD), superset- (SS), and triset - (TRI) resistance training on an individual s perceived intensity and physiological response.

WHAT THEY DID

Fourteen male university rugby union players (age = 20.8 ± 1.2 yr) completed three resistance training protocols (TRAD, SS, and TRI) each with six exercises for 3 sets x 10 repetitions at 65% of 3RM. During the TRAD training protocol, all sets of one exercise were completed prior to moving onto the next exercise, whereas during the SS and TRI protocols, two and three diferent exercises were completed consecutively in one set prior to rest, respectively. The following physiological variables were collected before, immediately following and 24h post-training:

⇒ Rating of perceived exertion (RPE)

⇒ Lactate concentration after 6-, 12-, and 18 sets

⇒ Creatine kinase concentration (CK)

⇒ Countermovement jump

⇒ Testosterone concentration

⇒ Cortisol concentration

The following training variables were also calculated for each training protocol:

⇒ Total time (min)

⇒ Perceived load (RPE multiplied by total time)

⇒ Efciency (load (kg) lifted per minute (kg min-1))

Practical Takeaways

 As is often hypothesised with SS training modalities, this study confrms that such methods may be useful for practitioners working with athletes in timeconstrained environments. For instance, during the pre-training period in most sports, accessibility to time with athletes for additional gym-based training can be limited due to medical or media commitments, and even the cultural norms of athlete report times in close proximity to the training session. Thus, maximising training efciency with the use of SS or TRI training methods may allow for a sufcient amount of work to be completed in a short timeframe

 Findings from the present study must though be taken with caution as increasing training intensity with SS and TRI training may substantially alter the athletes perceptual and physiological response to the exercise stimulus. For instance, increased RPE, lactate concentration, and diminished jump performance may not be suitable by-products of SS and TRI training strategies in periods whereby energy preservation is required such as during the lead into competition. Therefore, careful consideration must be made on the timing of implementation of SS and TRI training strategies

 In opposition to the above point though, the inclusion of SS and TRI training strategies may be benefcial to athletes looking to maximise the metabolic response to training and subsequent adaptive potential. This can be exhibited through the increase in lactate concentration within the session, and small diferences in testosterone and cortisol in SS and TRI posttraining. Therefore, when periods of substantial recovery periods are available, implementing more intense training strategies, such as SS and TRI, may be benefcial.

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WHAT THEY FOUND

Training and perceptual variables

⇒ The average session duration was greatest for the TRAD training (42.3-min), compared to the SS (24.0 -min) and TRI training (17.7-min).

 RPE was after the TRAD training than the SS and TRI training, with RPE following TRI training also slightly higher than for SS training.

 Session efciency was much greater for TRI training than for SS and TRAD training.

Physiological variables

⇒ Lactate concentration increased at sets 6-, 12-, and 18 for TRI training compared to SS and TRAD training.

 TRAD training appeared to lead to a restoration of CMJ at 24h post-training, yet this same measure was still reduced following SS and TRI training.

 Only SS training showed increases in testosterone concentration at 24h post-training.

 Cortisol concentration decreased during TRAD training and increased slightly during SS training at 24h posttraining, but a change in cortisol concentration was observed for TRI training.

Comments

“In the TRAD training protocol, participants were given precisely 2-min recovery between sets of the same exercise. However, in the SS and TRI training protocols, athletes were given 2-min recovery after the fnal exercise of a given set, which means that the addition of one (SS) or two (TRI) exercises would provide an extended rest period for the individual exercises within the set. We know that this has an impact on time to concentric failure (see HERE) and intensity maintenance (see HERE) during resistance training, so this may have impacted upon the overall results. From a practical perspective, there may be difculty from completing SS and especially TRI in environments where access to equipment and the number of athletes in one space may subtract from the feasibility of such training regimes. For instance, completing a back squat, bench press, and deadlift in a TRI training format may not be feasible in environments with limited equipment and when full squads are working within the same time period.

Finally, the present study only assessed the physiological response to resistance training at immediately after and 24h post-training. We know that increased training efciency can lead to suppression of performance for up to 48h (see HERE), so future studies with greater post-training analyses would be interesting to see.”

Post-match physiological, perceptual and technical fatigue in soccer

WHAT THEY DID

Twenty-two youth male soccer players (age = 19 ±1 yr) from an Italian Serie A team competed in a 90-min soccer match in addition to a series of physical assessments before (PRE), 40 -min (POST), 24h (POST24), and 48h (POST48) after the match.

The following variables were obtained from the physical assessments:

WHAT THEY FOUND MVIC, %VA, and PT

central and peripheral fatigue.

 Electrical induced contraction (single and paired stimuli at 10 Hz and 100 Hz) knee extensor twitch torque (PT)

 Knee extensor maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) (Nm -1)

 Vastus lateralis electromyographical amplitude (percentage of voluntary activation (%VA)).

 Loughborough shuttle passing test (see HERE) which included; 1) time to complete 16 passes, 2) number of penalties, and 3) total performance time (1+2) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE)

 40m shuttle sprint test, which included; 1) time to completion, 2) acceleration time (0 -15m), 3) change of direction time (15-25m), and 4) fying time (25-40m)

 Perceived muscle soreness with a visual analogue scale

 Blood creatine kinase (CK) concentration (UL -1)

Practical Takeaways



In the 48h post-match timeframe soccer coaches are often inclined to recommence football training to work on technical and tactical practice in preparation for subsequent matches. Findings herein would suggest that although athletes may not present signifcant reductions in technical performance physiological capacity is still reduced. Therefore it may be important that training sessions in close succession from a match are designed to ensure signifcant physiological efort is not required of athletes when still in a recovery state.

The fndings of the study also have important implications for soccer teams with heavy fxture congestion whereby a 48h period is sometimes all that is available for recovery between competitive fxtures. Both at a metabolic (blood CK concentration and muscle soreness) and mechanical level (sprint times and strength/voluntary activation) reduced performance that is sustained for up to 48h may place athletes in a state of injury risk if required to perform at match intensities again. This may urge practitioners to focus on optimising recovery modalities and promoting squad rotation where possible.

Considering the importance of accelerations, decelerations, change of direction, and sprinting in soccer, this study confrms the physical impact of a competitive match on such movements. It is promising that all sprint variables were restored to PRE values at POST48, which would suggest that the readiness to perform these actions again is sufcient. However, considering muscle soreness and blood CK concentration remained reduced at POST48, it may be assumed that athletes would be working under some residual fatigue, and thus, a higher relative intensity than usual. This may have implications for the continued and sustained performance of such actions.

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 Knee extensor PT was lower at POST ( -11%) and POST24 vs. PRE (5.4%) and POST24 vs. POST (-6.8), whereas at POST48, values were restored to a similar level seen at PRE. Similarly, %VA was reduced at POST (-7.7%) and POST24 (-3.3%) vs. PRE and but not vs. POST. %VA also returned to baseline at POST48.

 At POST, PT at 1 Hz and 10 Hz was lower compared to pre ( -7.9 and -9.0%, respectively). At POST24, PT at 10 Hz was higher than at POST (+6.3%).

Sprint

 All sprint times were increased at POST vs. PRE, with 40m, acceleration, change of direction, and fying time increased by 0.180.06-, 0.09 -, and 0.03 -sec, respectively. Sprint time at 40m was faster at POST24 than at POST (-0.11-sec) but remained higher compared with PRE (+0.07sec) and were restored to PRE values at POST48.

 Flying sprint times were also increased at POST24 compared to PRE (0.02-sec) All other sprint time variables were restored by POST24.

Loughborough Shuttle Passing Test

 Passing performance was not infuenced by the soccer match at any of the post-match time points. RPE was increased at POST compared to PRE (4.0 vs. 2.5) but restored at POST48.

Muscle Soreness and Blood CK Concentration

 Muscle soreness was elevated at POST (3.8), POST24 (1.8), and POST48 (1.7) when compared with PRE (1.1).

 Blood CK concentration was higher at POST24 (695 UL -1) when compared to POST48 (506 UL-1), POST (652 UL-1), and PRE (226 UL-1).

Comments

“This study was one of the frst on postmatch fatigue inducement that I personally read at the beginning of my sports science career – so I had to review it this month! The study provides a substantial breadth of information on objective, subjective, technical, physiological, central, and peripheral reactions to match fxtures, but also presents a useful time course of recovery kinetics of 48h. As such, we are able to understand various features relating to the comprehensive area of recovery.

One consideration of the present study to be mindful of though is the single match nature of the methodology and fact that it was a non-competitive friendly’ match. We know that competitive matches vary considerably in the internal and external load requirements of athletes and environmental factors play a part in the perceived fatigue levels post-match. Therefore, without several match fxture included in the analysis, it cannot be confrmed that the physiological and perceptual responses of this study are totally representative of soccer in general.”

The physiological impact of strength training to failure

OBJECTIVE

The manipulation of resistance training stimulus variables (e.g. training to failure) is well established to infuence the mechanical, neuromuscular, and biochemical response to training (see HERE), and thus, long-term adaptation (see HERE ). However, the acute and delayed central and peripheral response to training to failure is not so well understood. This study compared markers related to fatigue in resistance training sessions that either did or did not led to failure.

WHAT THEY DID

During two separate sessions, twelve resistance trained men (age = 23.6 ± 1.5 yr) performed 6 sets of full squats on two separate occasions one-week apart, once to repetition failure on each set and the other time for 5 repetitions of their 10RM on each set. The following variables were quantifed to diferent time points of the study:

⇒ Mean velocity during all repetitions (m s -1)

⇒ Knee extensor maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) with twitch interpolation before training, immediately after each set, and 1 -, 24-, and 48h post-training

 Peak force (global fatigue)

 Peak twitch (peripheral fatigue)

 Voluntary activation (central fatigue) (see HERE)

 Blood creatine kinase (CK) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) concentration before training and 1-, 24-, and 48h post-training

Practical Takeaways

Findings from the present study indicate that specifc diferences exist in the response to failure and not to failure training. Most signifcantly, training velocity was reduced in training to failure which may have important implications for practitioners utilising velocity-based training methods. This can also have important implications for specifc adaptations to velocity-based training (see HERE).

Although specifc diferences existed between training to failure and not, both conditions elicited similar central fatigue, which was sustained for up to 48h. This has important implications for the prescription of resistance training with athletes during competition schedules, whereby energy preservation is often required. These fndings suggest that resistance training should not be completed within 48h of competition for maintenance of central capacity, irrespective of training to failure or not.

As indicators of muscle damage, CK and AST remained elevated up to 48h post-training for the sets to failure condition but not those that were not to failure. Therefore if faster restoration of the homeostasis of skeletal muscle is required after resistance training, it may be advisable to implement strategies where training to failure is avoided. This may allow for more frequent resistance training across a training cycle due to the reduced appearance of muscle soreness.

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WHAT THEY FOUND

 Higher velocity loss was observed between sets during sets to failure ( -21.7%) vs. not to failure ( -3.5%) conditions.

 Peripheral fatigue related to peak twitch was generally higher and longer-lasting in sets to failure condition, most notably from the third to the last set.

 Central fatigue assessed via voluntary activation was comparable between conditions and remained lower up to 48h post -exercise.

⇒ The concentration of CK and AST was elevated from before training to 1- and 48h post-training in sets to failure, yet in sets not to failure, CK and AST was only higher 1h post -training.

 Similar impairments in MVC were observed for both sets to failure ( -28.7%) and not to failure (-23.8%) and remained reduced up to 24h posttraining.

Comments

“The fndings of the present study provide a strong reminder to practitioners on the sensitivity of training variable manipulation for specifc adaptations where reductions in training velocity in training to failure may encourage speed-based athletes to avoid such training modalities. Having said this, the diference between training to (for example) 10RM failure vs. training just 5 repetitions is quite substantial. Further investigations looking into smaller indices of training repetitions may provide more practical information for athletes and practitioners.

Secondly, a limitation of the present study is the fact that the total volume of work was not matched for the two protocols. For example, the training to failure group performed a total of 60 repetitions, whereas the non-failure training groups performed just 30. Having said this, previous literature has presented signifcantly higher fatigue and decline of mechanical performance in training to failure vs. not to failure, even when the total volume was matched (see HERE).”

Youth Development

This month’s top research on youth development.

YOUNG AND TALENTED: THE IMPACT OF INJURY ON ADOLESCENT ELITE ATHLETES

Von Rosen, P. et al (2018) European Journal of Sport Science.

THE ROLE OF BIO -BANDING ON PARTICIPANT ENJOYMENT

Bradley, B. et al (2019) Annals of Human Biology.

GET TO BED: THE ROLE OF SLEEP IN YOUTH ATHLETES

Sawczuk, T. et al. (2018) Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

Young and talented: the impact of injury on adolescent elite athletes

OBJECTIVE

Sport is a fantastic vehicle in the youth population for physical, social, and psychological development, for example, exposure to a sporting environment is a fantastic way for individuals to develop self-regulation, self-identity, and resilience. However, what remains a relatively misunderstood phenomena are how youth interact with injury.

More knowledge is crucial to explore how a variety of rehabilitation approaches align to the needs of youth athletes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the consequences of injury to long -term participation.

WHAT THEY DID

340 adolescent elite athletes (15 -19 yr) from sixteen diferent sports were monitored twice a week during the course of a year using the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Questionnaire (see HERE). Twenty athletes from the same cohort were interviewed in focus groups, designed to reveal their experiences of injury and perceptions of the aftercare. These were structured to explore the lead up to the injury, the treatment during, and the care after an injury, with all data analysed using a fve-stage inductive approach (see HERE).

Practical Takeaways

 To prevent injury, athletes require a consistent approach, with programmes that are carried out 2 -3 times a week for a minimum of 20-min per session (see HERE). A good programme consisting of proprioception (e.g. single leg reaches), lower limb strengthening (e.g. jump squats), core stability (e.g. bodyweight planks), and plyometrics (e.g. low box jumps) is a great place to start.

 As females are highly susceptible to knee injury when compared to males, addressing this is important (see HERE). To help limit this, exercises such as single -leg Romanian deadlifts, curtsy lunges, and single-leg squats, strengthen the posterior and anterior muscles of the leg. These are great exercises, as they can be performed with assistance (e.g. a band), or with load/ increased height to create adaptation.

 Unfortunately, athletes will get injured, and when they do, coaches can play a vital role in the recovery process. Injury follows a somewhat linear pathway in terms of the emotional/ mental response, with Erin Finn (Olympic long-distance running) in the attached video discussing how gaining acceptance over the injuries limitations was important. As a coach, it is important to avoid any timeframes or comments on “when a player will be ft”. Secondly, in the digital age, where players can access information, making loose statements (e.g. “that looks like an ACL injury”), are unhelpful and potentially psychologically damaging. Remaining positive, consistent, and inclusive is very important, and involving any therapist/psychologist in the journey is advised.

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WHAT THEY FOUND

This study reported that 30% of athletes reported injury over the course of the season, with 9.7% of these lasting for more than half the season.

The results of this study found that a higher proportion of females (52.9%) were injured compared to male athletes (40.5%). Many youth athletes reported that they felt that since being injured, they had lost part of their self-identity. Athletes suggested that this was due to a reduction in training volume and intensity which led to feelings of inadequacy and training alone away from the squad.

“

Coaches and scientists who are supporting an injured youth athlete must ensure that they take positive steps to reintegrate them back into the team climate, which may include group warm-ups or adjusting a programme so that they can have a training partner. The physical symptoms of injury can be somewhat obvious (e.g. muscle strain), impairing movement and the ability to produce a skill safely, however, the associated psychological symptoms (e.g. loss of identity, frustration, disengagement, irritation) can be less visible. In these circumstances, I would suggest that the coach/scientist is very transparent with the child, the parents, and any coaching staf regarding the road to recovery.

Given the severity of associated physical and psychological symptoms of injury, investing in preventative injury management is important. In the attached podcast below, it is suggested that regular load monitoring, consideration of exercise selection, and wider enquiry into their academic week (e.g. high periods of stress = lower training load) should all be considered. For example, sitting down with the schools Physical Education team and parents with a view of “mapping” out their week can be a good way for cooperation and to ensure adequate rest between fxtures.”

The role of bio-banding on participant enjoyment

OBJECTIVE

When working with adolescents, the physical attributes of a squad can be markedly diferent, with the more mature members generally benefting from improved strength, speed, and power. Bio-banding, which is a process where coaches group and evaluate young athletes based on size and maturity status, rather than on chronological age, has been suggested as a fairer and more appropriate method to beneft all stages of the maturation continuum.

The aim of this study was to investigate the players perceptions of playing in a bio-banded tournament.

WHAT THEY DID

Sixty-six players from four professional soccer academies (11-14 yr) were assessed using the Khamis Roche method (see HERE) of maturation tracking, with those at 85-90% of adult stature included. Participants completed three 11 vs 11 games with 25-min halves on a full-sized pitch.

Four players from each club participated in four semi-structured focus groups. Participants were asked to write down their positive and/or negative experiences of this tournament, which was then openly discussed as a group to allow individuals to recall, refect, and identify shared experiences.

WHAT THEY FOUND

The fndings of this study as reported by the focus group revealed four key themes:

 Participants reported that the bio-banded tournament produced a physically more equitable playing feld.

 Technical and tactical styles were promoted as a result of a more equal setting which allowed players to demonstrate their competence.

 Players reported more time and composure on the ball, leading to greater enjoyment and social cohesion as a team.

 Players reported that the tournament was a positive and welcome addition to their games programme and that they perceived it to be valuable for their development.

Practical Takeaways



I’ve experienced bio-banding in a school environment and have seen frst-hand the benefts to all children on the maturation continuum. An important aspect to remember when employing a bio-banded approach is that this does not need to occur all the time (see HERE). In fact, giving children access to playing ‘ up and down’ the biological spectrum is important, as students can begin to appreciate the individual attributes of varied players, such as increased height (e.g. aerial dominance) or increased lean mass (e.g. strength in possession).

When working with youth athletes, giving preferential treatment to a player based on ability is a really quick way to lose relationships. In the attached podcast, the staf of Exs and Os discuss how it feels to lose your place to another player. Alternatively, ofering players bio-banded tournaments could be a fantastic way to secure buy -in and enjoyment, where hopefully in a youth environment, learning comes before a scoreline.

To prevent players feeling left behind, focusing on programming through ‘levels’ is a fantastic way to keep players engaged on a similar movement curriculum (e.g. A lunge pattern: Level 1 = in-place lunge; Level 2 = walking lunge; Level 3 = walking lunge with dumbbell). Each level develops in terms of complexity/load, but allows players to train on the same programmes at diferent stages of the movement, allowing for team cohesion and physical development. Some examples of progressions can be seen in the article below.

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“The fndings of this study show that the participants found the bio -banded tournament a really valuable experience. According to the participants, this format allowed them to adopt positions of leadership, express themselves technically, and have more of a physical challenge. An alternative format, which forces those at a maturational disposition to compete against those who are physically more mature can lead to feelings of inadequacy and can result in players quitting sport altogether. This is further discussed by Hugh McDonald in the video below, who suggests that the ‘win at all cost’ approach adopted in some academies can be counterproductive when looking to develop talent He suggests that an approach that praises creativity and opportunity is vital in securing long-term buy-in and participation.

Finally, given the fndings of this study, it would be interesting to see if academies would adopt a bio-banded approach in trials Such an approach may support academies in fnding players who are talented, but may not be as visible when competing against larger, more physically dominant oppositions.”

Get to bed: the role of sleep in youth athletes

OBJECTIVE

Decrements in performance, increased risk of illness, injury and deviations in well -being are all symptoms of poor sleep. Over the last decade, a majority of research on recovery has focused on well-being and training stress, without considering the role of sleep in the recovery process.

With this being the case, the aim of this study was to assess the influence of sleep duration and quality on well-being amongst youth athletes during a typical training period.

WHAT THEY DID

Forty-eight male and female students (age = 16 yr) from a local independent school completed a daily questionnaire over a 13week period. The questionnaire explored an individual’ s wellbeing sleep quality (using a Likert scale), sleep duration (estimated time in bed method), training load, and exposure from the previous day.

Linear mixed model analysis was used to evaluate the infuence of sleep duration, quality, and sleep index (sleep duration multiplied by sleep quality) on well-being subscales (fatigue, muscle soreness, stress and mood) and perceived recovery.

Practical Takeaways

 In a previous study (see HERE), educational programmes that have made steps to support athletes through sleep hygiene interventions have had lots of success. Coaches should ensure that students are aware of good sleep rituals, including a cool temperature, dark bedroom, avoiding cafeine, and avoiding light (e.g. phones or game consoles) prior to sleep.

 After a fxture, sympathetic hormones are present as a result of competition and need to be dissipated as soon as possible. To support an athlete to get into a more parasympathetic (calm) state, coaches can:

 Provide athletes with foam rollers and a massage ball to stimulate relaxation. This could include the hip fexors, gluteal muscles, and thoracic spine for 60-sec on each (see HERE). A fantastic ‘whole body’ foam roll can be seen in the attached video.

 Focus on deep breathing practices to reduce performance adrenaline (see HERE). This can be done with the foam rolling, with 3 -5 deep breaths on each muscle.

 Encourage athletes to activate ‘night mode’ if they are going to use their phones prior to sleep, but further, provide recommendations on how to replace phone time (e.g. reading a book, meditation, writing, or talking with their family).

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WHAT THEY FOUND

The results of this study found that an athlete’s perception of sleep is associated with deviations in well-being measures. In particular, sleep quality showed a strong association with reduced stress and improved mood.

Sleep quality and sleep index measures exhibited far greater responses to well-being than sleep duration, suggesting that monitoring the sleep index in conjunction with well-being could be benefcial for coaches.

Sleep index measures had a small efect on perceived recovery and feelings of soreness, suggesting that athletes who experienced better sleep benefted from increased feelings of readiness

“

In practice, the provision of sleep education programmes are really important for athletes. Coaches should ensure that they provide athletes with the facts since it is really important to secure a change in behaviour (e.g. better sleep quality) from the athlete. Providing parents with child-friendly sleep aids are a very good way of doing this. Websites such as insight timer (see HERE) produce over 500 childapproved meditation soundtracks which are incredibly useful. Parents should also be encouraged to read the article below as this may provide further rationale to support the use of sleep meditation.

From a performance perspective, Ian Dunican has you covered in his podcast (see below). Here it is suggested that coaches are still stuck in a mindset that although fatigue is a real phenomenon, they are too quick to make a session easier in the hopes that this will reverse the process. Ian believes that a good education provision, such as including the advice given in the practical takeaways above, serve athletes well on the road to recovery. ”

Nutrition

This month’s top research on nutrition.

HOW MUCH DO WE KNOW ABOUT LOW ENERGY AVAILABILITY AND IS IT A PROBLEM WITH ATHLETES?

Logue, D. M. et al. (2020) Nutrients.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROTEIN INTAKE FOR ATHLETIC ADAPTATION

Phillips, S. M. & Van Loon, L. J. (2011) Journal of Sports Sciences.

HOW CAN NUTRITION SU PPORT RECOVERY FOLLOWING MUSCLE DAMAGE?

Owens, D. J. et al. (2019) European Journal of Sport Science.

How much do we know about low energy availability and is it a problem with athletes?

OBJECTIVE

Over recent years, one of the hottest topics in sport nutrition circles has been low energy availability (LEA) (see video and podcast below), which is defined as inadequate energy intake relative to exercise energy expenditure. It is suggested that the mismatch between energy intake and exercise expenditure is the trigger for unfavourable health and performance consequences associated with relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S).

Traditionally, LEA was believed to only be a concern for female athletes, however recent research shows this is a problem for both male and female athletes who experience under fueling, and therefore, inadequate energy availability for normal physiological health markers and optimal performance. In this review article, the authors discuss the key areas for practitioners to consider regarding LEA and the impacts on performance and health.

WHAT THEY DID

Using targeted database searches, combinations of the following key search terms were included: athlete, energy availability (EA), low energy availability, low energy availability risk, within-day energy balance, low energy availability knowledge and awareness of low energy availability, nutrition education/diet intervention, and RED-S. Inclusion criteria included only those studies that quantifed EA by assessing energy intake, exercise energy expenditure (EEE), and body composition, as well as those that investigated symptoms associated with low EA.

The authors then categorised the results into the following sections:

 LEA

 LEA risk

 Eating disorders and exercise addiction

 Exercise hypogonadal male condition

 Within-day energy defciency in athletes

 LEA and sports performance

 Knowledge of LEA and RED-S

Practical Takeaways

 A low ratio between measured and predicted resting metabolic rate is an acknowledged marker of LEA (RMR ratio <0.90), although the emphasis is placed on the importance of practitioners using predictive equations, which include fat-free mass.

 Administration or the LEAF-Q (validated) and LEAM-M (in development) can assist with early recognition of active females at risk of LEA by evaluating the presence of symptoms associated with LEA, such as menstrual and gastrointestinal dysfunction.

 Similarly, screening for compulsive exercise should increase practitioner awareness for factors contributing to LEA, however, self-reported data should be interpreted with caution.

 Consistently low blood glucose levels may lead to increased cortisol and reduced triiodothyronine and lower muscle mass over time. Therefore, it is important practitioners advise athletes who are training consistently to maintain sufcient blood glucose levels with adequate carbohydrate intake.

 A major issue for practitioners is the fact that athlete knowledge of correct nutrition is lacking, as such, it is advised to assess current knowledge using the Sports Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire (see article below).

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WHAT THEY FOUND

Prevalence of LEA ranges from 22-58% across a number of sports and is apparent within both males and females (road cyclists and elite distance athletes)

Accuracy issues with self-reported energy intake appeared to result in problems, so more recently, athletes are being screened using questionnaires that focus on the physiological symptoms associated with health markers for both female (see HERE) and male (still being developed) athletes.

The main risk of LEA includes reproductive function and bone health, as well as metabolic, haematological, psychological, and cardiovascular health, and gastrointestinal function This can then lead to disordered eating behaviours and eating disorders, especially amongst those competing in weight class or leanness-demanding sports Stress, anxiety, and depression can result in or contribute to disordered eating behaviour and LEA in athletes.

Although extensive research in females shows impacts on LEA on menstrual dysfunction and low bone mineral density, recent evidence suggests male athletes can develop similar suppression of the reproductive function known as exercise hypogonadal male condition (i.e., testosterone suppression).

Results from two within-day energy defciency studies show that male athletes identifed with suppressed resting metabolic rate spent more time (21h vs 11h) with an energy defcit exceeding 400 kcal across a 24h period than those who were in energy balance Female athletes with menstrual dysfunction spent more time (22h vs 18h) in an energy defcit state exceeding 300-kcal compared to eumenorrheic athletes.

“

Comments

In my own practice, I have witnessed frst-hand the negative efects on health and performance of under fueling and LEA in both male and female athletes. I honestly do not think there are many athletes - or practitioners for that matter - that genuinely know the energetic cost of the training day and/or competition day. Without this knowledge it is difcult to accurately consume the required total energy and macronutrients required to optimally fuel and then recover.

Education and coaching on how best to assess the energetic cost (e.g. GPS, activity watches, laboratory assessments) as well as accurate assessment of energy intake (e.g. weighed food inventory, food diaries, 24h recalls) will encourage athletes to better understand whether they are (or are not) fueling for the demands of the training session, day, and week correctly.”

The importance of protein intake for athletic adaptation

OBJECTIVE

Protein is one of the most talked-about nutrients in athletic circles and is a multibillion-pound industry worldwide. However, not many athletes and practitioners fully understand the correct timing, type, and total amount of protein to consume in order to optimise adaptation, recovery, and body composition.

In this article two world-leading professors discuss the key areas that practitioners should know in regard to protein intake for athletes (further information can be seen in the podcast below).

WHAT THEY DID

Reviewing the published literature at the time (i.e., pre- 2011), Phillips and Van Loon discuss the current research and evidence regarding protein which covered the following:

⇒ The role of protein in training-induced adaptation

⇒ What quantity of protein should athletes consume

⇒ Timing of protein consumption

⇒ Protein source and quality

⇒ Changes in body composition with nutrition and exercise

⇒ Other nutrients

Practical Takeaways

 The optimum quantity of PRO to consume to maximally stimulate MPS after resistance exercise appears to be around 20-25g of high-quality PRO.

 Although a crucial ‘window of anabolic opportunity’ is not currently well defned, the earlier after exercise an athlete consumes PRO the better, since the sooner the recovery process following exercise can begin, the better.

 Animal source PRO, such as milk, egg and most meats, are ranked as high-quality PRO and should be prioritised to support optimally MPS.

 Leucine which is contained in animal sources (e.g. milk) is the ‘light switch’ which activates key signalling PRO and athletes should consume preferably whole foods that are high in leucine or supplements containing leucine after exercise (see infographic below).

 High PRO intakes of 1.8-2.7g protein kg-1.day-1 helps with both body composition improvements (e.g. fat loss and lean mass retention) in addition to low glycaemic index GI carbohydrates, usually no more than 3-4 g kg-1.

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WHAT THEY FOUND

The maintenance of muscle mass is a balance between muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and muscle protein breakdown (MPB). Current recommended protein intake for the normal person of 0.8 g kg-1 are too low for the endurance and strength-based athletes, and as such, athletes should aim to consume between 1.6-2.2 g kg-1 depending on their individual goals, with this intake to be spread out over the day into ingestions of about 20-25g of protein each time.

To optimise MPS, high-quality protein from whole foods should be consumed every 2-3h in an attempt to ensure positive protein balance. In regard to recovery during sleep, casein protein should be prioritised, as this clots in the stomach, is slowly digested, and delays the appearance of leucine during bed rest which supports overnight recovery.

The efects of leucine have been shown in vitro (test tubes) and in vivo (humans) with both milk protein and whey protein both highly enriched in leucine, resulting in a greater ability of this protein to stimulate muscle growth when compared with soy PRO.

Diets with PRO intakes higher than typically recommend have a benefcial efect on the retention of lean mass during hypoenergetic (i.e. less energy than normal) periods of weight loss. Therefore, diets containing 20-30% of energy from PRO and 40% energy from carbohydrates are preferred. Flavoured versions of milk which contain added carbohydrate as a simple sugar can enhance subsequent exercise performance and reduce indices of muscle damage.

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Comments

This is a key paper that I have used in all of my practice whether working with rugby and football players or with combat sport athletes who are trying to make weight for competition. Both Phillips and Van Loon clearly explain the current literature in regard to timing, type, and total (the three T’ s of nutrition) for PRO consumption. With many obvious take-home messages and practical applications, it really is clear how important PRO is for training adaptation, body composition improvements, and retention of muscle mass during ageing (see video below)

Regular PRO intakes throughout the day, especially frst thing in the morning and last thing at night, will help many athletes develop better and recover moving forward. Keep it simple and cheap with a pint of milk prior to bed!”

How can nutrition support recovery following muscle damage?

OBJECTIVE

Most, if not all, athletes at some point during training and competition will experience loss of skeletal muscle function and soreness manifested by exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) (see video and podcast below). As such, it is important to consider nutrition strategies to help reduce effects of EIMD and support optimal recovery, at the same time though, it is also important to allow adaptation to occur.

Taken together, practitioners need to consider the long-term administration of supplements and functional foods that are used to limit or stave off’ EIMD and their potential blunting of skeletal muscle adaptation. The authors of this paper provide an applied approach to support both adaptation and recovery.

WHAT THEY DID

In this article, the authors describe the mechanisms of EIMD that includes the primary and secondary muscle disruptions caused by high force eccentric muscle actions which result in delayed onset of muscle soreness, as well as increases in specifc proteins in the circulation, swelling, reduced range of motion and muscle force capacity.

This is followed by a discussion of the dietary solutions for EIMD, including protein and amino acids, functional foods, dietary polyphenols, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA), Vitamin D, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E, and creatine monohydrate. Finally, they ofer some practical nutritional considerations to modulate exercise-induced muscle damage and future directions for researchers and practitioners.

WHAT THEY FOUND

Muscle damage is caused by resistance training, running, and/ or intermittent high-intensity exercise. The primary damage is caused by mechanical loading and the popping of sarcomeres, leading to secondary muscle damage. This includes movement of calcium into the circulation causing further damage, before satellite cells are recruited for muscle repair.

Protein consumed around exercise has not shown measurable reductions in muscle damage and enhanced recovery, however, protein is important for adaptive remodelling of skeletal muscle after any form of exercise and should be consumed in the athlete s diet.

Polyphenols, which are found in numerous fruits and vegetables, and how they exert their efects on supporting recovery are currently unclear. At worst, they provide vital nutrients, at best, exercise recovery could be augmented. n-3 PUFA possesses anti-infammatory properties with positive efects on muscle function, infammation, and oxidative stress induced by muscle damage.

Vitamin D has a large role in muscle regeneration, remodelling, and innate and acquired immune systems. However, large numbers of Vitamin D defciencies are found worldwide, due to lack of sunlight exposure and indoor lifestyles.

Practical Takeaways

 A diet rich in polyphenols (e.g. berries, green tea, beetroot, and blackcurrants) may be the best strategy to augment recovery from damaging exercise.

 n-3 PUFA occurs in natural abundance in nuts and oily fsh (e.g. salmon, mackerel, and tuna). If supplementing, a minimum of 2 weeks with 5 g day-1 of fsh oil capsules (providing 3500-mg eicosapentaenoic acid and 900 mg docosahexaenoic acid) is necessary to permit detectable increases in muscle concentrations.

 It appears a daily - as opposed to monthlyVitamin D3 supplementation is more efective and doses up to 4000 international units per day during the winter months are adequate.

 Creatine shows positive efects for support of muscle mass following resistance training. Supplementation of 24 g day-1 (4 x 6g servings) for 7 days followed by 6 g day-1 for 15 weeks, will support optimal adaptation.

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“This article should stimulate refection for those practitioners who currently provide nutritional advice to their athletes. Are you utilising the right nutritional aids, at the right time of the training day and week to maximise frstly adaptation and secondly recovery?

It is clear this process is complex with many contributing factors a doubleedged sword. For example, muscle damage, infammation, and soreness is good in terms of adaptation, on the other hand though, it is important to recovery and repair the athlete as quick as possible ready for the return to training or competition.”

Injury Prevention & Rehab

This month’s top research on injury prevention and rehabilitation.

HOW DOES THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE KINETIC CHAIN INFLUENCE HOP TEST PERFORMANCE?

Kotsifaki, A. et al. (2021) Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach.

ISOMETRIC OR ISOTONIC EXERCISE: WHICH PROVIDES THE MOST IMMEDIATE BENEFITS TO PATELLAR TENDINOPATHY?

Safar C. A. et al. (2015) British Journal of Sports Medicine.

SECONDARY ACL INJURY FOLLOWING RECONSTRUCTION: WHAT DOES THE DATA SHOW?

Della Villa, F. et al. (2021) British Journal of Sports Medicine.

How does the contributions of the kinetic chain infuence hop test performance?

OBJECTIVE

Hop testing has been well utilised in the rehabilitation setting during the return to play clinical decision -making process. Current practice aims to achieve 90% limb symmetry during hop testing as a marker to determine overall readiness to return to sport, although some research suggests that it can overestimate knee function (see HERE). The horizontal hop test has been the most commonly used of all the current tests available, however, the vertical hop test may be more indicative of true knee function. The purpose of this study was to examine the biomechanical infuence of the hip, ankle, and knee joint during the vertical and horizontal hop in active adults.

WHAT THEY DID

Twenty male adults performed the vertical and horizontal hop tests during a single session where the motion of each participant was captured using refexive markers placed on each individual, and ground reaction forces were collected by a force plate.

Four successful trials were used for analysis when the participant landed inside the border of the force plate and held the landing for at least 2-sec. The data was used to calculate the internal moments and contributions of the hip, knee, and ankle joint during the hop tests.

Practical Takeaways

 Physical therapists should utilise both the horizontal and vertical hop tests when rehabilitating athletes with knee injuries as the landing phase of the horizontal hop and peak knee power generation of the vertical hop is most indicative of knee function.

 Physical therapists should also choose the vertical hop test as it may be more useful in determining knee asymmetry than the horizontal hop. This is because the hip, knee, and ankle joints each contribute roughly equally during the propulsive phase, indicating a higher performance contribution from the knee joint.

 Practitioners should also utilise both bilateral and single -leg functional performance tests as they likely involve diferent motor strategies and diferent joint contributions representing total lower extremity function rather than performance at one particular joint.

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WHAT THEY FOUND

 During the propulsive phase of the horizontal hop, peak ankle power was greater than both hip and knee peak power. Work generation from the hip and ankle joint did not difer but was greater than knee work.

 During the propulsive phase of the vertical hop, peak ankle power was greater than hip and knee peak power.

 During the landing phase of the horizontal hop, peak knee power absorption was greater than both the hip and the ankle. The work contribution of the knee joint in landing was greater than both the hip and ankle.

 During the landing phase of the vertical hop, peak power absorption did not difer between the ankle and hip, however, peak knee power absorption was less than both the hip and ankle.

 Peak hip and ankle power were greater in the horizontal hop compared with the vertical hop.

 Peak knee power generation was less in the horizontal hop compared with the vertical hop.

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It was interesting to see the breakdown of biomechanics as the horizontal hop is most commonly used as a return to sport measure for the knee joint by measuring single -leg hop distance, however, this study shows that the knee joint contributed very little to the propulsive phase.

Hop testing in just one piece of the return to sport battery and is insufcient in fully assessing knee function. Other objective measures including movement screening, landing mechanics, force production, muscular endurance, and the psychological domain, should all be assessed to truly determine an athlete’ s readiness.”

Isometric or isotonic exercise: which provides the most immediate benefts to patellar tendinopathy?

OBJECTIVE

Patellar tendinopathy is a common diagnosis seen in athletes that participate in sports like basketball and volleyball that involve running and jumping, with repetitive loading to the patellar tendon. Eccentric and heavy-slow concentric exercise has been commonly prescribed to address pain and improve function in these populations (see HERE). However, during the in-season period it often becomes difcult to adhere to a structured exercise programme that does not ofer immediate pain relief due to time constraints of a demanding schedule.

The purpose of this study was to determine if either isotonic or isometric exercise would result in immediate pain relief in volleyball athletes with patellar tendinopathy, as well as exploring the mechanisms of these interventions.

WHAT THEY DID

Six male volleyball athletes, three with bilateral patellar tendon pain and three with unilateral pain, performed baseline testing to determine quadriceps strength using an isokinetic dynamometer, as well as tendon pain assessment using the Victorian Institute of Sport assessment-patellar tendon (VISA-P) and the single-leg decline squat (SLDS). Testing was performed immediately after the intervention as well as 45-min postintervention.

These tests were repeated at weeks 2 and 3 after the intervention, which included:

 Isometric knee extension on an isokinetic dynamometer 5 sets x 45-sec at 60° knee fexion and 70% maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) with 2-min between each rep.

 Isotonic knee extension performed on a leg extension machine 4 sets x 8 reps at 100% 8RM with a 4-sec eccentric phase, 3-sec concentric phase, and 2-min rest between sets.

 Baseline measures of corticospinal excitability and shortinterval intra-cortical inhibition (SICI) were also obtained during low-level isometric contractions of the quadriceps muscle group via single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Practical Takeaways

 Physical therapists and S&C coaches can prescribe isometrics for athletes in-season for immediate pain reduction or when in the acute phase when the painful tendon is difcult to load.

 Tendon rehabilitation needs to be progressed beyond isometrics, as isotonic loading will help develop tissue capacity to enable a resilient tendon to return to sport.

 Prescribing open-chain isometric exercises that favour the rectus femoris (e.g. seated knee extension with a prescription of 5 sets x 45-sec) can help mitigate pain and improve function, as the tendon of the rectus femoris is the only quadriceps muscle where the tendons continue over the anterior surface of the patellar to form the patellar tendon.

 Using isometric exercise at 70% MVIC may be a useful protocol prior to a competition, a workout, or physical activity to reduce pain without inducing muscular fatigue.

 Physical therapists and S&C coaches can prescribe isometric exercise in both the acute and chronic phases of patellar tendon pain as there were no non-responders to isometric exercise, regardless of pain severity or length of time of symptoms.

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WHAT THEY FOUND

 Pre-isometric intervention pain was 7/10 and pre-isotonic intervention pain was 6.33/10.

 Isometric exercise reduced pain on the SLDS immediately from 7/10 to 0.17/10, and the reduction was sustained for 45-min.

 Isotonic exercise resulted in immediate pain relief on the SLDS from 6.33/10 to 3.75/10, but this was not sustained at 45-min.

 There was an immediate mean reduction in pain following isometric exercise of 6.8/10 compared with 2.6/10 postisotonic exercise.

 An increased MVIC torque was observed immediately after the isometric intervention that was sustained for at least 45 -min but not seen in the isotonic intervention.

 There were no systematic diferences in corticospinal excitability between isometric and isotonic exercise.

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Comments

In my clinical practice, I have seen similar results and often prescribe isometric interventions with athletes experiencing patellar tendon pain when the tendon is irritable, or even prior to a game or practice session to decrease pain and prevent fareups which might occur due to the added stress from isotonic exercise.

One main limitation of this study that was noted was the lack of a non-intervention control group. The inclusion of this would have provided a greater assessment of the changes that were observed. Additionally, future studies should look at these methods across larger sample sizes in multiple sports that require high energy transfer and loading to the patellar tendon.

Secondary ACL injury following reconstruction: what does the data show?

OBJECTIVE

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are one of the most common injuries seen in sports that involve repetitive deceleration and change of direction. Most athletes opt to undergo reconstruction after a complete tear of the ACL in order to return to high-level sport. The main job of a physical therapist working with athletes post-ACL reconstruction (ACLR) is to decrease pain, improve function, and ultimately return them to sport with a decreased risk of re-injury, although the risk of secondary injury has been reported to be as high as one-third (see HERE).

The aim of this study was to determine the rate of secondary ACL injuries and potential risk factors in professional soccer players.

WHAT THEY DID

ACL injury surveillance data of sixty-eight male professional football teams over 374 seasons were collected from January 2001-May 2019, with 118 players tracked during this time for a subsequent ACL injury.

Injury surveillance information included previous knee injuries, injury mechanisms, diagnostic modalities used, associated injuries, and treatment details. Return to training (RTT) and return to match -play (RTM) information was also collected.

Practical Takeaways

 Physical therapists and S&C coaches must understand the mechanisms of ACL injuries and the structures involved as sustaining a non -contact ACL injury appears to increase the rate of a second ACL injury sevenfold, whilst having sustained an isolated ACL injury increased the rate threefold.

 Physical therapists and S&C coaches should also educate patients post -ACLR on delaying their return to sport beyond 8 months as it will ultimately decrease the risk of sustaining a secondary injury.

 Emphasis needs to be placed on high -quality evidence-based rehabilitation strategies and also continuing to address biomechanical and neuromuscular defcits, even after the initial injury, to reduce the risk of reinjury.

 Incorporating interventions in rehabilitation sessions that mimic defensive pressing situations or regaining balance after kicking can further help to decrease occurrence of non -contact ACL injuries.

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WHAT THEY FOUND

 The total cumulative second ACL injury incidence after RTT was 17.8% (21/118), with 9.3% (11/118) ipsilateral graft ruptures and 8.5% (10/118) contralateral ruptures.

⇒ The mean time to asecond ACL injury was 26.5 months after ACLR and 21.5 months after RTT with the cumulative incidence after RTT 17.8% (21/118).

 11/26 players who sustained a non-contact isolated ACL injury had a second ACL injury compared with 9/92 players.

 Non-contact ACL injury occurred more frequently in the right knee and the time to both RTT and RTM was shorter for an isolated ACL injury than for associated injuries.

 The main risk factors for a second ACL injury were age, injury mechanism, injury pattern, and RTT.

 In total, RTT within 5 months was seen in 14% (17/118), within 6 months in 42% (49/118), within 7 months in 73% (86/118), and within 8 months 89% (105/118).

 0/13 players who had their RTT after 8 months sustained a second ACL injury, whereas 10/49 players (20.4%) with RTT within 6 months sustained a second ACL injury.

Jordan’ s Comments

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In my opinion, we have to do a better job as a profession to decrease the likelihood of reinjury after ACLR. This can be achieved by emphasizing patient education, setting realistic rehabilitation goals and return to sport timelines, as well as proper load management, exercise prescription, and performance training. These will help prepare athletes for the demands they will be returning to and proper objective return to sport testing will determine when they are truly ready to return.”