Specific physical or mental practice may induce short- and long-term neuroplastic changes in the motor system and cause tools to become part of one's own body representation. Athletes who use tools as part of their practice may be an excellent model for assessing the neural correlates of possible bodily representation changes that are specific to extensive practice. We used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to measure corticospinal excitability in forearm and hand muscles of expert tennis players and novices while they mentally practiced a tennis forehand, table tennis forehand, and a golf drive. The muscles of expert tennis players showed increased corticospinal facilitation during motor imagery of tennis but not golf or table tennis. Novices, although athletes, were not modulated across sports. Subjective reports indicated that only in the tennis imagery condition did experts differ from novices in the ability to form proprioceptive images and to consider the tool as an extension of the hand. Neurophysiological and subjective data converge to suggest a key role of long-term experience in modulating sensorimotor body representations during mental simulation of sports.

Our findings suggest that varying types of exertion have different beneficial influences on schoolchildren's immediate cognitive performance.

The accuracy, reliability and linearity in two hand-portable lactate analyzers, the Accutrend Lactate (AL) and the Lactate Pro (LP) versus the EBIO plus analyzer (EP) were evaluated. For accuracy, duplicate samples recorded on both the AL and LP revealed an overall average difference versus EP (P < 0.05). The limits of agreement between AL and EP were -0.7 to +1.0, and -1.3 to +1.5 mM between LP and EP. Reliability of AL and LP was assessed at different lactate concentrations; coefficient of variation ranged between 1.8 and 3.3% for AL and between 2.8 and 5.0% for LP. AL and LP had a good reliability for intra-, inter-analyzers, and between test strips (ICC r = 0.999). The linearity was determined versus the EP as reference. The slope coefficient of AL (1.0394) was closer to 1 than that of LP (1.1053). On these bases, AL and LP can be individually considered suitable for the sports research field.

To determine intra- and interday reliability of spine rasterstereographic system Formetric 4D with and without reflective markers. Twenty-six healthy volunteers (M group) had two markers placed in correspondence of vertebra prominens and intergluteal cleft, and 24 volunteers (NM group) were assessed without markers. All participants were analyzed two times in the same day and one time on a separate day. Trunk length, kyphotic angle, lordotic angle, pelvic inclination, kyphotic and lordotic apex, right and left lateral deviation, flèche cervicale and lombaire, trunk imbalance, pelvic tilt, inflection point, rotation correction, right and left surface rotation, pelvic torsion, and trunk torsion were measured. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach Alpha (Cα) were calculated. In M group, for intra-, interday, and overall evaluations, the higher reliability coefficients were 0.971, 0.963, and 0.958 (ICC) and 0.987, 0.983, and 0.985 (Cα) for trunk length, kyphotic angle, and lordotic apex, respectively; while in NM group, they were 0.978, 0.982, and 0.972 and 0.989, 0.991, and 0.991 for trunk length. In M group, the lower values were 0.598, 0.515, and 0.534 (ICC) and 0.742, 0.682, and 0.784 (Cα) for trunk and pelvic torsion and in NM group 0.561, 0.537, and 0.461 and 0.731, 0.695, and 0.729 for left lateral deviation. The reliability of most parameters was excellent.

Background: The Italian government promoted social distancing, in which the suspension of any social event, suspension of all activities practiced in gyms, sports centers and their closure was ordered. The social distancing in the school environment and the use of strategies to limit viral infection are not very compatible with group motor activity and team sports. The aim of this study is to verify the effectiveness of a CrossFit program in order to mitigate the deficits in fitness caused by COVID-19 prevention measures and to evaluate the effects on self-efficacy in a group of young adolescents. Methodsː 30 healthy participants were randomly allocated into an intervention group (IG) that performed the 8 weeks CrossFit training program or control group (CG). Physical fitness tests (i.e., Squat, push-up, lunge, and 20 m run) and psychological measures Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy scale (RESE) were performed at baseline and after 8 weeks. Resultsː After 8 weeks, the intervention group showed significant improvements for all fitness tests (p < 0.0001). Additionally, higher scores for the RESE negative and positive (p < 0.0001) scales were found in the intervention group. No statistical differences were found in the control group except for the push up test. Conclusionsː the 8-week CrossFit intervention program could positively affect the general physical well-being and improve the emotional perceived self-efficacy in healthy adolescents.