The aim of this study was to investigate whether climbing in children leads to the development of upper limb strength and endurance, and changes in body composition. Fifty young climbers aged 10-17 participated in an 8 week climbing program. Metres climbed were used as a factor to assess the effect of climbing. Two groups were ex post formed with a limit of 320 metres climbed. Boys and girls from the group that climbed more metres significantly increased their performance in bent-arm hang time (boys from 35.1 ± 3.9 s to 48.4 ± 4.4 s; girls from 18.9 ± 3.9 s to 24.4 ± 4.9 s) and grip strength related to body mass (boys from 0.65 ± 0.03 to 0.71 ± 0.03; girls from 0.52 ± 0.03 to 0.57 ± 0.03). Significant changes in the ECM/BCM ratio (extra cellular/body cellular mass) were found in the group that climbed more metres (boys from 0.88 ± 0.10 to 0.85 ± 0.09; girls from 1.00 ± 0.09 to 0.94 ± 0.09). There were no changes found in body fat in either group. The findings suggest that a climbing program with higher volume of metres climbed can influence grip strength, upper body muscular endurance and the amount of relative body cellular mass.

Aim. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between submaximal and maximal physiological responses to rock climbing for climbers of differing abilities. Methods. Twenty-six male climbers performed a submaximal climbing test on a known circuit at 90° (vertical) and 105° (15° overhanging) inclination and speed 25 movements·min−1. A maximal test was undertaken on a similar circuit at the same speed with inclination increasing by 10° for each successive 3 min stage. Results. Mean oxygen consumption and heart rate (HR) increased with wall inclination and climbers reached a mean (±SD) peak trueV˙Onormal2 of 40.3 ± 3.5 mL·kg−1 ·min−1 during the maximal test. Self-reported climbing ability was negatively correlated with trueV˙Onormal2 and HR during the submaximal test at 90° (trueV˙Onormal2, r = −0.82; HR, and r = −0.66) and at 105° (trueV˙Onormal2, r = −0.84; HR, and r = −0.78) suggesting an increased exercise economy for climbers with a higher ability level. Conclusion. Findings from this study indicate that there is a relationship between wall inclination and the physiological demand of a climb. However, the increased technical ability and fitness of higher level climbers appears to an extent to offset the increased demand through improved exercise economy which in turn leads to an increased time to exhaustion and an improvement in performance.

The aim of the study was to assess the effects of climbing ability and slope inclination on vertical loading both in terms the forces involved and physiological responses. Five novice and six intermediate female climbers completed a climbing route at three slope inclinations (85°, 90°, and 98°). The vertical loading during the climb was assessed by force-time integral using a Novel Pedar-X insole and physiological responses via oxygen uptake and heart rate. The novice climbers had a significantly lower (p < 0.05) vertical loading on foot holds and higher oxygen uptake and heart rate compared to intermediate climbers. A significant negative correlation was identified between the force-time integral and oxygen uptake (R = −0.72), and with heart rate (R = −0.64), respectively. The time-force integral decreased across the ascents with increasing slope inclination (p < 0.001). The results indicate that more advanced ability climbers make greater use of foot holds, with associated lowering in physiological response (oxygen uptake and heart rate) across all slope inclinations.

BACKGROUND:Recovery is an important aspect of every physical activity. Many athletes train hard without giving their body time to recover which can lead to overreaching, burnout or poor performance. Currently cold-water immersion recovery and active recovery have emerged as some of the most popular interventions enabling faster recovery.OBJECTIVE: To assess the eff ect of three kinds of recovery (active recovery, cold water immersion, passive recovery) on medium-term knee strength in the extension and fl exion.METHODS: Fourteen athletes at the age of 26.6 ± 4.4 years performed, in a random cross-over design, 3 sessions with 3 repeated medium-term isokinetic tests. The eff ect of active recovery, passive rest and cold water immersion were assessed by 3 × 3 (time × recovery) repeated-measure ANOVA, respectively. The dependent variables were -peak torque, total work and average power.RESULTS: We found signifi cantly lower absolute diff erences between the fi rst and third trial in knee extension for peak torque after the active recovery (↑ 0.9 N × m) than after the cold water immersion (↓ 14.6 N × m) or the passive recovery (↓ 13.9 N × m). The decrease of the average power was signifi cantly lower diff erences after the active recovery (↓ 5 W) than after the cold water immersion (↓ 23.7 W) or passive recovery (↓ 25.9 W). The changes in total work were not signifi cant. We did not found any changes in the isokinetic strength for the knee fl exors after diff erent kinds of recovery. Maximal heart rate (HR max ) was signifi cantly higher during the active recovery than during the cold water immersion and the passive recovery (173 ± 14, 166 ± 14 and 167 ± 14 rpm). We have found signifi cant diff erences in the average heart rates (HR avg ) during active recovery, cold water immersion and passive recovery (124 ± 8, 97 ± 9 and 107 ± 12 rpm).CONCLUSION: We found the positive eff ect of the active recovery on the subsequent medium-term performance for knee extension. That was the only method which showed lower decrease of knee strength in extension in comparison with passive recovery and cold water immersion. We have found the signifi cant diff erences of heart rate which was recovery dependent.

a b s t r a c t The aim of the study was to define the positive effect of physical activity and nutrition on the health related quality of life in renal transplant patients in the first year following the surgery. Interestingly, the results showed that the quality of life evaluated by SF-36 of physically active renal transplant patients reached or even overreached the values of healthy individuals. We assessed the influence of intervention (physical activity, nutrition or both) on the health related quality of life. The health related quality of life was evaluated using standardized questionnaire KDQOL-SF TM (part of the generic questionnaire SF-36), and in the period one month before transplantation (patients filled the questionnaire retrospectively during their hospitalization in the first 14 days after the surgery) and approximately 10 months after the transplantation. There were 103 patients in this study (45 females, 58 males) of the age in the range 23-75 years with the average 54.7 years (AE12 years). In the period when the patient was physically active or had special nutritive therapy (9.5 months after the renal transplantation) the quality of life evaluated using SF-36 (n = 94) statistically significantly improved in all domains except for physical activity (Wilcoxon test, p < 0.05) that was lower than the values of healthy individuals in the Czech Republic. The results did not show any statistically significant difference among the items of the life quality and type of intervention done (ANOVA, p < 0.05). Also the testing of the differences among particular types of intervention with regard to the evaluation of the quality of life did not show any statistically significant changes.There is a positive impact of physical activity on the quality of life of the renal transplant patients. It seems to be the most effective tool improving the quality of life, when physical activity is combined with nutrition therapy.

Fakulta tělesné výchovy a sportu Karlovy univerzity, Praha AbstraktCílem této studie bylo určení reliability měření maximální volní kontrakce na izometrickém dynamometru Vishay Tedea-Huntleigh Model 1042 ve vybraných kloubech horních a dolních končetin při fl exi a extenzi. Měření bylo prováděno ve dvou dnech s 48h odpočinkem na skupině 20 studentů (6 žen, 25,0 ± 2,3 let; 14 mužů, 24,4 ± 2,7 let 0,92-0,96 (r =0,62-0,93), pro fl exi a extenzi v kolenním kloubu (KK) dosahoval ICC 0,95 (r = 0,92) (6 females, 25 ± 2,3 years; 14 males, 24,4 ± 2,7 years). We used the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) model (3,k) and Pearson´s r to assess the reliability. ICC of elbow f lexion and extension was 0,92-0,96 (r =0,62-0,93), knee f lexion and extension 0,91-0,95 (r = 0,87-0,92), trunk abduction and f lexion were 0,85 and 0,75. Abstract The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of isometric strength measurement in f lexion and extension in the chosen joints of upper and lower body extremities using the dynamometer Vishay Tedea-Huntleigh Model 1042. The measurements were undertaken in two days with the rest period of forty-eight hours between sessions. Twenty sport students took part in the study Klíčová slova: Maximální izometrická síla, reliabilita, vnitrotřídní korelační koefi cient. Key words:Maximal isometric strength, reliability, intraclass correlation coeffi cient. Studie byla podpořena výzkumným záměrem MSM 0021620864 a specifi ckým výzkumem SVV-2010-261602.Úvod K měření maximální izometrické volní kontrakce používáme izometrické dynamometry jako prostře-dek ke zjištění aktuálního stavu svalové síly (měření projevu maximálního svalového výkonu, průměr-né práce). Izometrická síla se vyznačuje maximální kontrakcí svalu působící proti pevnému odporu, kde je upevněn tenzometrický snímač.V současné době se objevuje stále více studií zabývajících se reliabilitou měření izometrické a izokinetické síly (Phillips et al., 2000;Strejcová et al., 2010). Reliabilita je jednou ze základních vlastností testovacích procedur. Na základě defi nice reliability podle Blahuše (1996) můžeme test považovat za reliabilní, pokud rozptyl jeho chyb je malý. Používání koefi cientů reliability měření izometrické síly je rozporuplné a není zcela jasné.Nejčastěji se setkáváme s koefi cientem vnitrotřídní korelace (intraclass correlation coeffi cient, ICC) nebo Pearsonovým korelačním koefi cientem r, který se někdy označuje jako interclass coeffi cient of correlation (Th omas a Nelson, 1996). Tyto dva koefi cienty se od sebe liší podle typu testovacích procedur, počtu testujících a testovaných. Pearsonův koefi cient r lze použít pouze na dvě měření, není citlivý na změny průměrů mezi pokusy a zároveň není citlivý na homogenitu skupiny (Baumgartner, 2000; Th omas a Nelson, 1996).