Sports Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Vertically-Oriented Resistance Training On Golf Swing Performance Variables, Austin R. Driggers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of vertically-oriented resistance training on golf driving performance. Ten Division-I collegiate golfers completed 2 resistance training sessions per week for 10 weeks during the fall tournament season. Pre- and posttraining assessments of strength-power and golf performance were compared. To assess strength-power, jump height, peak force, and peak power (PP) were measured from static and countermovement (CMJ) vertical jumps; peak force and rate of force development from 0-250 ms were measured from an isometric mid-thigh pull. Golf performance was assessed in terms of ball launch speed (BS), spin rate, carry yardage …

Coach And Athlete Perceptions Of An Athlete Monitoring And Strength And Conditioning Program, Jacob P. Reed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to assess athlete perceptions of an athlete monitoring program throughout an academic year and coach perceptions throughout a competitive season. The secondary purpose was to develop a questionnaire designed to assess coach and athlete perceptions of the monitoring program. Methods: Athletes and coaches participating in the athlete monitoring program at East Tennessee State University’s (ETSU) Sport Performance Enhancement Consortium (SPEC) were invited to participate. Reliability for the coach and athlete questionnaires and principle components analysis (PCA) of the athlete questionnaire was completed after initial development of the questionnaire (11 questions for athletes and …

Physical And Performance Characteristics May Influence Successful Completion Of Military Tasks On The Sandhurst Competition, Keith A. Leiting

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identification and development of physical characteristics that lead to efficient performance of military skills or tasks has been a consistently difficult task for the United States military for decades. The literature suggests certain physical characteristics may be more important, although this information is conflicting. Furthermore, the military physical fitness training program that is intended to prepare soldiers for combat is commonly evaluated with the Army Physical Fitness Test (PFT), a test that is more suited for evaluating health and wellness rather than task-specific fitness. All of this testing and training of soldiers focuses on the individual soldiers and their abilities …

Physical And Technical Demands Of Women’S Collegiate Soccer, Ryan Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the physical and technical demands of the women’s college soccer game through a case study approach. With advancements in technology, motion analysis has become commonplace in most professional environments. However, the literature on amateur soccer is quite scarce and warrants more attention. The aims of this dissertation were: 1) to describe the physical demands of each position for a women’s college soccer player as they relate to total distance covered, efforts, and distance covered in high-speed velocity bands, 2) explore the variation in physical performance during a competitive season, and 3) compare …

Lower Body Strength And Power Characteristics Influencing Change Of Direction And Straight-Line Sprinting Performance In Division I Soccer Players: An Exploratory Study, Chieh-Ying Chiang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the influence of lower body strength characteristics on change of direction (COD) performance in NCAA Division I soccer athletes. Specifically, this dissertation served to examine: 1) whether the lower body strength and power were related to COD performance, 2) whether stronger athletes had superior COD performance than weaker athletes, 3) whether the force production asymmetry and strength dominant (SD) associated with COD performance, and 4) weather sex differences existed in kinetic variables during the stand phase of cutting.

The major findings of this dissertation include: 1) strength and power characteristics were moderately …

Effect Of Acute L-Alanyl-L-Glutamine (Sustamine) And Electrolyte Ingestion On Plasma Electrolytes, Physiologic Measures, And Neuromuscular Fatigue During Endurance Exercise, William Mccormack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of two dose levels of L-Alanyl-LGlutamine in a commercially available sports drink to the sports drink only on time to exhaustion, neuromuscular fatigue and physiological measures during prolonged endurance exercise. Twelve endurance-trained males (23.5±3.7 yrs; 175.5±5.4 cm; 70.7±7.6 kg) performed four trials, each consisting of 1 hr treadmill runs at 75% of VO2peak followed by a run to exhaustion at 90% of VO2peak. The trials differed in type of hydration. One trial consisted of no hydration (NHY), another required ingestion of only a sports drink (ET), and two trials required …

Effect Of Acute L-Alanyl-L-Glutamine (Sustamine) And Electrolyte Ingestion On Cognitive Function, Multiple Object Tracking And Reaction Time Following Prolonged Exercise, Gabriel Pruna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Changes in physiological function occurring during a body water deficit may result in significant decrements in performance, cognitive function and fine motor control during exercise. This may be due to the magnitude of the body water deficit. Rehydration strategies are important to prevent these deleterious effects in performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the changes before and after prolonged exercise of an alanine-glutamine dipeptide (AG) on cognitive function and reaction time. Twelve male endurance-trained runners (age: 23.5 [plus or minus] 3.7 y; height: 175.5 [plus or minus] 5.4 cm; weight: 70.7 [plus or minus] 7.6 kg) participated …

The Cross Education Of Neuromuscular Economy, Kyle Beyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cross education is the phenomenon by which the untrained limb will experience a gain in strength following a unilateral resistance training program. However, little is known as to the underlying adaptation occurring in the untrained limb. Purpose: To examine the effect of dynamic unilateral resistance training on the strength and neuromuscular adaptations of both the trained and untrained legs. Methods: Eight previously untrained males (22.38±2.92 y, 1.73±0.08 m, 75.26±14.53 kg) completed a four-week unilateral resistance training program, while another eight untrained males (24.00±4.57 y, 1.84±0.05 m, 94.21±16.14 kg) served as controls. Isometric leg extension strength, leg press 1 repetition maximum …

The Effect Of Moderate Altitude On High Intensity Running Performance During A Game With Collegiate Female Soccer Players, Jonathan Bohner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Competition often requires teams that reside at sea level to compete against opponents whose residence is at a moderate altitude. This may pose a potential competitive disadvantage considering that moderate altitude may cause decrements in VO2max, distance covered, and time to exhaustion in endurance athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of altitude on game performance measures. Six NCAA Division I female soccer players (20.33 ± 1.21 y; 168 ± 6.45 cm; 62.5 ± 6.03 kg) were retrospectively examined. Comparisons were made between two competitions that were played at sea level (SL) within two weeks of …

Endocrine And Contralateral Muscle Responses To Short-Term Unilateral Resistance Training, Carleigh Boone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of short-term lower body unilateral resistance training on hormonal, muscle morphological, and performance measures in young men. METHODS: Seventeen healthy, untrained young men (Age: 22.8 ± 3.7 y; BMI: 26.5 ± 4.9 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to one of two groups (UT: 22.9 ± 4.6 y, 25.3 ± 4.2 kg/m2; CON: 24.0 ± 4.6 y, 27.7 ± 5.1 kg/m2). Resistance training consisted of 4 weeks of unilateral lower body and bilateral upper body exercises on 3 days per week. Each training session entailed unilateral countermovement jumps (3 × 8), …

The Effects Of High-Intensity Interval Training And 28 Days Of [Beta]-Hydroxy-[Beta]-Methybutyrate Supplementation On Measures Of Aerobic Power And Metabolic Thresholds, Edward Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: To examine the effects of 28 days of β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate free acid (HMB) and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on maximal oxygen consumption (VO2peak), ventilatory threshold (VT), respiratory compensation point (RCP) and time to exhaustion (Tmax) in collegeaged men and women. Methods: Healthy men and women (n=34, age and VO2peak= 22.7+3.1yr and 39.3+5.0 mL. kg-1.min-1, respectively) participated in this study. All participants completed a series of tests prior and subsequent to treatment. A maximal oxygen consumption test was performed on a cycle ergometer to assess VO2peak, Tmax, VT, and RCP. The peak power output (Ppeak), power at VT (PVT) and power …

An Interval Training Bout On Cognitive Performance In Healthy Adults, David Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive performance has been shown to improve with regular aerobic exercise training. Despite this, most Americans do not adhere to current exercise prescription guidelines. High intensity interval training (HIIT) has been suggested as a lower time commitment, more enjoyable alternative to regular aerobic exercise. Twenty nine apparently healthy college-aged adults were recruited and administered a high intensity interval training session with a pre- and 24 hours-post-exercise cognitive performance test. No changes were found in performance following the bout of high intensity interval training. No significant interactions were observed when comparing performance to gender, training age, training goal, or intra-exercise rating …

Investigating The Effects Of Endurance Training On Heart Rate Variability In Female Swimmer Athletes, Joshua G. Beck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is important for elite endurance athletes to have practical and reliable means of measuring fatigue throughout their training. Variations in Autonomic Nervous System activity (ANS) may provide an effective marker of fatigue and of recovery. ANS control of heart rate is well known to be affected by exercise training, and those adaptations can be determined using measures of heart rate variability (HRV). Previous research has examined the effect of training on HRV and ANS control of heart rate in males, there is a lack of any comprehensive studies that address adaptations in female athletes. Therefore, the purpose of this …

Concussion Reporting Rates At The Conclusion Of A Collegiate Athletic Career, Frances C. Gilbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Context: Concussions are common sports-related head injuries, with an estimated 1.6-3.8 million sport-related traumatic brain injuries occurring each year. Proper diagnosis of a concussion often lies in self-reporting symptoms, however, an estimated 50-80% of concussions remain unreported. More than half of college athletes indicate they have no head injury knowledge including potential consequences, however, more than 80% would have reported a head injury if they had understood the potential risks. This lack of knowledge may create the potential for unrecognized concussive injury, therefore causing vast underreporting. Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current reported …

An Examination Of Behavioral And Temporal Consistency Of Pre-Performance Routines In Ncaa Division I Basketball Free Throw Shooting – A Naturalist Observational Investigation, Jacob Blumberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that pre-performance routines positively influence performance of closed and self-paced skills (Boutcher & Crews, 1987; Cohn, 1990; Otto et al., 2011). Boutcher and Crews (1987) suggested that pre-performance routines improve performance by helping reduce anxiety along with helping athletes’ retain mental sharpness and focus. Furthermore, several quantitative studies have examined the influence of both behavioral and temporal consistency of pre-performance routines on the success of a skill, yielding inconsistent results (Boutcher & Crews, 1987; Lobmeyer & Wasserman, 1986; Lonsdale & Tam, 2008; Jackson, 2003). However, research examining this phenomenon from a qualitative and naturalistic observational perspective is …

Landing Technique Assessment Utilizing Laboratory-Based Landing And Simulated Basketball Landing Tasks, Hiromi Kowata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Context: The Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) is a two-dimensional landing technique assessment tool that is readily available to clinicians. However, the LESS merely assesses a contrived landing, rather than dynamic, complex movements that may occur during actual athletic performance. Objective: To compare the LESS scores and knee joint kinematics between the LESS vertical-drop jump (DVJ), and two simulated basketball landing performances, jump-stop jump shot (JS) and rebounding (RB). Design: Prospective, cross-sectional study. Setting: An intramural basketball court. Participants: Twenty-five female recreational basketball players (Age: 20.96±1.70, Height (cm): 166.07 ± 9.10, Weight (kg): 68.54 ±12.17). Intervention(s) …