2026 October - 53 articles
Long-term, single-club datasets linking fitness and match performance are rare in women’s handball. This retrospective study profiled fitness and game-quality indicators across 14 seasons (2010–2022, 2026; N = 45; 8–17 players/seaso...
Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is a prevalent musculoskeletal condition that impairs physical performance and increases reinjury risk; yet, training programs emphasizing fascia-targeted techniques remain an understudied rehabilitation strategy. The...
The countermovement jump (CMJ) is a widely used assessment of lower-limb power and neuromuscular function. The physical demands of padel, including repeated accelerations, decelerations, changes of direction, jumping, and landing, may contribute to i...
Background/Objectives: Dietary nitrate supplementation improves exercise performance in recreationally active individuals, but efficacy in athletes remains debated. This meta-analysis evaluated the effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on six ex...
Background: This study presents an exploratory comparison of data from three previously collected clinical cohorts. The first aim was to compare functional strength performance among a cohort of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)...
Muscular power is a critical determinant of athletic performance. Despite the wide range of resistance training methods proposed to enhance power, uncertainty remains regarding their physiological rationale, practical applications, and optimal integr...
Three-team rotation small-sided games (SSG) combine possession-based training with an embedded passive-recovery role, yet how the rule that governs attacking transitions interacts with pitch size in this format is unclear. This study used a repeated-...
Childhood represents a critical developmental period for establishing behaviors that shape health trajectories across the lifespan [...]
Genetic factors contribute to variability in athletic performance among individuals, although their overall impact and practical relevance remain unclear. This systematic review aimed to provide an updated synthesis of genetic variation associated wi...
Background and Purpose: Indoor cycling systems can combine real-world riding footage with resistance commands derived from terrain data. This study characterized cardiovascular, heart rate variability, and metabolic responses to three commanded terra...
Background: It remains unclear whether physiological load affects fencing accuracy to the same extent as movement speed and whether a shortened protocol can reproduce the outcomes of a full repeated-sprint protocol. Methods: Ten fencers (foil/é...
Physical inactivity contributes substantially to morbidity, disability, functional decline, and premature mortality in older adults. General physical activity counselling in primary care does not necessarily translate into structured, individualized...
Background: Sport participation can benefit people with physical disabilities, but whether they start, continue, or withdraw depends on motivational and contextual conditions. This systematic review aimed to synthesize evidence on sport entry, curren...
Background and objectives: This randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an 8-week combined lumbar motor control and hip muscle strengthening program in individuals with chronic non-specific low back pain (NSLBP). Methods: F...
This review evaluated the effects of intrinsic foot muscle (IFM)-targeted exercise programs on predefined ankle- and knee-related clinical endpoints and on functional, neuromuscular, and biomechanical surrogate outcomes potentially relevant to lower-...
The aim was to assess the usefulness of concurrent augmented tactile feedback delivered to the forearms for improving arm action during blocking. Twenty-three U-16 volleyball players (10 from a female team and 13 from a male team) completed a six-wee...
Foot strike pattern is typically classified from a single observation, which may not capture how it changes during a continuous run. This study examined how the proportion of heel strikes changed across a continuous 1600 m outdoor track run, complete...
Background: Regular physical activity is generally associated with better health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and lower psychological distress, yet regular exercisers may differ in how coping strategies, psychological inflexibility, and cognitive...
Athlete monitoring commonly includes subjective questionnaires such as the Profile of Mood States, which may be influenced by individual perceptions and situational factors. This one-week exploratory field study examined associations between Persist,...
Background: Elastic barbells generate continuous, unpredictable perturbations through elastic deformation of the bar, delivering a top-down instability stimulus that transfers from the upper to the lower limbs. Whether repeated exposure produces trai...
Altitude training is widely used in elite swimming, although its effects on sleep and acclimatisation remain insufficiently understood. The aim of this study was to describe changes in sleep difficulty, physiological acclimatisation, athlete-reported...
Sports is an important area of modern social life [...]
Background: Five-a-side soccer for the blind (F5) is a Paralympic sport in which there are various performance variables, including anthropometric factors and physical fitness. However, despite this recognition, there is little scientific literature...
Low energy availability (LEA) is commonly studied under tightly controlled laboratory conditions. However, its induction and monitoring in free-living athletes remain poorly understood, partly due to challenges in measuring energy intake (EI), exerci...
Background: Men display higher absolute fat oxidation rates during exercise than women, but whether fat-free mass (FFM) moderates the substrate–intensity relationship in a sex-specific manner remains untested. Methods: In this cross-sectional l...
Objective: To examine the association between first scoring-event acquisition and subsequent victory in female Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), accounting for paired opponents and repeated tournament appearances. Methods: This secondary analysis included 2...
The men’s mile world record stood for 27 years before Josh Kerr recorded a provisional world-record time of 3:42.66 in London in 2026, improving Hicham El Guerrouj’s 3:43.13 by only 0.47 s (0.21%). This Perspective examines what changed s...
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) has gained interest as an anti-stress agent due to its withanolide content. Ashwagandha’s adaptogenic nature, through regulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, makes it a promising...
This pilot randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of a 12-week Zumba training program on estimated aerobic capacity in overweight/obese postmenopausal women, while hematological and inflammatory outcomes were explored. Thirty overweight...
Strength training research has expanded considerably, yet the evidence base remains heavily skewed toward individuals with limited training experience. Recent evidence indicates that only 2.3% of participants included in a sample of 26 highly cited s...
Background: Countermovement jump (CMJ) force–time variables are commonly used to monitor physical qualities linked to golf driving performance, but most evidence derives from single time-point, mean-based correlations. This study examined repea...
Background: Post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) acutely enhances explosive performance, but whether repeated exposure yields sustained jump improvements is unclear. Distinguishing a transient PAPE response from the longer-term adaptation p...
Post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) strategies are used to improve power-dependent performance, but their impact on endurance exercise and skeletal muscle oxygenation is less clear. We tested the hypothesis that acute hex-bar deadlift (HBD...
Evidence linking physical activity (PA) to the gut microbiota in Korean populations remains limited. We examined associations of self-reported PA with gut microbial diversity and community structure in 49 young, apparently healthy Korean men. Partici...
Sodium ingestion may support fluid balance and endurance performance in the heat, but most previous studies have used sodium-loading, hyperhydration, or carbohydrate–electrolyte protocols. This study examined the effects of a high-sodium, carbo...
Competitive weightlifting requires athletes to perform complex technical movements under high physical and psychological demands. This study aimed to characterize pre-competition verbal cue use among competitive weightlifters, examine the structure o...
This study evaluated shoulder rotator muscle strength, conventional and functional external/internal rotation (ER/IR) strength ratios, and fatigue responses in competitive male artistic gymnasts, compared to a control group consisting of physical edu...
Background: Quadriceps strength deficit remains one of the most persistent impairments following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) and is linked to delayed return to sport and increased reinjury risk. While females sustain ACL injuries...
Achievements and endurance represent distinct aspects of sports performance, influenced by different underlying factors. However, these determinants are not well characterized. To address this gap between achievements and endurance, we evaluated mach...
Age-related declines in sport participation and performance are commonly attributed to physiological constraints. This retrospective observational study compared the age patterns of participation and performance in masters swimming using 26,789 indiv...
Psychological preparation is increasingly recognized as an important component of athletic performance; however, comparatively little is known about how professional tennis players experience psychological preparation throughout their careers. This q...
Objective: The objective was to compare acute cardiorespiratory, metabolic, perceptual, and internal training load (ITL) responses to four endurance exercise protocols in sedentary college students. Methods: Forty-five participants entered a crossove...
Pain during ultramarathon races is almost inevitable. Effective pain responses are associated with enhanced race performance. This scoping review synthesises the existing literature on physiological and behavioural pain responses during ultramarathon...
Sleep deprivation is one of the main risk factors for impaired performance in elite athletes, but the changes in sleep and autonomic regulation in response to competitions of varying levels within the same Olympic year remain unknown. In this prospec...
In taekwondo combat, agility is essential for rapid movement and maintaining match pace, as well as for executing unilateral technical actions swiftly in multidirectional planes. Furthermore, it is also required to dodge and block opponents’ re...
The objective of this study was to compare the spring-like properties of pelvis and trunk rotation during baseball pitching in high school pitchers with varying ball velocities. It was hypothesized that high-velocity pitchers would be more effective...
Practical readiness monitoring requires rapid, low-cost, and accessible measures. This exploratory repeated-measures study investigated whether the handgrip strength test (HGS) reflects short-term changes in fatigue and readiness in trained cyclists....
Achieving success at the highest level in swimming requires exceptional physical abilities and technical skills. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) poses an additional challenge to maintaining optimal glycemic control. Most information on the nutritional aspects...
This study examined the agreement between commonly used bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) prediction equations and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for tracking resistance training-induced changes in fat-free mass (FFM) in older women. One...
Background: Table tennis is a fast interceptive sport that requires continuous visual information processing and precise visuomotor control. Wearable eye tracking may provide objective information about ocular behaviour during sport-specific performa...
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