The COVID-19 pandemic is now a major global health issue, affecting world population and high-performance athlete too. The aim of the present research was to analyze the effect of psychological profile, academic schedule, and gender in the perception of personal and professional threat of Olympic and Paralympic athletes facing the 2021 Tokyo Olympiad in the actual COVID-19 crisis. We analyzed in 136 Olympic (26.4 ± 6.2 years) and 39 Paralympic athletes (31.8 ± 9.3 years) academic and sport variables, individual perceptions about COVID-19 crisis, personality, loneliness, psychological inflexibility, and anxiety. Paralympic athletes perceived higher negative impact in their training and performance by the confinement than Olympic athletes (+24.18, p < 0.005, r = 0.60). Neuroticism and psychological inflexibility presented the greatest negative feelings for female athletes (+32.59, p < 0.000, r = 0.13) and the perception that quarantine would negatively affect their sports performance. Finally professional athletes showed lower values in personality tests (Agreeableness factor) about COVID-19 crisis than non-professionals (−40.62, p < 0.012, r = 0.88).

The aims of this study were to analyze the relationship between maximum isometric strength levels in different upper and lower limb joints and serve velocity in competitive tennis players as well as to develop a prediction model based on this information. Twelve male competitive tennis players (mean ± SD; age: 17.2 ± 1.0 years; body height: 180.1 ± 6.2 cm; body mass: 71.9 ± 5.6 kg) were tested using maximum isometric strength levels (i.e., wrist, elbow and shoulder flexion and extension; leg and back extension; shoulder external and internal rotation). Serve velocity was measured using a radar gun. Results showed a strong positive relationship between serve velocity and shoulder internal rotation (r = 0.67; p < 0.05). Low to moderate correlations were also found between serve velocity and wrist, elbow and shoulder flexion – extension, leg and back extension and shoulder external rotation (r = 0.36 – 0.53; p = 0.377 – 0.054). Bivariate and multivariate models for predicting serve velocity were developed, with shoulder flexion and internal rotation explaining 55% of the variance in serve velocity (r = 0.74; p < 0.001). The maximum isometric strength level in shoulder internal rotation was strongly related to serve velocity, and a large part of the variability in serve velocity was explained by the maximum isometric strength levels in shoulder internal rotation and shoulder flexion.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effects of two intervention programs, (1) high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and (2) moderate-intensity training (MIT), on anxiety, depression, stress, and resilience during the confinement caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in healthy adults.Methods: A total of 67 adults who participated were randomly assigned to two groups: HIIT and MIT groups. The MIT group had to perform a home-based intervention based on aerobic exercises, whereas the HIIT group had to perform a home-based intervention based on HIIT exercises. The two groups (HIIT and MIT) had to complete the same physical exercise volume, 40 min per session (6 days per week) during the confinement period (6 weeks). Depression, anxiety, stress, and resilience were assessed before and after the intervention.Results: Results showed that HIIT and MIT significantly reduced the stress, anxiety, and depression as well as increase the resilience (p &lt; 0.05). Moreover, the improvements obtained in the HIIT group seem to be greater than those of the MIT group in depression (p &lt; 0.05).Conclusions: HIIT and MIT decreased anxiety, stress, and depression as well as increased resilience during the COVID-19 confinement. In addition, the HIIT intervention seemed to be more beneficial to reduce depression than the MIT intervention.

The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of a 24 week exergame intervention and 24 weeks of detraining on lower-limb strength, agility, and cardiorespiratory fitness in women with fibromyalgia (FM). It was performed as a single-blinded randomized controlled trial of 55 women with FM. University facilities were used. The 24 week exergame intervention was focused on mobility, postural control, upper- and lower-limb coordination, aerobic fitness, and strength. Participants performed 120 min of exergaming per week, which was divided into two sessions. Twenty-four weeks after the end of the intervention, participants were re-evaluated. A chair–stand test, 10 step stair test, and six-minute walk test were conducted to assess lower-body strength, agility, and cardiorespiratory fitness, respectively. The exergame intervention significantly improved lower-limb strength and cardiorespiratory fitness. However, no significant effects on agility were observed. After the detraining period, lower-limb strength and agility returned to their baseline level, but improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness were sustained over time. Exergaming was therefore shown to be beneficial for physical fitness in people with FM. However, exergames had to be played regularly to maintain the benefits. This long-term intervention (24 weeks) may have changed the lifestyle of women with FM, which could explain why cardiorespiratory fitness improvements remained after the detraining period. Future research should focus on lifestyle changes after long-term interventions.

Objective. The objective of this prospective cross-sectional study was to analyze the differences between patients with fibromyalgia and non-pain controls in terms of EEG power in the eyes-closed resting state. This study also aims to evaluate potential correlations between EEG power and subjective pain. Methods. The fibromyalgia patients were recruited by the Extremadura Association of Fibromyalgia (AFIBROEX) in Cáceres, Spain. Age- and sex-matched healthy controls (1:1 ratio) were recruited from university facilities and people close to the AFIBROEX by public calls. All underwent EEG during a 1-minute resting period with their eyes closed. The theta, alpha-1, alpha-2, beta-1, beta-2, and beta-3 frequency bands were analyzed by using EEGLAB. Self-reported visual analog scale pain scores were determined just prior to EEG. Results. A total of 62 women participated in the study, 31 of them diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 31 healthy controls. Fibromyalgia group exhibited a significantly lower alpha-2 in C4, T3, P4, Pz, and O2 compared to the healthy controls. Interestingly, pain correlated negatively with alpha-2 in Cz, P4, and Pz only in the fibromyalgia group. Conclusion. The fibromyalgia group exhibited decrease alpha-2 power in central, temporoparietal, and occipital brain areas. Furthermore, higher values of pain correlated with lower level of alpha-2 power in Cz, P4, and Pz. These findings may point the importance of alpha-2 power in pain in women with fibromyalgia.

Although HRV is not routinely measured in the management of T2DM, it is an important measure due to its relation with mortality and diabetic neuropathy. Physical exercise has become a therapy for T2DM, because it improves physical fitness and functional capacity, enhances metabolic control and insulin sensitivity, reduces inflammatory markers and neuropathy symptoms and can increase the regenerative capacity of cutaneous axons, slowing or preventing neuropathy progression. However, it is not clear to what extent physical exercise can improve HRV in this population. Participation in the 15 selected studies was similar in men and women (48.01% men and 51.99% women). All the intervention programs included aerobic training, and it was complemented by strength training in four studies. Duration of physical exercise sessions ranged between 30 and 75 min, the frequency being between 2 and 7 days/week. Statistically significant improvements in groups with diabetes, relative to baseline, were observed in nine studies. More than 3 days per week of aerobic training, complemented by strength training, during at least 3 months seems to improve HRV in T2DM. Weekly frequency might be the most important factor to improve HRV. These aspects could help to design better programs based in scientific evidence, incorporating HRV as an important variable associated with diabetic neuropathy and mortality.

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) has been considered as a measure of heart-brain interaction and autonomic modulation, and it is modified by cognitive and attentional tasks. In cognitive tasks, HRV was reduced in participants who achieved worse results. This could indicate the possibility of HRV predicting cognitive performance, but this association is still unclear in a high cognitive load sport such as chess. Objective: To analyze modifications on HRV and subjective perception of stress, difficulty and complexity in different chess problem tasks. Design: HRV was assessed at baseline. During the chess problems, HRV was also monitored, and immediately after chess problems the subjective stress, difficulty and complexity were also registered. Methods: A total of 16 male chess players, age: 35.19 (13.44) and ELO: 1927.69 (167.78) were analyzed while six chess problem solving tasks with different level of difficulty were conducted (two low level, two medium level and two high level chess problems). Participants were classified according to their results into two groups: high performance or low performance. Results: Friedman test showed a significant effect of tasks in HRV indexes and perceived difficulty, stress and complexity in both high and low performance groups. A decrease in HRV was observed in both groups when chess problems difficulty increased. In addition, HRV was significantly higher in the high performance group than in the low performance group during chess problems. Conclusion: An increase in autonomic modulation was observed to meet the cognitive demands of the problems, being higher while the difficulty of the tasks increased. Non-linear HRV indexes seem to be more reactive to tasks difficulty, being an interesting and useful tool in chess training.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has triggered a pandemic, jeopardizing global health. The sports world is also suffering enormous consequences, such as the suspension of the Olympic Games in Tokyo or, in chess, the cancelation of the World Candidates Tournament 2020. Chess is a sport characterized by high psychophysiological demands derived from long training durations, tournaments, and games, leading to mental, emotional, and physical stress. These characteristics could provide chess players a certain advantage in facing quarantine situations. This study aimed to analyze the effect of COVID-19 confinement on behavioral, psychological, and training patterns of chess players based on their gender, level of education, and level of chess played. We analyzed chess players (N: 450; age = 38.12 ± 14.01 years) in countries where confinement was mandatory: Professional players (N: 55; age = 43.35 ± 13), high-performance players (N: 53; age = 38.57 ± 13.46), competitive players (N: 284; age = 36.82 ± 13.91), and amateur players (N: 58; age = 39.10 ± 14.99). Results showed that chess players significantly decreased physical activity per day while increased chess practise during the confinement period. However, anxiety levels remained moderate despite the antistress effects of physical activity. Amateur players showed a significantly higher level of social alarm than professional and high-performance players. Moreover, professional players showed higher values of extraversion than high-performance players and amateur players. In neuroticism, professional players showed higher values than highperformance players. In addition, the professional players showed higher scores in psychological inflexibility than competitive players. Finally, chess players with the highest academic level showed higher levels of personal concern and anxiety due to COVID-19 as well as lower psychological inflexibility compared to those with a lower academic level. In conclusion, chess players, especially those with a higher academic level, might have adapted their psychological profile to fit confinement situations and the worrying levels of physical inactivity.