Sports and Fitness Science

On the road

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:14:00 +0000

It’s been an interesting month. Changing jobs and moving to new challenges. It has been also interesting because I had the chance to visit few places, give talks, meet people, learn loads and reflect on the last 8 years. I was in Vaxjo in Sweden at the end of March to talk about strength and power training. It was great to see some great coaches in the audience (one of my sporting idols and now successful silver medalist coach of the Swedish Handball team was there!) and a brilliant facility with plenty of athletes of all ages. This trip was followed by London for the Sports Analytics Summit to talk about data in Sport and how to use them better, great conference and lots of learning and new ideas. Then I lectured at the Strength and Conditioning Students Conference at Middlesex University and it was great to see so many young practitioners asking loads of questions and engaging to learn more. More recently I travelled to Potsdam University in Germany to give a talk about Science in Sport and discuss few potential collaborations with Professor Urs Granacher and his team. They do loads of interesting things on neuromuscular function, so watch this space for some exciting developments in the future. Spent a great afternoon at Birmingham University with my colleague Dr. Matt Bridge who is doing some very interesting work on Golf. and gave a talk on science and coaching on the road to London 2012. Finally, last Saturday I was at the Football Medicine Conference in London perfectly organised by Isokinetic to give a talk on vibration and its use in rehabilitation in a parallel workshop organised by UCL.

The next few weeks are going to be challenging as I am travelling again, but I am looking forward to catch up with loads of friends and colleagues and also learn about new things and continue to develop some ideas for research work to do in the next few years.

So, I will be at the VISTA conference in Bonn organised by the IPC to talk about technology in sport and how it can be used to help the coach and the athlete. Following that, I will be in Boston at the BSMPG Summer seminar to give two talks, but most of all to listen to some great speakers and visit some of the best sporting teams in the World and engage with some fantastic practitioners. Finally, at the end of May, I will be with Nike in Oregon at the #SPARQ2013 conference with some of my colleagues of the SPARQ Advisory Board.

If you are are a reader and are attending any of the above, make sure you get in touch and give some feedback. I am planning to rearrange the blog and improve it so feedback is needed to get it right. Also, I am starting to think about another edition of the strength and conditioning book so I need to start asking questions of what to improve in the next edition.

I promise to write a bit more in the next few weeks about few topics, time is now on my side (or at least this is what I believe!).

Two new papers

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:38:00 +0000

Apologies for radio silence. It has been a buys few months with loads happening. I have now left Team GB and moved on to new adventures (I will talk about it soon). In the meantime two papers have been recently published and the abstracts are here.

Horm Metab Res. 2013 Apr 15. [Epub ahead of print]

Combination of External Load and Whole Body Vibration Potentiates the GH-releasing Effect of Squatting in Healthy Females.

Giunta M, Rigamonti AE, Agosti F, Patrizi A, Compri E, Cardinale M, Sartorio A.

Source

Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, Laboratorio Sperimentale di Ricerche Auxo-endocrinologiche, Milan and Piancavallo (VB), Italy.

Abstract

In recent years, whole body vibration (WBV) has become an efficient complement or alternative to resistance training. Very limited data on the effects of different WBV protocols on anabolic hormones are available. In this study, we compared the growth hormone (GH), blood lactate (LA), and cortisol responses to different protocols involving WBV. Six healthy women recreationally active performed 10 sets of 12 dynamic squats in the following conditions: squatting alone (S), squatting+vibration (SV), squatting+external load (SE), and squatting+external load+vibration (SEV). All responses at the different stimuli determined acute increases in GH, cortisol, and LA. In particular, GH secretion significantly increased in all 4 conditions immediately after the exercise session compared to other time points. Furthermore, a significantly larger increase was identified following SEV as compared to the other conditions. Cortisol concentrations significantly decreased after S, SV and SE whereas they increased significantly following SEV. LA peaks occurred immediately at the end of each condition. However it reached statistical significance only following SEV. The results of our study demonstrate that the combination of squatting+external load+vibration (SEV) could represent the most suitable modality to potentiate the somatotropic function and, indirectly, to obtain an increase in muscle strength and positive changes in the body composition. Further studies are necessary in order to determine the chronic effects of this exercise modality on the hormonal profile.

Eur J Appl Physiol. 2013 Jan 24. [Epub ahead of print]

Neuromuscular fatigue induced by whole-body vibration exercise.

Maffiuletti NA, Saugy J, Cardinale M, Micallef JP, Place N.

Source

Neuromuscular Research Laboratory, Schulthess Clinic, Lengghalde 2, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland, nicola.maffiuletti@kws.ch.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the magnitude and the origin of neuromuscular fatigue induced by half-squat static whole-body vibration (WBV) exercise, and to compare it to a non-WBV condition. Nine healthy volunteers completed two fatiguing protocols (WBV and non-WBV, randomly presented) consisting of five 1-min bouts of static half-squat exercise with a load corresponding to 50 % of their individual body mass. Neuromuscular fatigue of knee and ankle muscles was investigated before and immediately after each fatiguing protocol. The main outcomes were maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) torque, voluntary activation, and doublet peak torque. Knee extensor MVC torque decreased significantly (P < 0.01) and to the same extent after WBV (-23 %) and non-WBV (-25 %), while knee flexor, plantar flexor, and dorsiflexor MVC torque was not affected by the treatments. Voluntary activation of knee extensor and plantar flexor muscles was unaffected by the two fatiguing protocols. Doublet peak torque decreased significantly and to a similar extent following WBV and non-WBV exercise, for both knee extensors (-25 %; P < 0.01) and plantar flexors (-7 %; P < 0.05). WBV exercise with additional load did not accentuate fatigue and did not change its causative factors compared to non-WBV half-squat resistive exercise in recreationally active subjects.

Tribute to two lost friends

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 11:19:00 +0000

When sad news reach you there are many ways to react. Disbelief, sadness and various other feelings mix up. You realise that life is a wonderful gift and you never know what the next day brings. When somebody dies in unexpected situations it is hard not to ask why? It is pointless…as of course there is no way to find an answer. For me, it’s a time for reflection. And such happenings help to put life in perspective. We are totally immersed in our working lives, totally taken by the challenges, battles and stresses that working in Sport provides us on a daily basis. Sometimes we lose track of everything else. Family, friends, people we know, we don’t realise how important they are for us and how lucky we are in having them around. Sadly we tend to realise this only when we lose them.

In the last few months I lost two great friends and colleagues. The kind of people I am lucky enough to have met because of the job I do. The kind of people you have not grown up with, but instantly become more than just a colleague, because you not only share the same views and passions, you also enjoy to spend time with them to talk about all sorts of other things that are not work-related. Their loss is sad, but I would like to celebrate what they did in life and how fortunate I was to meet them and spend time with them.

Nick Broad was the Head of Sports Science at Paris St. Germain. I met Nick probably 10 years ago for the first time at a conference in UK. We spoke about the impact of nutrition and science in Football and how this was evolving. He was a former Aberdeen student, having done his Master in Sports Nutrition with Prof. Ron Maughan in Scotland. So we had common ground, common friends, common interests. Nick progressed in his career from being one of the first Sports Nutritionists working in football trying to change the way nutrition was applied and delivered in the Premiership. Since his early career he was not only interested in nutrition, he realised quickly than an holistic approach was the way forward, and the use of all sciences was fundamental to improve the player’s performances. He was a keen listener, he always exchanged his views in an open and frank way and became soon one of the leaders in the field working as head of science at Chelsea Football club and recently at Paris St. Germain. He showed that people who strive for knowledge and excellence can make a difference also in a conservative sport like Football and I have no doubts he is a role model for the young practitioners who attended conferences he was presenting at. We used to meet and exchange ideas frequently and we both shared a passion for good coffee. I also enjoyed his challenging questions, because they made me think a lot and learn a lot. Today Nick is not with us anymore. I can say I have been fortunate to meet him. He was a great practitioner, a brilliant mind and a very good friend. I will miss our catch ups with good coffee.

Marcello Faina was the Head of Sports Science of the Italian Olympic Committee. I knew Marcello since I was a student in Rome, mainly because he was the closest collaborator of Professor Antonio Dal Monte. They were the brains of the Institute of Sports Science and Medicine of CONI in Rome. The team who was pushing boundaries to help Italian athletes succeed on the World stage. Marcello then became the director of the Institute and contributed to the preparation of Italian athletes to countless Olympic Games, Worlds and European Championships. Furthermore, he was heavily involved in education (educating coaches and young sports science and sports medicine students), research (we also published a paper together recently), and mentoring young practitioners. We met countless times over the years and were consistently in contact. He was my sounding board. His experience in the Olympic movement was immense, so I used to ask him advice and learn from his experiences. We met at the last 3 Olympic Games I attended with Team GB and used to joke about our rivalry. The last time we met it was two days before the closing ceremony in London. We had an ice cream outside the Italians’ HQ together with my Team GB colleagues and the rest of the Italian medical team. We were all happy about the results of our respective teams and were sharing knowledge/views and also chatting about things unrelated to sports. Marcello was due to receive the most prestigious award in Italian sport for his contributions to sports science and medicine over the years. He never made it, the award was given in his memory.

I never got the chance to thank you for the wise words and your way to find the positive and humorous side of each story. I will take the chance now. Thank you Marcello.

End of the year reflections and thanks again!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:45:00 +0000

Here we are, today it is the last day of 2012 and as usual it is time for reflections. What an amazing year it has been. So much expectations for the “home” Olympics in London and fantastic results not only in terms of sporting success but also for the feel good of the nation. Also, another year of blogging is gone by and the number of visits is increased again. In fact, this year the blog received 33,286 visits from 157 countries. I am still amazed by such interest but also very proud of contributing to the development and sharing of knowledge related to Sport and exercise science.

So, here is my thank you to all the readers. I hope readers find this blog useful and I will try to grow it a bit more in 2013, trying to update the theme and trying to develop more content with practical applications for coaches and sports scientists working in the real world of sport and physical activity.
I did not manage to publish much on this blog, less than 20 blog entries and a couple on my employers’ blog. It was a very difficult and stressful year. However all the hard work, the hours spent planning and executing the various projects in the lead up to the Olympics and the support provided during the London 2012 Olympic Games has been a journey I will never forget. Not an easy ride, but what an honour to be part of something so big! Most of all, it was a rewarding experience to be part of a thriving scientific community which was working hard to provide our athletes with the best possible resources to compete in London.
The London Games were a truly amazing experience. The Olympic Village was incredible, well built and really a great place to work.

We managed to design and run a fantastic facility for our athletes and staff to be able to prepare in the best possible way for each competition and recover faster between competitions. The place had a great atmosphere and it was brilliant to be there to support not only our wonderful athletes but also the incredible coaches and support staff working with them on a daily basis to help achieve the dream of winning an Olympic medal.

The medals won by Team GB were 65 in the end. 3rd overall place in the medal table, best result ever for Team GB, and most of all Team GB was better than Australia (there is such a rivalry between the two countries that even politicians bet on results and you can see here what kind of things the losing sports minister has to do!).

More medals in more sport than ever before. Incredible result. Our athletes were part of a great show organised perfectly by LOCOG with amazing ceremonies, incredible facilities, great organisation, fantastic volunteers and an incredibly positive atmosphere. When you see happy crowds like this one…you know that every minute spent working was well worth it.

The memories will stay with me forever.
Just few days to rest and recover and as soon as I was back at work lot of things happened. The legacy project of the Institute of Sport Exercise and Health finally became reality and a new base will be opened soon to provide research and education opportunities in partnership with University College London and UCLH. Two of my students completed their PhDs and published their first papers (Dr. Zoe Wimshurst for vision training and Dr. Catherine Hesford for Near Infrared Spectroscopy) and have started a career in applied research and higher education and I am sure they will do incredibly well in the future. I also managed to start a new research group at UCL dedicated to Sports and Health Analytics (SHARP). There are some incredible people with expertise in various fields and I am looking forward to a productive few years learning from great colleagues and developing new approaches to gathering and analysing data in Sport. I promise to write more about this exciting initiative in the new year. It was a great year also for the ESPRIT project which is continuously developing innovative technologies and approaches for sport and health. Again, a great pleasure to be part of such a talented group of people. On the sporting front, preparations for SOCHI 2014 are in full swing and projects and activities for our winter sports will accelerate in 2013 to make sure our winter athletes reach Russia with the best possible conditions to be the best they can be.
2013 looks already busy. I have a list of papers to write and submit, projects to start or complete, trips to make, athletes and coaches to work with, people to meet, lectures to give in the UK and abroad, but most of all I know there are loads of things I want to learn and develop. So I know already that it is going to be a great year. If I learn half of what I learnt this year, I will be a happy and lucky man in 2013.
With few hours left to the end of 2012 I wish you all the best for next year with good health and plenty of learning opportunities.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

New infographic on concussion

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:50:00 +0000

Here is a new infographic on concussion developed by Masters in Health Care.

Interesting Infographics

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 21:07:00 +0000

I am developing a passion for infographics and plan to do some work in the near future to present some research information in a simple way. If you are not familiar with infographics here is a definition from Wikipedia:

Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly,^[1] such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. With an information graphic, computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians develop and communicate concepts using a single symbol to process information.

I found infographics useful to communicate with athletes and coaches and I think such approach can help us in educating young athletes.

Recently I was made aware of two excellent ones.

The first one was developed by Insurance Quotes and it refers to data on Inactivity.

The second one was developed by the very talented Sarah Wenger and illustrates the importance of hygiene in the workplace to reduce the risks of illness.

New article published #3: whole body vibration effects on obese subjects

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:56:00 +0000

This article was published on Obesity Facts. It is the result of a collaboration i have with the Italian Auxological Institute. An organisation working every day to help obese patients and trying to develop innovative approaches to weight management. In this experiment we showed how whole body vibration with and without additional loading can induce acute increases in Growth Hormone which is very difficult to obtain with other forms of exercise in this population. In the obese, some endocrinological disturbances during acute endurance and resistance exercise have been identified inmany studies: a blunted growth hormone response, atrial natriuretic peptide and epinephrine release, and greater cortisol and insulin release. These hormonal disturbances might contribute to a suppressed lipolytic response, and/or suppressed skeletal muscle protein synthesis, as a result of acute endurance or resistance exercise, respectively. Our finding suggests that this form of exercise has the potential to be effective at least in the initial stages of an exercise programme in this population.

Obes Facts. 2012 Aug 24;5(4):567-574. [Epub ahead of print]

Growth Hormone-Releasing Effects of Whole Body Vibration Alone or Combined with Squatting plus External Load in Severely Obese Female Subjects.

Giunta M, Cardinale M, Agosti F, Patrizi A, Compri E, Rigamonti AE, Sartorio A.

Source

Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio Sperimentale di Ricerche Auxo-endocrinologiche, IRCCS, Milan, Italy.

Abstract

Background: Whole body vibration (WBV) has been reported to exert growth hormone(GH)-releasing effects in healthy subjects. Despite the potential of WBV to positively affect body composition changes via lipolytic effects, few studies have been performed in obese subjects to date. Methods: This study evaluated the acute effects of WBV alone or in combination with squatting plus external load (WBV+S) on serum GH levels and blood lactate concentrations in 7 severely obese women (age 22 ± 5 years; BMI 39.9 ± 2.9 kg/m(2)). Results: WBV and WBV+S determined a significant GH increase (mean GH peaks 5.1 ± 1.9 ng/ml, p < 0.001 vs. basal, and 6.5 ± 3.7 ng/ml, p < 0.001 vs. basal, respectively), GH peaks occurring immediately after both exercise sessions. No significant differences were observed between GH peaks and GH net incremental area under the curve (nAUC) after both conditions (p = 0.39 and p = 0.53, respectively), the whole pattern of GH responsiveness being comparable among all the subjects. Lactate concentrations increased after both conditions (mean lactate peaks 2.0 ± 0.5 mmol/l, p < 0.05 vs. basal, and 4.5 ± 2.0 mmol/l, p < 0.001 vs. basal, respectively). The lactate response was significantly higher after WBV+S than after WBV (p < 0.05). Baseline GH and GH peak values positively correlated to baseline lactate and lactate peak concentrations in both conditions (R(2) = 0.64, p < 0.001, and R(2) = 0.52, p < 0.05, respectively). Conclusions: WBV alone stimulates GH release and lactate production in severely obese female subjects, with no additive effect when combined with squatting plus external load. Further additional studies are required to verify the chronic effects of WBV exercise on the GH/IGF-1 system, which could represent a potentially effective approach for weight management in obese subjects. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg.

New article published #2: Near Infrared Spectroscopy

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 18:48:00 +0000

This is published online first and will appear in print in 2013. Here we showed how good NIRS is when assessing elite athletes.

Adv Exp Med Biol. 2013;765:81-6.

NIRS Measurements with Elite Speed Skaters: Comparison Between the Ice Rink and the Laboratory.

Hesford C, Cardinale M, Laing S, Cooper CE.

Abstract

Wearable, wireless near-infrared (NIR) spectrometers were used to compare changes in on-ice short-track skating race simulations over 1,500 m with a 3-min cycle ergometry test at constant power output (400 W). The subjects were six male elite short-track speed skaters. Both protocols elicited a rapid desaturation (∆TSI%) in the muscle during early stages (initial 20 s); however, asymmetry between right and left legs was seen in ΔTSI% for the skating protocol, but not for cycling. Individual differences between skaters were present in both protocols. Notably, one individual who showed a relatively small TSI% change (-10.7%, group mean = -26.1%) showed a similarly small change during the cycling protocol (-5.8%, group mean = -14.3%). We conclude that NIRS-detected leg asymmetry is due to the specific demands of short-track speed skating. However, heterogeneity between individuals is not specific to the mode of exercise. Whether this is a result of genuine differences in physiology or a reflection of differences in the optical properties of the leg remains to be determined.

PMID:: 22879018; [PubMed - in process]

New article published: Near Infrared Spectroscopy

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:41:00 +0000

This was recently published. Here we demonstrated how local measures of muscle oxygenation can provide clever information on metabolic demands and help the coaching process identify the appropriate training modalities to improve performance.

The abstract is below:

Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012 Aug 14. [Epub ahead of print]

Effect of Race Distance on Muscle Oxygenation in Short-Track Speed Skating.

Hesford CM, Laing S, Cardinale M, Cooper CE.

Source

1 Centre for Sport and Exercise Science, School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, UK; 2 British Olympic Medical Institute, University College London, UK; 3 University of Aberdeen, School of Medical Sciences, Aberdeen, Scotland (UK), 4 School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences, Bangor University, UK.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

Previous work identified an asymmetry in tissue desaturation changes in the left and right quadriceps muscles during on-ice skating at maximal speed in males. The effect of changing race distance on the magnitude of desaturation or leg asymmetry is unknown.

METHODS:

6 elite male skaters (age = 23 ± 1.8 years, height 1.8 ± 0.1m, mass = 80.1 ± 5.7kg, mid-thigh skin fold thickness = 7 ± 2mm), and 4 elite female skaters (age; 21 ± 4 years, height; 1.6 ± 0.1 m, mass; 65.2 ± 4.3 kg, mid-thigh skin fold thickness; 10 ± 1mm), were studied. Subjects completed time trials over 3 race distances. Blood lactate concentration and O2 uptake measurements were combined with NIRS measures of muscle oxygenation (TSI) and blood volume (tHb) in the right and left vastus lateralis (VL).

RESULTS:

Neither race distance nor gender had a significant effect on the magnitude of maximal muscle desaturation (ΔTSImax). Pattern of local changes in tHb during individual laps was dependent upon subtle differences in skating technique used for the different race distances. Linear regression analysis revealed asymmetry between right and left leg desaturation in males during the final stages of each race distance, but not in females. At all race distances local muscle desaturation reached maximal values much more quickly than global VO2peak.

CONCLUSIONS:

The use of wearable NIRS devices enabled measurement of muscle oxygenation during competitive race simulation; thus providing unique insight into the effects of velocity and technique changes on local muscle oxygenation. This may have implications for training and race pacing in speed skating.

65 reasons to be happy!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 18:36:00 +0000

I am finally back in London after the Olympics and the well deserved rest. It’s been an amazing few months. I did not have much time to write on the blog and I promise to keep it up to date more in the future. I was busy working for our greatest team: Team GB. The last few months of preparation have been frantic and culminated with an incredible Olympiad in which Team GB won 65 medals finishing with an historical 3rd place in the medal table after the superpowers China and USA.

This is the result of 4 years of incredible dedication not only by our athletes but also, coaches, administrators, science and medicine support and lots of people who contributed to the success of the team. The public was amazing, every venue had such a brilliant atmosphere and the support we all received was truly inspirational. It was for me a privilege and an honour to work with such a talented group of people in the last few years and with amazing support teams during the games. I will cherish the memories for years to come. The British sporting system has changed enormously since I arrived in the UK in 2001 and I can say that there is an exciting scientific and coaching community which is envied by the rest of the World.

Success in sport is due to many aspects: funding, environment, coaching, organisations structures, science and medicine, engineering, vision and belief that miracles happen to people who believe in them. GB was10th in the medal table with 30 medals in Athens in 2004 and is now in the top 3, well done everyone involved in Olympic Sports in the UK. 500 athletes, 50 million strong, you all are part of our greatest team!

I will write more about the Olympics in the next few weeks, I am still going through some data and will write more about what I have seen and what the trends are. Also I will keep writing about science in sport.

Our greatest team: Infographic

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:49:00 +0000

Press cuttings

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 10:05:00 +0000

Here are the links to few articles referring to our work leading into the London 2012 Olympics (click on the image).

Free pain assessment tool

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 09:58:00 +0000

I just came across a fantastic (free) pain assessment tool developed by Emilie McMahon.

A study showed how it was well accepted and easy to use with an heterogeneous group of participants. But if you want to know more about pain scales, you really need to read this recent systematic review.

Sleepless night infographics

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:59:00 +0000

Long days of work ahead. I am sure few people will have plenty of sleepless nights. Here is a reminder of what are the effects of lack of sleep (thanks to Peter Kim).

Article on Metro News Canada

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 16:06:00 +0000

Here is the link to a recent interview I did for MetroNews Canada.

New article on Team GB blog

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 16:03:00 +0000

Time is running fast and soon we will be celebrating the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. Here is my latest blog on the Team GB website.

An excellent graphic illustration on why we need more sleep.

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:41:00 +0000

This is an excellent illustration created by MedicalBillingandCodingCertification.net

Team GB blog

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 14:55:00 +0000

I will be writing a Blog for Team GB on our new website. I will link the articles to this blog as well.

The first one was published last week and it is about marginal gains in Olympic sports. If you click on the image you should be able to access it.

Motion trackers and lifestyle technology

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:49:00 +0000

I have been recently looking at various activity monitors and apps as I am developing an interest into stress related research and wellness. Most of the research published in this field in the last twenty years suffers in fact from lack of technology to quantify more aspects of wellness and physical activity. Original studies in this field had to rely on questionnaires (reported activity/sleep/food intake), but now with the development of small portable technology measurement opportunities have improved.

In the last few years I used mainly heart rate monitors, actigraphs, and the sensewear armband to look at activity patterns, energy expenditure and sleeping patterns of athletes.

One of the most interesting tools I have come across is the Jawbone bracelet and its iPhone® app.

Jawbone seems to be a true wellness device. In fact it is capable of tracking your activity, your sleep and your meals. The Jawbone band has a built-in precision motion sensor that automatically tracks your movement (steps, distance, calories burned, pace, intensity level and active vs inactive time ) and sleep (hours slept, time to fall asleep, light vs. deep sleep and sleep quality). No information is available on validity and reliability of its measurements, and at the moment I am not aware of any study published using it. The reviews from various bloggers and magazines (see this one on Wired) have been positive. However I still have not managed to see one in action as it has been impossible to buy one online (perennially out of stock). If I can get hold of one, I promise I will write about it.

This seems to be potentially a great product for wellness and elite sport which can allow us to understand more about activity patterns, sleep and eating patterns of our athletes/clients. If it is precise and reliable.

Technorati Tags: Sports Science,technology

High intensity interval training in health and disease

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:30:00 +0000

I have been reading in the last two days the very recent review from Martin Gibala on high intensity interval training (HIIT) and its effectiveness on health and disease. This is an excellent review paper which shows how effective this training modality is as well as how efficient it is, considering that gains can be obtained with a lot less time than conventional aerobic exercise modalities.

Considering the body of knowledge so far accumulated on the beneficial effects of high intensity exercise, sometimes I wonder why I still see team sports players spending precious training time on an athletics track running 1000 meters and above.

Evidence suggests that when compared on a matched-work basis or when estimated energy expenditure is equivalent, HIT can serve as an effective alternate to traditional endurance training, inducing similar or even superior changes in a range of physiological, performance and health-related markers in both healthy individuals and diseased populations (Hwang et al 2011; Wisloff et al 2007).

Growing evidence suggests also that low volume HIT stimulates physiological remodelling comparable to moderate-intensity continuous training despite a substantially lower time commitment and reduced total exercise volume (Gibala & McGee 2008).

In fact, many authors found similar training-induced improvements than conventional endurance exercise in various markers of skeletal muscle and cardiovascular adaptation despite large differences in weekly training volume (~90% lower in the HIT group) and time commitment (~67% lower in the HIT group). In addition to an increased skeletal muscle oxidative capacity, other endurance-like adaptations have been documented after several weeks of low-volume HIT include an increased resting glycogen content, a reduced rate of glycogen utilization and lactate production during matched-work exercise, an increased capacity for whole-body and skeletal muscle lipid oxidation, enhanced peripheral vascular structure and function, improved exercise performance as measured by time-to-exhaustion tests or time trials and increased maximal oxygen uptake (Burgomaster et al., 2005; Burgomaster et al. 2008; Gibala et al. 2006; Rakobowchuk et al. 2008).

The protocols used are pretty similar. Here is a summary table.

Protocol	Reference
30 s “all out” × 4–6 repeats, 4.5 min rest. 3 sessions per week	Burgomaster et al., 2005; Burgomaster et al. 2008
30 s “all out” × 4–6 repeats, 4 min recovery. 3 sessions per weel	Gibala et al. 2006
30 s “all out” × 4–6 repeats, 4 min recovery. 3 sessions per week	Rakobowchuk et al. 2008

The results are of course pretty impressive and compare well with conventional endurance exercise.

In Burgomaster’s et al. study (2008), VO₂peak increased after training, with no difference between groups (HIT vs. conventional aerobic (ET)). Peak power output elicited during the Wingate Test increased by 17% and 7% in the HIT and ET groups, respectively, with no difference between groups, whereas, mean power output was increased by 7% only in the HIT group. ET consisted of continuous cycling on an ergometer, 5 days per week (Monday–Friday) for 6 weeks, at a power output corresponding to ∼65% VO₂peak. Subjects performed 40 min of exercise per training session for the ﬁrst 2 weeks. Exercise time was increased to 50 min per session during weeks 3 and 4, and subjects performed 60 min of exercise per session during the ﬁnal 2 weeks.

Time trial improved more in the HIT group (SIT in the figure below) when compared to the ET group (6 sessions of sprint interval training (SIT) or endurance training (ET) over 2 weeks). The ET group performed training consisted of 90–120 min of continuous cycling at an intensity corresponding to 65% of VO₂peak. Training progression in the ET group was implemented by increasing the duration of exercise from 90 min during sessions 1 and 2, to 105 min during sessions 3 and 4, and finally to 120 min during sessions 5 and 6.

Considerable evidence currently exists to support a role for low-volume HIT as a potent and time-efficient training method for inducing both central (cardiovascular) and peripheral (skeletal muscle) adaptations that are linked to improved performance and health outcomes. However few things should be considered when prescribing training programmes involving high-intensity training.

1) HIT requires “all out” supramaximal efforts followed by low intensity efforts. If you prescribe a programme asking your athletes to sprint at “60% of their max” or anything like that, they are not performing high intensity interval work.

2) Maximal means “all out”, I see too many “interval sessions” with intensities below 100% of an athlete’s max.

3) Adequate recovery is needed and workloads planned should take into account the ability of the individual involved.

4) Heart rate and blood lactate monitoring will provide you with the necessary information to be able to manipulate sets vs reps as well as recovery protocols, as well as giving you feedback on how your athlete/client is progressing.

Technorati Tags: Intermittent Exercise,sports science

In the Zone launched

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:53:00 +0000

Endorsed by Sir Steve Redgrave, In the Zone aims to engage young people and the general public with the science of how their body works during sport, exercise and movement. I was involved as a member of the advisory group to define the experiments and kit and provide ideas and advice on the interactive touring exhibition. It was a true multidisciplinary effort with experts from a variety of fields from education to textile technology to art. I think the result is amazing and I hope many schools will contact the Wellcome trust to receive the FREE educational kits (you can see them below).

Make sure you visit the website http://www.getinthezone.org.uk/ with all the information about this project as well as details on how to obtain the free kits for your school and the dates of the touring exhibition.

(Primary School kit – credits The Wellcome Trust)

The initiative will send free science investigation kits for every primary school, secondary school and further education college in the UK.

(Secondary School kit – credits The Wellcome Trust)

For primary schools

Download the Curriculum Planning Guide - ages 4-11.

Brilliant Bodies (ages 4-5)
Investigate balance and find out about different parts of the body.

Stupendous Steppers (ages 5-7)
Explore how quick off the mark you are and how many steps you take to do different activities.

Super Athletes (ages 7-9)
Discover whether having longer legs helps you to jump further.

Heart Beaters (ages 9-11)
Find out the effect exercise has on your body and what affects recovery.

For secondary schools and colleges

Download the Curriculum Planning Guide - ages 11-19.

On Your Marks…Get Set…Breathe! (ages 11-14)
Discover how exercise affects your breath and your breathing rate.

From Strength to Strength (ages 14-16)
Explore the strength of your muscles and discover how they are used during movement.

I've Got the Power (ages 16-19)
Investigate how the cardiovascular system adapts during different exercise or sports.

Here is a short movie about the project.

New interesting article on massage

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:46:00 +0000

I am currently editing a publication on recovery modalities and have been reading a lot about various recovery methods. Massage is and intervention that fascinates me, mostly because it has been used for centuries to treat athletes (if you want to read more, go here).

Massage consists of physical manipulation of muscle and connective tissue at a site of injury, inflexibility or soreness mainly to promote recovery and/or reduction of pain. It is very popular not only in sport. In fact, apparently 18 million individuals undergo massage therapy annually in the USA. The effectiveness of massage is contentious if you read recent reviews (or here). However despite the lack of clear information about the physiological effects of massage, it is used intensively in the sporting community due to the reported beneficial effects on perception of pain and general wellbeing. In some preliminary studies I have been involved as well as empirical observations with the athletes and teams I worked with clearly suggest that the “perceived” effectiveness of massage depends a lot on who is administering this form of manual therapy and in my experiences the relationship between the perception of beneficial effect and the quality of the practitioner did not support a strong link with the masseur’s ability but rather supported the link with personality traits/gender and other placebo related aspects.

A very interesting recent paper published by Prof. Tarnopolsy’s lab seems to show some promising effects of massage on inflammatory signaling after exercise-induced muscle damage. This is the first study to my knowledge where muscle biopsies were obtained and whole-genome microarrays were used to screen for expressed genes induced by massage. Biopsies were obtained in 11 young male subjects at rest, immediately after administration of massage to a randomised single leg and after 2.5 hours period of recovery. The subjects acted as their own control as one leg recived massage and the other leg no massage following cycling to exhaustion on a cycle ergometer starting at an intensity of 60% of their predetermined VO2 peak.

Here are the details of the experiment as presented in the methods section.

“The exercise bout consisted of upright cycling exercise on an electrically braked cycle ergometer (Lode Excalibur, Lode) pedalling at a workload calculated to elicit 60% of their predetermined VO2peak for 30 min at a cycling cadence between 70 and 90 rpm. After 30 min, the intensity was in- creased to a workload equivalent to 65%VO2peak for 5min, then dropped back to 60% for 5 min, increased to 70% VO2peak for 5 min, dropped to 60% for 5 min, etc., to a maximum of 85% VO2peak. If 85% VO2peak was attained, then subjects continued with intervals of 85% VO2peak for 2 min followed by 60% VO2peak for 2 min, etc., until subject exhaustion. Test completion was ascertained when subjects were unable to maintain a cycling cadence above 70 rpm.

Immediately after exercise, subjects were allowed to recover for 10 min while massage oil was lightly applied to both quadriceps. Thereafter, a single leg was randomized to receive massage treatment for 10 min from a registered massage therapist. The massage treatment was composed of three types of soft tissue manipulations while the subject remained in the supine position. Treatment was focused on the knee extensors muscles, encompassing a range of pressures and movement patterns typically provided during a therapy session. The treatment consisted of (i) 2 min of effleurage, a light stroking technique delivered with a moderate pressure; (ii) 3 min of petrissage, a firm motion involving compression and subsequent pres- sure release from the muscle; (iii) 3min of slow muscle stripping, con- sisting of repeated longitudinal strokes of ~40 s; and (iv) an additional 2min of effleurage. All members of the study team were blinded as to which leg was massaged, with the exception of the massage therapist. After massage, the subjects rested for 10min and a muscle biopsy was obtained from the vastus lateralis of each leg (0 hours). Two and a half hours later (3 hours after the cessation of the exercise bout), a biopsy was again obtained from each leg (2.5 hours).”

The results were quite interesting. First, despite the fact that the model used should not produce large muscle damage, it was enough to disrupt a large number of muscle fibers. Muscle metabolites were shown not to be affected by massage. Massage had no effect on muscle lactate levels and glycogen levels measured immediately after massage or 2.5h later. Furthermore, no significant effects were seen in anabolic signaling (phopshorylation of Akt, mTOR, GSK-3a and GSK-3b was not changed by massage).

Muscle from the massaged leg had larger FAK and ERK1/2 phopshorylation immediately after massage, showing the impact of the mechanical stimulation produced by massage.

The most interesting findings related to the increase in the in MAPK-related signaling proteins 2.5 hours after massage, suggesting an augmentation of mitochondrial biogenesis signaling with massage therapy.

Genome profiling results showed a reduction in the nuclear abundance of NFkB 2.5 hours after massage, in parallel with reduced phopshorylation of HSP27 and IL-6 protein content.

In summary, these findings suggest that massage could contribute to an attenuated production of inflammatory cytokines which may reduce pain by similar mechanisms observed by conventional anti-inflammatory drugs. With this in mind, for sure there is a need of more studies using such techniques to understand more about the most effective massage protocols. Moreover, more is needed to understand when not to use massage. In fact, considering the possibility of such intervention of reducing the inflammatory response, one wonders the potential of such intervention to impair the adaptive responses to resistance exercise. Needless to say that more studies are needed using resistance exercise models and well trained individuals to ascertain the potential and the limitations as well as the contra-indications of massage therapy.

Technorati Tags: massage,muscle,inflammation,sports science

Interesting free apps

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:49:00 +0000

Here is a quick article to share with you some recent apps I have been using/trying. The first one is an app developed by Philips called Vital signs which works on an Ipad 2.

The Vital Signs App by Philips, allows for heart rate and breathing rate analysis. Simply place an iPad 2 on a table in a well lit room , place your face inside the box on screen and the app will determine your heart rate and breathing rate.

Heart rate is actually calculated by comparing the tiny changes in colour of your face which occurs as a result of changes in blood flow. The measurement of breathing rates occur via simply detecting and counting the rise and fall of the users’ chest.

The accuracy seems to be pretty good in well lit areas and in normal breathing conditions. I will do more testing in the next few weeks and present some results here.

The other very interesting app is again free and has been developed by Dr. Grant Abt called Training load. Training load allows anyone to record and track the 'dose' of exercise for a single person with two common methods used by sport and exercise scientists - Session-RPE and the Training Impulse (TRIMP). Both methods integrate training intensity and training duration into a single number (arbitrary unit) representing the overall dose of training. The app allows the storage and sharing of the training data and it is completely free. Training load is available on the apple store and works on iphone and ipod touch.

Tapping on 'View Graph' will display the data as both individual sessions (labelled DAILY) and as weekly totals (labelled WEEKLY). The weekly graph for TRIMP also displays the percentage change from the previous week. The weekly graph for Session-RPE also displays the monotony, percentage change from the previous week, and strain. Monotony is a value that describes the variation in the training load, with higher values representing less variation.

Strain is calculated as load x monotony and displayed on the weekly graph as a black circle connected with lines. Strain represents the combined value of load and monotony, so if the load is high and there is little variation in that load then the strain will be high.

The monotony values are colour-coded green (good), orange (caution), or red (danger). As for monotony, the percentage change in weekly loads are colour-coded to show the magnitude of change - green (optimal), orange (high), and red (too high).

It works really well and it is a simple free tool to track the training dose and the perception of loading of your athletes wherever they are.

End of the year reflections and thank you!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:55:00 +0000

We are fast approaching the end of 2011 and another year of blogging is also gone by.

This blog started for fun, mainly to provide freely accessible information for coaches and sports scientists around the World in a simple format and possibly using multimedia. I try to keep it going also because I realised it is a good way to reach students and young practitioners as well as being a good platform for debate on many topics. This year I also joined Twitter and started to link social media with the blog in order to offer more and also be able to debate topical issues in sports and exercise sciences.

This year I also used the blog to write a letter in response to an ill-informed newspaper article and received some amazing feedback. Thank you not only for reading the letter but also for supporting my view that that piece of work was really a lot of non-sense.

The blog has grown an incredible following very fast since starting it in 2009. This means that whatever I write is of interest and hopefully stimulates more ideas in other parts of the World. This is exactly what I wanted from the blog. Develop a platform rather than a forum for discussions. The Internet is full of places to discuss and debate, I prefer this place to be somewhere to read something interesting and use it as a starting point, a stimulus to read further and find out more.

This year the blog received 27,668 visits from 145 countries. A lot more visits and countries than last year. I can only say thank you to you all. I am humbled by such interest in what I have to say.

I hope to have the time to keep writing something useful and interesting in 2012. I have few ideas and hope time will be on my side. Next year will be an interesting one professionally, with the Olympic Games in London. I have learnt so much in the last few years having to work towards a “home” Olympic game and will share some ideas and concepts on these pages when possible.

I wish you all a productive and exciting 2012 and thank you again for coming back to visit this blog so often.

Will it make the boat go faster?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Marco Cardinale) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:06:00 +0000

This is not only a great question, it is also the title of a brilliant book from Ben Hunt-Davis and Harriet Beveridge.

Ben is a good friend and colleague at the British Olympic Association. We work in the same department with different roles but with the same aim: helping our athletes and coaches in their quest for Olympic success. Ben is an Olympic Gold Medallist from Sydney Olympics. In this book he writes about his story and how his team was able to win Gold. Most of all, describes the techniques used by him and his crew in preparation for the Olympics. It is a true description of the difficulties of working as a team to reach a goal and accomplish something great.

Ben’s story is brilliant because it shows how a pretty normal guy willing to put a lot of hard work into something can accomplish amazing things in pretty much everything. The Book is divided in 12 chapters. In each chapter there is the story and then a summary with some practical applications of the techniques discussed in the real life example of the winning men’s eight rowing team.

It is easy to read and easy to follow as well as packed with some useful and easy concepts to be applied in every activity. The main motto is the one making the title of this book. In fact, in Ben’s terms everything we do should always be questioned to make sure it impacts on the most important outcomes. In his example, everything was about making the boat go faster. Every activity was questioned and only the ones able to help making the boat go faster was implemented.

Working in high performance sport I can say that we are swamped with possibilities and solutions for our athletes. However we should always look at the impact of every activity (training method, technology, nutritional intervention, logistics etc.) on the end result. Most of all at the likelihood of a positive impact versus the effort needed to implement it. So, since working with Ben, I have adopted and use a lot his usual question in everything I do: “will it make the boat go faster?”.

So if you want to know more, get a copy of this book, I am sure there will be some useful lessons to be learnt and a great story to read.