Applied Sports Science newsletter – December 2, 2015

… Smart, sitting in a locker room chair as he met with reporters for the first time since suffering a subluxation of the proximal tibfib joint during last Friday’s win over the Brooklyn Nets, expressed hope that he might be able to return in a “couple of weeks” but stressed that the recovery process will dictate the actual timeline.

“We’re taking it day by day. You can’t tell your body what to do,” Smart said. “A body has a mind of its own and does what it wants. We’re waiting to see how it reacts to things with the rest I’m getting and the rehab and everything, hopefully I can be back in a couple of weeks.”

As a top sports agent in the National Football League, Sunny Shah is often surrounded by big clients like Eugene Monroe, a 6-foot-5-inch, 300-pound left tackle for the Baltimore Ravens.

At 5-foot-8 and 155 pounds, Mr. Shah, 37, says he has always tried to put on muscle mass. “My routine was a lot of lifting but not a lot of movement,” he says. “I found myself getting bigger, but also stiffer.”

AIM:

The purpose of this study was to compare traditional strength training (TST) and complex contrast training (CCT) on the repeated-shuttle-sprint ability (RSSA), the countermovement squat jump (CMJ) height, the one repetition maximum (1RM) at squat on the Smith machine, and on muscle architecture in young, male elite soccer players.
METHODS:

Twenty-two soccer players (age: 18.4 ± 0.4 years; weight: 70.2 ± 9.1 Kg; height: 179.9 ± 7.5 cm) who belonged to the under-20 age group were randomly assigned into two groups: CCT (n = 10) or TST (n = 12). During the study period, the soccer players trained with CCT through power exercises performed before high- velocity exercises and TST based on a set- repetition format through daily, undulatory periodization.
RESULTS:

After statistical analysis (p<0.05), the results demonstrated that the specific CCT regimen provided a significant improvement in the RSSA dec (%) (moderate effect size), CMJ (large effect size) and 1RM ability (large effect size). However, the TST promoted significant changes in 1RM (large effect size) and a significant increase in the muscle thickness of the vastus intermedius (moderate effect size).
CONCLUSION:

The CCT protocol could be used to improve the RSSA parameters, CMJ and 1RM, and the TST developed dynamic strength and muscle growth. Coaches can choose either CCT or TST protocols according to the needs of their soccer players.

Former United States manager Bob Bradley says Le Havre’s players will have to buy into his demanding work ethic if they are to have realistic hopes of being promoted to France’s top flight.

Would you rather have an athlete score twenty-five points in one game, four in the next, and zero in the game after that? Or would you rather have a player who consistently scores fifteen points each time he steps on the court? The scenario is the same regarding other performance statistics such as rebounds, steals, etc. I know I would much rather have a player be predictable and consistent; one who takes out the guess work out of the competitive game.

With the results we obtain from the Sparta Science software, we have empirically seen that the most consistent force producers are the most consistent game performers. In other words, the athletes who we count on the most for game results are those who are most persistent with their effort on the court and in the weight room.

… The UFC has partnered with EXOS because these types of [circuit] workouts are not the norm in mixed martial arts gyms. There is still a belief in many places that pushing yourself beyond your limits on a daily basis is the only way to prepare for a fight, not to mention the kind of sparring sessions that so often lead to injuries.

But this attitude is slowly changing. Northcutt, a 19-year-old phenom athlete, may very well be the blueprint for what the UFC hopes is the fighter of the future. He does not go through a training camp. He does not spar in preparation for his fights. His father, Mark, who has been Sage’s main trainer since he was four years old, believes there is no reason to take punishment in practice.

Nike CEO Mark Parker is a shoe designer at heart, having come up through the design ranks at the sportswear giant.

So it’s not surprising the company has been on an innovation binge since he became chief executive in 2006.

Nike’s patent activity has surged on Parker’s watch from fewer than 100 per year to more than 500 each of the past two years.

… Modern GSR designs are finding their way into wearables with advances in conductive polymer foam especially as a flexible medium in healthcare and fitness applications. This material is easily attachable to clothing. An entire clinical ECG monitor can be embedded into a fabric shirt. Devices the size of a Band-Aid can monitor a person’s temperature or oxygen saturation without being invasive.

… [Ville] Yllasjarvi says that after the introduction of their product into the ecosystem, they are expecting to see the first generation of devices built using Thingsee One come out in Q1 of 2016.

Their clients range from sports telemetry, asset management, workflow management, tracking applications, and many other fields that rely on this kind of technology. One very strong vertical for them is in education. Students are using the device to learn how to build and develop new products in class, hopefully inspiring the next generation of engineers.

He explains that there is an ongoing shift in the world of tech, with a greater emphasis being placed on IoT. Yllasjarvi believes that over the next five years, the number of developers working in the IoT field will grow exponentially up to 50-fold, with some estimates saying that up to 4.5 million developers globally by 2020.

We are pleased to announce that the OpenSim project has secured an additional five years of funding through the renewal of our NIH-funded National Center for Simulation in Rehabilitation Research (NCSRR) at Stanford University. We are grateful to everyone who provided a letter of support for our renewal application, and we thank all members of the community for contributing to the growth and vibrancy of the project by participating in the OpenSim user forum, attending workshops, teaching with OpenSim, and publishing excellent research.

It has been a long season for the eight remaining schools in the NCAA men’s soccer tournament, but thanks to a program called Fit For 90, coaches don’t have to guess anymore when it comes to fitness levels.

Wake Forest, which is in the quarterfinals and will play at Spry Stadium on Saturday night against Stanford, has been using the player-monitor system this season for the first time. It gauges each player’s fitness level based on practices, soreness and several other variables. Players enter the information into an application on their phones before and after each practice and game.

Background Athletic groin pain remains a common field-based team sports time-loss injury. There are few reports of non-surgically managed cohorts with athletic groin pain.

Aim To describe clinical presentation/examination, MRI findings and patient-reported outcome (PRO) scores for an athletic groin pain cohort.

Methods All patients had a history including demographics, injury duration, sport played and standardised clinical examination. All patients underwent MRI and PRO score to assess recovery. A clinical diagnosis of the injured anatomical structure was made based on these findings. Statistical assessment of the reliability of accepted standard investigations undertaken in making an anatomical diagnosis was performed.

Result 382 consecutive athletic groin pain patients, all male, enrolled. Median time in pain at presentation was (IQR) 36 (16–75) weeks. Most (91%) played field-based ball-sports. Injury to the pubic aponeurosis (PA) 240 (62.8%) was the most common diagnosis. This was followed by injuries to the hip in 81 (21.2%) and adductors in 56 (14.7%) cases. The adductor squeeze test (90° hip flexion) was sensitive (85.4%) but not specific for the pubic aponeurosis and adductor pathology (negative likelihood ratio 1.95). Analysed in series, positive MRI findings and tenderness of the pubic aponeurosis had a 92.8% post-test probability.

Conclusions In this largest cohort of patients with athletic groin pain combining clinical and MRI diagnostics there was a 63% prevalence of PA injury. The adductor squeeze test was sensitive for athletic groin pain, but not specific individual pathologies. MRI improved diagnostic post-test probability. No hernia or incipient hernia was diagnosed.

After Arsene Wenger gave a very deep, very philosophical, very French interview to L’Equipe magazine, (translated here by Arseblog), we asked some academics what Wenger is on about and whether he’s the new Socrates.
“The only possible moment of happiness is the present.”

This echoes Zen Buddhist teachings, which Wenger could have picked up during his time managing Nagoya Grampus in Japan. However, Evan Thompson, a philosophy professor at the University of British Colombia, said that this idea can also be found in many other philosophies such as Ancient Greek and Roman Stoic.

Bill James began a recent article like this: “It is entirely possible and entirely practical, in modern baseball, for a team to use a three-man starting rotation. I realize that this is probably not going to happen, but … this is how it could work, and this is why it would work.”

Check out the full article at Bill James Online, but to summarize: The workload of starters has been in decline for 40 years, resulting from the change from four-man rotations to five-man rotations in the 1970s, then to the imposition of pitch limits, then to even more limits on pitch counts. This was done to prevent injuries — as James notes, “it may have made starting pitchers more effective, but that’s an after-the-fact argument” — but James’ belief is these changes haven’t reduced injuries.