Muscle-recruitment patterns appear to differ between the 2 types of squat exercises when performed at the same relative intensity by female athletes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of chain- (CBP) and plate-loaded (PBP) bench press training on measures of strength, shoulder pain, and muscle soreness in Division II baseball players. Twenty-eight subjects with previous resistance training experience (4.8 +/- 2.7 years) completed the study while participating in off-season baseball practice. All subjects completed a one-repetition maximum pre- and posttest on the CBP and PBP and reported shoulder pain and muscle soreness on 15 occasions during training. Two treatment groups, CBP and PBP, trained 2 d.wk for 9 weeks during the off-season with a linear periodization strength training program. The CBP group used chains attached to the bar as the entire load, and the PBP group used only traditional plate-loaded resistance. The chains provided a variable resistance, with a reduction in load during the descent as the weight collected on the floor and with the load increasing during ascent as the weight was lifted from the floor. Statistically significant increases were found in strength scores after training for the CBP test (p < 0.001) and the PBP test (p < 0.001). Both groups were able to improve strength on the CBP and PBP, but no significant differences were found in strength gains between the groups on the CBP and PBP tests. Although levels of pain and soreness were not significantly different, a threefold difference was found for perceived levels of shoulder pain (mean totals of 2.15 vs. 6.14), whereas reported soreness was similar (9.38 vs. 10.57) for the CBP and PBP group, respectively. The data indicate that training with chain- and plate-loaded resistance produce similar short-term strength improvement on the chain- and plate-loaded bench press. Baseball players may benefit from CBP training with improved free-weight strength while minimizing shoulder stress.

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M ost approaches to determining effectiveness in early intervention emphasize data collection procedures that are objective, unbiased, and reliable. Subjective views held by individuals usually are considered unreliable, and less relevant to early intervention efficacy research. However, systematic investigations of how early intervention services are viewed subjectively by both recipients and providers can facilitate the interpretation of efficacy data gained when more traditional, objective methods are used. This article describes Q methodology, a technique that can be used to gain important insights on individuals' judgments, attitudes, and points of view on topics or situations that involve early intervention effectiveness issues. Examples of Q application drawn from the extant literature of several disciplines are used to indicate how the technique might be used to address important questions of early intervention effectiveness. Specific steps involved in Q methodology are illustrated in a description of an early intervention efficacy study designed to explore views of family-centered practices held by family members of children enrolled in early intervention programs.The director of an early intervention program would like to know what importance families involved in her program place on familycentered practices that have been identified as program quality indicators. Based on her 10 years of experience, she believes families may differ in their viewpoints about the importance of various practices. Further, she wonders if groups of families that value certain practices share common attributes. Do those families who have been involved in intervention for longer periods of time, for example, have viewpoints that differ from families who recently have entered the program? Finally, she wonders about the stability of families' viewpoints about family-centered services. Do viewpoints change over time?A community inclusion specialist is interested in studying the attitudes of childcare teachers about inclusion. He realizes that providing early intervention services for young children with disabilities and their families in settings that contain typically developing children is an important program quality indicator. As a result of experience, he is convinced that the attitudes held by day-care teachers about inclusion influence their instructional practices and classroom behaviors. He speculates that attitudes about inclusion vary as a result of the amounts of experience teachers have with children who have disabilities.These scenarios pose questions that deal with human subjectivity, an individual's point of view, and some aspect of early intervention effectiveness. How to address questions involving human subjectivity scientifically continues to present major challenges for those involved with the design, delivery, and evaluation of early intervention services. For example, decision makers increasingly demand phenomenological descriptions of how services were viewed by both recipients and providers. Such qualita...