The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of mental fatigue on passing decision-making in professional soccer athletes. A controlled and counterbalanced cross-over design was adopted consisting of three visits with a 1-week interval between sessions. Twenty professional soccer male athletes participated in three randomized conditions divided into three visits: control, 15-min Stroop task, and 30-min Stroop task. Inhibitory control was accessed by the Stroop task (accuracy and response time) before and after induced mental fatigue protocol. The athletes played a training match (90-min) following the experimental conditions. The Game Performance Assessment Instrument (GPAI) was used for the passing decisionmaking analysis. The GPAI analysis showed impaired passing decision-making performance following the 30-min Stroop task compared with the 15-min and control condition (F (2,17) = 6.99, p = .01). Moreover, an increase in response time during the Stroop task was found following 30-min Stroop task condition (F (2,17) = 6.57, p = .03) compared to 15-min of Stroop task and control conditions. Prolonged cognitive tasks may be considered a mediating factor in passing decisionmaking performance in male professional soccer athletes throughout a full-length training match. Thus, athletes should avoid highly demanding-cognitive tasks before a soccer match. Future studies are required to explore more ecological cognitive tasks to induce mental fatigue (i.e. smartphones and video-games) and their effects on other performance indicators (e.g. physical, technical, tactical) in a full-length training match setting.

This study aimed to verify the occurrence of the relative age effect (RAE) in male elite young handball athletes according to the playing position and its association with team performance in a World Championship. Data from 383 handball athletes from 24 countries who participated in the 7th World Men’s Championship in the under-19 category were analyzed. RAE was investigated from the birth trimester of the athletes, their playing position, and final ranking in the Championship. The results showed an overrepresentation of athletes born in the first two trimesters (Q1 and Q2) (χ2(3) = 32.97; p < 0.001, ω = 0.29). The analysis of the athlete’s position showed that most wings (χ2(3) = 18.37; p < 0.001, ω = 0.32) and backs (χ2(3) = 12.51; p = 0.006, ω = 0.34) were born in the first trimesters (Q1 and Q2). The ranking in the Championship presented no significant association with the date of the birth (p > 0.05). The results showed the existence of the RAE in youth handball elite athletes, especially for the back and wing positions. However, the strategy of selecting is questionable once the presence of RAE was not associated with competitive success.

No abstract

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to analyse the technologies and main training variables used in the literature to monitor flywheel training devices in real time. In addition, as the main research question, we investigated how eccentric overload can be effectively monitored in relation to the training variable, flywheel shaft type device and the moment of inertia selected. The initial search resulted in 11,621 articles that were filtered to twenty-eight and seventeen articles that met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review and meta-analysis, respectively. The main technologies used included force sensors and rotary/linear encoders, mainly to monitor peak or mean force, power or speed. An eccentric overload was not always achieved using flywheel devices. The eccentric overload measurement was related to the main outcome selected. While mean force (p = 0.011, ES = -0.84) and mean power (p < 0.001, ES = -0.30) favoured the concentric phase, peak power (p < 0.001, ES = 0.78) and peak speed (p < 0.001, ES = 0.37) favoured the eccentric phase. In addition, the lower moments of inertia (i.e., from 0.01 to 0.2 kg·m 2 ) and a cylindrical shaft type (i.e., vs conical pulley) showed higher possibilities to achieve eccentric overload. A wide variety of technologies can be used to monitor flywheel devices, but to achieve eccentric overload, a flywheel cylindrical shaft type with low moments of inertia is advised to be used.

This study aimed to analyze the acute effect of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) on the volume, perceived exertion, and neuromuscular performance measurements in trained and untrained adults. Twenty-four male adults (12 trained and 12 untrained) participated in this single-blind, randomized, and sham-controlled study. The participants performed three back squat repetitions using the 15RM load with maximal concentric velocity to assess neuromuscular performance before tDCS and 30-min after resistance exercise. Next, they were randomly assigned to a-tDCS over M1 or the sham condition. Participants performed ten sets of parallel back squat with 15RM load and repetitions sustained to momentary muscular failure. The total number of repetitions was higher (p<0.05) and perceived exertion was lower (p<0.05) after a-tDCS in both groups. Peak power, velocity, and force decreased in both groups after the RE session (p<0.05), but with a higher rate in untrained individuals (p<0.05). No significant effect was found for peak power, peak velocity, and peak force (p>0.05). This study suggests that using a-tDCS may improve the total volume of repetitions and perceived exertion in trained and untrained individuals.

No abstract

As corridas de rua são consideradas um fenômeno social devido a sua crescente expansão no Brasil e no mundo. No entanto, há uma carência de informações a respeito do perfil sociodemográfico dos praticantes de corridas de rua, assim como os seus motivos de adesão e características de treinamento. Essas informações são essenciais para a elaboração de estratégias de intervenção profissional voltadas para os praticantes de corrida de rua. O presente estudo teve como objetivo analisar o perfil sociodemográfico, os motivos de adesão e as características de treinamento de corredores de rua. Participaram da pesquisa 214 praticantes de corrida de rua, do gênero masculino e feminino, idade entre 18 e 58 anos (M = 36,4 ± 10,3), devidamente inscritos em provas que fazem parte do calendário oficial de corridas. Os praticantes responderam um questionário composto por 18 questões organizadas em 3 categorias: perfil sociodemográfico, motivos de adesão e características de treinamento. Os resultados evidenciaram que a maioria dos praticantes de corrida de rua são do gênero masculino (62,1%), com faixa etária predominante entre 20 e 40 anos, elevado nível de escolaridade e que buscam essa atividade especialmente por motivos de saúde (91,1%) e prazer (69,1%). Apesar de 43,9% dos praticantes não receberem acompanhamento profissional, 96,6% consideram importante ou muito importante a supervisão profissional durante a prática. Os achados indicam que, em geral, os adeptos da corrida de rua optam pela prática devido a busca pela melhora da qualidade de vida e a socialização, bem como a redução do estresse.

We studied the effects of repeated inducements of mental fatigue (MF) from using social media on smartphones immediately before training sessions by young male volleyball athletes, focusing specifically on their decision-making, endurance, and countermovement jump performance (CMJ). We pair-matched 24 participants according to their decision-making abilities and then, randomly assigned them to one of two 4-week block training groups: control (CON) and smartphone use (SMA). For a 30-minute period before each training session, the CON group watched TV and the SMA group used social media apps on smartphones. We found a significant group x time interaction effect for decision making (attack, p = 0.03; passing, p = 0.02) during training blocks. More specifically, only the CON group improved their decision making (attack, p = 0.03; passing, p = 0.02). Both groups significantly improved their CMJ performance ( p = .01), with no significant group x time interaction effect for CMJ ( p = 0.91). Neither group significantly improved their endurance ( p = 0.56). We concluded that 30-minutes of repetitive social media app use on a smartphone immediately before 4-weeks of volleyball training sessions negatively affected decision-making in young male volleyball athletes.