First of all dear reader apologies for missing out on February I haven’t been keeping this blog up to date as I would like. Something I plan to remedy in the immediate future.

Blood pressure during resistance exercise pregnant vs non pregnant women.

• 10 pregnant (22-24 weeks and mean age 25) and 10 non pregnant women (average age 25) took part in the study.
• It involved 5 sessions using Pec Dec fly and leg extension exercises.  Session 1 involved working out their 1 RM and the next 4 sessions involved either 1 or 3 sets of 15 using 50% of their 1RM for both exercises.
• Researchers looked at – Heart rate, Dystolic blood pressure, Systolic blood pressure, mean blood pressure and oxygen consumption during the exercise conditions.
• Leg extension had a greater effect on heart rate and blood pressure than chest fly.  Pregnant group had a lower blood pressure in all conditions.
• Researchers concluded resistance training to be safe for pregnant ladies.

TL;DR – 50% of your 1RM on machine weights is perfectly safe if your pregnant.

Effects of 12 weeks of supervised resistance training in Patients who have underwent gastric band surgery

• 15 Patients volunteered for the study they where split into two groups – resistance training group (n=7, average age = 53.6) and usual care (n = 8, average age = 44).
• Before the 12 weeks baseline measurements where taken for Body weight, body composition, flexibility, hand grip strength and sit to stand test.
• No difference was found in body weights or body composition both groups lost significant amounts of weight.
• Resistance trained group where more flexible, had a better v02 max and did better in sit to stand test.

TL;DR – Resistance training makes untrained people more flexible and stronger.

Effect of Box Squat, Band Squat and Stretching on lower body power.

• 12 participants took part in the study which involved 3 different conditioning/warm ups. 1 – 3×3 @ 3RM box squat, 2 – 3×3 with heaviest resistance bands available and 3 – 30 second static stretch for muscles of the lower body.
• Lower Body power was assessed using squat jump performed with 20 kg in a smith machine using a linear transducer and was performed pre-warm up, 5 and 10 minutes post.
• Box squat and Band squat both significantly improved power output 5 and 10 mins post warm up whist static stretching reduced power output.

TL;DR – performing squats with weights or bands can increase lower body power bands are less expensive and easier to transport.

Relationship between Vertical and Horizontal jumps and muscular performance.

• 17 subjects completed a battery of tests – 30m sprints, muscle stiffness test, ultrasound measures and a mixture of jump testing (countermovement jump, drop jump and squat jump all done on two legs and one leg.)
• Horizontal peak and mean forces had a better relationship to sprint speed than did vertical measures.
• All jump variables showed large and very large relationships to sprint speed with one legged tests tending to have a better relationship vs two legged jumps.
• Muscle stiffness or architecture showed no relationship with speed.

TL;DR – horizontal single leg jumping probably is your best single best bet for a jump test to predict sprint speed over 30m.

Are three contact bouts reflective of repeated high intensity bouts in rugby league?

• GPS systems defined a repeated high intensity effort as 3 or more efforts (running or contact) that take place with short rest periods.  It has been suggested that after a number of such bouts players become less effective due to fatigue.  However there is little evidence for this.
• This study set out to look at this.  12 semi professional rugby leauge players took part in 3 conditioning. 2 x 10 minute halfs of off side touch where performed with one of 3 conditions. 1/2/3 contact efforts each contact effort was performed every 2 minuites and consisted of 5 seconds of wrestling.
• GPS was used to determine the movement demands of the game.
• Single contact bouts reduced the running distance trively, 2 contact bouts produced small reductions and 3 contact bouts produced moderate reductions in running distance.
• The authors concluded that contact sport athletes should perform contact efforts mixed with running and maintaining intensity to develop their sports specific fitness.

TL;DR – if you want to condition for rugby you need to hit stuff and run.

Conditioning games vs High intensity intermittent training for handball.

• Eightteen highly trained handball players took part in the study.  They were assigned to either HIT or small sided games for an 8 week period.  HIT consisted of 12 to 24 reps of 15 seconds of running interspersed with equal rest.  Small sided games where played as 3 v 3.
• Exercises duration and recovery where matched for both conditions.
• Both groups showed significant improvements in Yo-Yo level 1, 10 and 20m sprint times, Hand ball agility test, 1 RM bench press and countermovement jump.
• Conclusions of the researchers where that both where efficient fitness regimes and small sided games might be prefered for in season training.

TL;DR – con games and MAS running are as effective as each other for Handball players.