328 research outputs found
Lenin a Pechino? Leggendo «Utopie letali» di Carlo Formenti
No full textRecensione a C. Formenti, Utopie letali. Contro l’ideologia postmoderna, Jaca Book, Milano, 2013
Thermal images analysis: procedures and new perspectives
No full textThermal image analysis is usually performed by averaging temperature values of pixels within a selected
region of interest. However, this methodology does not take into account for the distribution of temperature
patterns, thus not fully exploiting the potentialities of thermal imaging for studying thermal responses to
physical exercise. Literature, methodologies and new perspectives are examined and presented
Editorial: Factors affecting performance and recovery in team sports: A multidimensional perspective, Volume II
No full textThe second volume of the Research Topic on Factors Affecting Performance and Recovery in Team Sports continues and extends the knowledge of the first volume (Trecroci, 2022) reinforcing the concept that the analysis of team sports should embrace a multidimensional perspective (i.e., cognitive, physical, technical, physiological, psychological, morphological, and preventive) (Carling et al., 2018; Trecroci et al., 2020a; 2020b; 2021a; 2021b; Formenti et al., 2020). To tackle this challenge, sport science research in team sports is giving importance not only to suitable training strategies and performance monitoring, but also to ad hoc recovery and wellness recommendations. By the way, this Research Topic published five experimental studies, and three out of these are on recovery strategies, whereas the other two focus on training methodologies
Which Strength Training?
No full textKey Points
• Resistance training is a key element in the treatment of obesity.
• High-intensity resistance training should be used with caution; low-intensity
resistance training should be preferred because of reduced
mechanical stress on the joints.
• In particular, low-intensity, low-velocity resistance training is well tolerated
and appears to provide evidence-based benefits in the obese
population.
• The combination of low-intensity, low-velocity strength training with aerobic
training and a supervised dietary plan lead to weight loss, improved
function, postural control and independence in daily life activities.
• Low-velocity resistance training modalities need to be investigated for the
obese population
Subjective recovery in professional soccer players: A machine learning and mediation approach
No full text: Coaches often ask players to judge their recovery status (subjective recovery). We aimed to explore potential determinants of subjective recovery in 101 male professional soccer players of 4 Italian Serie C teams and to further investigate whether the relationship between training load and subjective recovery is mediated by fatigue, sleep quality, muscle soreness, stress and mood. A complete season for each of the four teams was recorded for a total of 16,989 training sessions and matches. Every morning, players rated their perceived fatigue, sleep quality, muscle soreness, stress and mood, and judged their recovery using the Total Quality Recovery (TQR) questionnaire. Training load was obtained after each training session or match. A framework of data analytics of time series was employed to detect the factors associated with subjective recovery. Machine learning and mediation analyses suggest that TQR is primarily associated with ratings of fatigue and muscle soreness at the judgements time, and that these factors mediate most of the relationship between training load of the previous day and subjective recovery. These findings suggest that, to maximize subjective recovery, strategies minimizing fatigue and muscle soreness should be implemented. Reducing the training load of the previous day seems the most effective strategy
The effects of a smartphone game training intervention on executive functions in youth soccer players: a randomized controlled study
No full textCognitive training primarily aims to improve executive functions (EFs). It has become a popular research topic, as previous studies have provided preliminary evidence that EFs relate to sports performance. However, whether a domain-generic cognitive training intervention can improve EFs in high-performance athletes is still unclear. The present randomized controlled study aimed to examine the effects of an eight-week (5 min/day, 5 days/week) smartphone-based domain-generic cognitive training intervention (i.e., the smartphone game “Fruit Ninja”) on EFs in youth soccer athletes (N = 33; intervention: n = 15, passive control: n = 18; German youth soccer academy). We assessed working memory (3-back task), inhibition (Flanker & Go/NoGo task), and cognitive flexibility (number-letter task) in a pre-post design with computerized tasks. The results showed no significant time x group differences attributable to the cognitive training between the intervention group and the control group, except for a response time variable of the Go/NoGo task. These preliminary results do not suggest an application of CT as a smartphone-based game to improve EFs performance in soccer players. However, more research is needed to establish the efficacy of domain-specific interventions in high-level team sport athletes
Exploring the relationship and agreement of asymmetry between lateral jump and change of direction in young tennis players
No full textThe main aim of this study was to examine the relationship and the degree of agreement between lateral jump and change of direction (COD) asymmetries favouring the same lower limb in young tennis players. Thirty-one tennis players (U12, U14, and U17) voluntarily participated in the study. They were tested for lateral movement and COD performance by the single-leg lateral jump (SLLJ) and the modified 505 COD test (505mod). The asymmetric index (AI%) of both tests was obtained alongside an asymmetric threshold (AT%) for each age group. The level of agreement between SLLJ and 505mod was assessed by Cohen’s kappa statistic (κ). The main finding revealed that the AI% observed in the SLLJ (median: 4.4%, interquartile range: 1.7–6.3) slightly agree (κ = −0.148) with that of 505mod (median: 6.3%, interquartile range: 4.6–10.3) alongside with a non-significant (r = 0.105, p > 0.05) association to each other, indicating their imbalance did not favour the same direction. The AT% tended to decrease with age, possibly with the increasing training background. Practitioners should consider the task-specificity of asymmetry to reduce the imbalance in lateral jump and COD performance on the tennis court
Infrared Thermography: A Possible Role in Psychophysiology of Sports?
No full textInfrared thermography (IRT) is an upcoming, promising methodology in the field of psychophysiology. Mental and emotional components of behaviour play an important role in the determination of human performance in sporting competition scenarios. Driven by sympathetic nerve activity, affective and emotional states derive from muscular activity, skin blood flow, and perspiration patterns in specific body parts. The goal of this chapter is to introduce the assessment of emotional states and computational psychophysiology through thermal infrared imaging in sports and exercise
Regions of interest selection and thermal imaging data analysis in sports and exercise science: a narrative review
No full textPrediction of subjective fatigue in professional soccer players: a data-driven method to optimize training approach to the match
No full textIn soccer, predicting players’ fatigue experienced immediately before a training session or match can help design training programs and optimize performance. This study aimed to identify the most important predictors of daily and match-day fatigue in six Italian professional soccer teams during a competitive season using a framework of big data analytics. Every morning, the players rated fatigue, sleep quality, muscle soreness, stress, and mood. After each training session or match, the session Rating of Perceived Exertion was obtained and multiplied by duration to calculate the training load (TL). A framework of four machine learning models (Decision Tree classifier, XGBoost classifier, Random Forest Classifier, and Logistic regression) was trained and tested on 30.211 examples (one full season of six teams) to assess their ability to predict the players’ match-day fatigue. The machine learning models accurately predicted the players’ subjective fatigue (models’ range accuracy 70–82%). Specifically, in the prediction of match-day fatigue, stress, and mood of the previous day were the most influential factors. Mediation analysis unveils the relationship between TL of the day before the match and the perception of match-day fatigue, also mediated by mood and muscle soreness. Sport scientists and coaches can apply this framework to simulate the effects of different training programs, thus maximizing players’ readiness and mitigating potential drops in performance associated with match-day fatigue in a real-world scenario
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