No abstract

Recently the use of small-sided games (mainly 5 vs. 5) proved to be a valid training method to improve aerobic fitness in soccer. Thus, it could be hypothesized that professional futsal (soccer 5-a-side indoor version) players may possess a well-developed aerobic fitness as a consequence of training and game participation. The aim of this study was to examine maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), ventilatory threshold (VT), and running economy (RE, VO2 at 8 kmxh) of futsal players of different competitive levels to determine whether aerobic fitness is a discriminative variable for futsal success. Subjects were 24 male futsal players from a professional top-ranked second division team (PT, n = 11) and a semi-professional top-ranked third division team (ST, n = 13). Aerobic fitness was assessed with a running protocol performed on a motor-driven treadmill. Professional team and ST players' VO2max were 62.9 +/- 5.3 and 55.2 +/- 5.7 mLxkgxmin, respectively (p < 0.05). RE was 34.1 +/- 2.7 and 32.4 +/- 2.7 mLxkgxmin for PT and ST, respectively (p >0.05). PT and ST attained VT at 70.5 +/- 2.7 and 71.3 +/- 5.2% of VO2max, respectively (p > 0.05). Results showed that VO2max may be considered a competitive-level dependent physical variable in futsal. VO2max values of or above 60 mLxkgxmin are advisable to play futsal at the professional level.

Acute performance of jump squat and ballistic bench press lead to a significant increase of IOP, and 5 min of rest are enough to recover baseline IOP values. There is a strong linear association between the increase in load and the IOP rise for both exercises, and bench press execution produces a significantly higher IOP increase when compared with the jump squat for the same relative loads.

These data indicate that IOP increases as a consequence of performing strength exercises, being the increment accentuated with the increase of the load and in the bench press compared to the jump squat exercise. Of special importance would be that the IOP responses were significantly reduced in high-fit individuals. These findings should be addressed in glaucoma patients.

A single set of resistance training leading to muscular failure causes an instantaneous and progressive IOP rise in healthy young individuals. These IOP rises depend on exercise type (squat > military press = biceps curl > calf raise), but not on participant´s sex. OPP diminished as a consequence of performing resistance training exercise, being statistically significant for the squat and military press exercises. Future studies should include glaucoma patients aiming to corroborate the generalizability of our findings.

No abstract

Earlier studies have raised questions about the usefulness of variable and random practice in learning motor tasks so this study was designed to investigate the effects of contextual interference in young children, and specifically to evaluate the effectiveness of variable or random practice structure in 6-yr.-old boys and girls. Participants on a variable practice schedule showed better performances than those on a blocked schedule. The differences between the two groups were significant in the acquisition, retention, and transfer phases. These results support the hypothesis that contextual interference enhances skill learning. Because the study involved groups of young children in the setting of their normally scheduled physical education class, the practical applications of the results are evident.

The Betic Cordillera (Southern Spain) acquired its present configuration during the Neogene. The formation, evolution and total or partial destruction of Neogene sedimentary basins were highly controlled by the geodynamic situations and the positions of the basins in the Betic Cordillera. It is impossible to reconstruct the geometry of basins formed during the Early and Middle Miocene, concurrently with the westward drift of the Internal Zones, because in many cases only small outcrops remain. The basins formed on the mobile substratum (the Internal Zones) are characterized by a sedimentary infill made up of synorogenic deposits, which were intensely deformed towards the end of the Middle Miocene, and which were heavily eroded before the beginning of the Late Miocene. In the External Zones, deposition mainly took place in the North Betic Strait, an area across which there was wide communication between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, which received huge olistostromic masses in its more mobile sector (the foredeep basin), and which evolved differently in its eastern and western sectors. The palaeogeography of the Cordillera changed radically at the beginning of the Late Miocene, when the westward drift of the Internal Zones ceased. During this time the North Betic Strait disappeared and, in what had been its northwestern half approximately, the Guadalquivir Basin became individualized. This basin, which was located between the Betic Chain and the emerged Hercynian Massif, acquired a structure similar to that of the present basin and its extension was also similar to that of the present Neogene outcrops. Intramontane basins became individualized in the recently formed and progressively emerged mountain chain, reaching a development and size in this Cordillera much greater than in other Alpine chains. These basins are characterized by their thick infills, which are unconformable on the folded and deformed substratum, and which can be subdivided according to the different movements of the fault sets that controlled their evolution.