Applied Sports Science newsletter – March 5, 2016

The journeyman is common to every sport, but none more so than baseball. With its large rosters, multi-level minor leagues, and near-endless international incarnations, a baseball career, for most players, boils down to chasing work wherever it may present itself. Major league reliever Burke Badenhop is no exception.

For the second straight year, Badenhop, 33, remained unsigned until February despite coming off seasons of divergent performances.

Golden State sharpshooter Stephen Curry keeps hitting 3-pointers and setting records. He just topped his own single-season mark for total 3s, and he did it with 24 games still to go. Here’s a look at the numbers behind Curry’s historic season in progress.

… Did the Falcons make the right move? From a statistical standpoint, maybe. White never fit in offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan’s scheme, and he never was going to have a cozy relationship with Shanahan after a contentious start. White was the team’s fourth-leading receiver this past season and became an afterthought in quarterback Matt Ryan’s progressions.

But White’s value extends beyond on-field production. There’s something to be said about intangibles when you’re talking about a team still trying to find its footing. Despite White voicing his displeasure about being primarily a blocker in the offense last season, head coach Dan Quinn on several occasions said he valued the leadership White brought to the team. Owner Arthur Blank expressed his “love” for White. And the chants of “Rod-dy, Rod-dy” echoed loudly through the Georgia Dome when White finally became more involved in the offense late in the season.

A group of Yankees pitchers started their run in centerfield Sunday afternoon and steadily climbed the low-grade hill that was built in leftfield on one of the practice fields, literally taking the team’s spring training conditioning to another level.

Joe Girardi has dubbed it “Mount Krause,” a nod to Matt Krause, the team’s strength and conditioning coach, who lobbied for the Yankees to build the carefully constructed incline out of clay, dirt and grass in the offseason.

This is what Dr. Micheal A. Clark, founder of the National Academy of Sports Medicine and CEO of Fusionetics, told me. Now, that’s all well and good for someone like Kobe Bryant, but I wasn’t so sure about a 26-year-old, short white dude who has a desk job and considers a 20-minute walk to the train a workout.

Nonetheless, after already freezing my body in the name of science, I figured it was my journalistic responsibility to see if I could at least attempt to stumble through the revolutionary performance and recovery method that’s helping everyone from college athletes to 37-year-old NBA stars compete at their peak performance level.

As I walked up the steps to Manhattan’s Independent Training Spot, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

… Having trained many of the NBA’s greatest – and hardest-working – players, I can’t buy into the “long season, save it for the playoffs” philosophy. If a guy needs rest, that’s fine; put him in the lineup and limit his minutes. He usually plays 30-plus minutes? Fine, tonight he’ll play 18.

Maybe change the rotation, and he can come off the bench. In the meantime, the rest of the team can pick up the slack and the subs get to play some crucial minutes and gain some real experience, so we can see how they play when it matters, not just in garbage time. Now everyone is happy: the star gets some rest, the subs get to play, and the fans don’t feel cheated.

Every February, the “ultimate” job interview is conducted in Indianapolis, Indiana. The best college football players come from across the country to show their skills in the NFL Combine. The top draft picks have waited their entire lives for this one moment in time to prove they deserve a roster spot—the chance to go pro!

Being the best on one or more particular days is something everyone wants, especially those that compete and dream of a personal best. This article reviews the scientific art of tapering: strategic resting to maximize the hard work of preparation so it manifests with breakthrough performance on game day. Whether you’re prepping for an obstacle race, a CrossFit session, marathon, triathlon or a weekend 5k, you can benefit from tapering your training like the pros.

Background

The study aims to compare how work-to-rest ratio (W:R) influences insulin sensitivity (Si) and inflammatory responses following one session of sprint interval training (SIT).
Methods

Thirteen men and two women completed a cross-over comparison of two SIT interventions—Tabata (TAB), 10?×?20-s sprints/10-s rest, and Wingate (WIN), 5?×?30-s sprints with 270-s rest. IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-? were assessed at baseline, immediately following, and 1 h after SIT, as well as prior to the 24-h post-exercise oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs).
Results

Participants were 23.8 (±3.5) years old and 180.0 (±10.2) cm tall, weighed 78.5 (13.0) kg, and had 16.9 (±6.5) % body fat, with a mean VO2Peak of 42.0 (±7.9) ml kg?1 min?1. There were no differences in total work (kJ) between TAB (64.7?±?12.0) and WIN (68.0?±?15.0). Mean (±95 % CI) Si 24 h changed ?2.8 (?5.1, ?0.5) from baseline after TAB and ?3.9 (?6.9, ?0.9) after WIN. Cytokines were measured in pg ml?1 and expressed as mean change (±95 % CI). IL-6 increased significantly immediately following SIT for TAB 0.70 (0.23, 1.17), and WIN 1.11 (0.60, 1.62), and remained elevated 1 h post SIT for TAB 1.10 (0.37, 1.83), and WIN 0.95 (0.26, 1.65). IL-10 showed a significant positive change immediately following exercise for TAB 1.53 (0.77, 2.29) and WIN 1.59 (0.58, 2.59). TNF-? also increased immediately both TAB 3.26 (1.57, 4.96) and WIN 3.05 (0.56, 5.54) and was directly proportional to IL-10 (r?=?0.64, p?<?0.0001).
Conclusions

W:R did not alter either the inflammatory or metabolic response following SIT nor does SIT improve 24-h Si, despite increased levels of IL-10.

For years, many of the key components of wearables have been drafting off the strengths of the smartphone supply chain. During the last two years, the application processors and sensors for wrist and head-worn wearable products have more or less been taken off the parts bin of low and mid-tier smartphones.

This is typical of the early stages of any new mobile device category introduction, as manufacturers carefully balance features, performance, form factor and price for an unknown market. Using proven components with the economy of scale helps maintain this balance as new devices are introduced to the market.

A downside of this approach has been old and suboptimal technology finding its way onto wearables in the market today. For example, the Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP mobile processor, which was designed out of smartphones around 2013 when TI exited the mobile market, has been found in nearly every smart glasses device and even on the popular first generation Moto 360 smartwatch.

… “This is not a video game,” he says.

The technology is a virtual reality system made by his company, STRIVR Labs, and Belch says it will be used this week at the combine by NFL teams to test how quarterbacks read defenses. “That will happen,” he says. Belch has agreements with the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets and New Orleans Saints, and he expects to recruit more teams into the fold in the days ahead.

“On this you can tell,” Belch says, “if they’re not looking in the right spot, you’ll know right away.”

… While we still have a long way to go to make HRV tools easy to use to athletes and sport enthusiasts, we really made significant progress in the past few years. It is now widely accepted (as shown by the studies above), to collect data with home-based recordings, as short as 60 seconds. It is also clear that physiological changes (e.g. reductions in HRV or increases in HR) typically follow intense workout sessions. However, what researchers are trying to do right now, is to better understand how these changes fit in the big picture. If we guide training based on HRV measurements and reductions from a baseline, or long term baseline drops, can we improve performance? What other metrics can we look at which might be representative of better overall fitness and adaptation to training load? Vesterinen and Flatt answer to some of these questions.

There’s no substitute for practice, but the higher the level of sport, the finer the margins become between good and great. Increasingly, technology is helping the best players maximize this margin. As part of this growing tech trend Zepp and Old Hickory have teamed up with Mike Trout, one of the world’s top baseball players, to produce his very first Smart Bat.

Zepp creates interactive training tools for baseball, golf, tennis and softball and many baseball fans will already be familiar with bat-making company Old Hickory. To improve upon the existing clip-on system, Trout, Zepp and Old Hickory have been in communication since late 2015 regarding integrating a sensor into Trout’s signature bat. Which has now become a reality.

Fitness apps and wearable devices like Fitbits may be all the rage, but one Dalhousie University health expert says there’s still too little research to know if they actually live up to the hype.

“We do have a bit of a gap, so the technology is actually moving faster than the research that is being done,” said Sara Kirk, a professor of health promotion.

“We have a lot of technology out there that we haven’t had the opportunity to evaluate properl

Relatively few studies have investigated the potential injury prevention value of data derived from recently developed wearable technology for measurement of body mass accelerations during the performance of sport-related activities. The available evidence has been derived from studies focused on avoidance of overtraining syndrome, which is believed to induce a chronically fatigued state that can be identified through monitoring of inertial load accumulation. Reduced variability in movement patterns is also believed to be an important injury risk factor, but no evidence currently exists to guide interpretation of data derived from inertial measurement units (IMUs) in this regard. We retrospectively analyzed archived data for a cohort of 45 NCAA Division 1-FBS football players who wore IMUs on the upper back during practice sessions to quantify any associations between average inertial load measured during practice sessions and occurrence of musculoskeletal sprains and strains. Both the coefficient of variation for average inertial load and frequent exposure to game conditions were found to be strongly associated with injury occurrence. Having either or both of the 2 risk factors provided strong discrimination between injured and non-injured players ([chi]2 = 9. 048; P = .004; OR = 8.04; 90% CI: 2.39, 27.03). Our findings may facilitate identification of individual football players who are likely to derive the greatest benefit from training activities designed to reduce injury risk through improved adaptability to rapidly changing environmental demands.

Background: Impairments in motor control may predicate the paradigm of chronic ankle instability (CAI) that can develop in the year after an acute lateral ankle sprain (LAS) injury. No prospective analysis is currently available identifying the mechanisms by which these impairments develop and contribute to long-term outcome after LAS.

Purpose: To identify the motor control deficits predicating CAI outcome after a first-time LAS injury.

Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2.

Methods: Eighty-two individuals were recruited after sustaining a first-time LAS injury. Several biomechanical analyses were performed for these individuals, who completed 5 movement tasks at 3 time points: (1) 2 weeks, (2) 6 months, and (3) 12 months after LAS occurrence. A logistic regression analysis of several “salient” biomechanical parameters identified from the movement tasks, in addition to scores from the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool and the Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM) recorded at the 2-week and 6-month time points, were used as predictors of 12-month outcome.

Results: At the 2-week time point, an inability to complete 2 of the movement tasks (a single-leg drop landing and a drop vertical jump) was predictive of CAI outcome and correctly classified 67.6% of cases (sensitivity, 83%; specificity, 55%; P = .004). At the 6-month time point, several deficits exhibited by the CAI group during 1 of the movement tasks (reach distances and sagittal plane joint positions at the hip, knee and ankle during the posterior reach directions of the Star Excursion Balance Test) and their scores on the activities of daily living subscale of the FAAM were predictive of outcome and correctly classified 84.8% of cases (sensitivity, 75%; specificity, 91%; P < .001).

Conclusion: An inability to complete jumping and landing tasks within 2 weeks of a first-time LAS and poorer dynamic postural control and lower self-reported function 6 months after a first-time LAS were predictive of eventual CAI outcome.

There is growing interest in the effects of psychological states on human performance, especially with those who have suffered debilitating injury and are attempting to return to sport (RTS). Current research methods measure psychological states through validated questionnaires; however, these outcomes only allow for subjective assessment and may be unintentionally biased. Application of objective neurocognitive measures correlated with psychological states will advance understanding of injury outcomes by identifying human behavior and avoiding vague assumptions from subjective measures.

Three years ago, 37-year-old Angela Bekkala toed the line for a half marathon. She’d been sticking her paces in training and was ready to go, but two miles in, Bekkala began to feel a familiar foot pain. Convinced a former case of tendonitis had returned, she finished the race far off her goal time. When she returned to her physical therapist and talked it over, however, they came to the conclusion that Bekkala was physically fine. It was her fear of re-injury that had held her back.

Like many runners, Bekkala was dealing with the psychological effects of her injury rather than the physical. Just as the mind can play a crucial role in race performance, so too can it wreak havoc on injury management. “I see this quite a bit,” says Dr. Brent Walker, president of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and associate athletics director for Championship Performance at Columbia University. “Physically an athlete is ready to return, but mentally that isn’t the case.”

When not managed correctly, the athlete’s perception of injury and/or state of recovery from injury can sabotage future efforts in race performance. That’s the bad news. The good news, however, is that under the guidance of the right practitioner, athletes can retrain the brain to allow for full recovery and a return to normal levels of execution.

The retired soccer player Brandi Chastain remains best known for scoring the winning shootout goal in the 1999 World Cup final against China and for the jersey-shedding celebration that followed.

Now 47, a mother and a coach, Chastain hopes her latest move will do more for soccer than that. She has agreed to donate her brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation and researchers at Boston University, pioneers in the study of concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease.

Looking for the best workout nutrition strategies to help improve performance, drop body fat, and gain lean muscle? Look no further. This article will teach you what to eat before, during, and after exercise for your specific goals.

Supplements and ergogenic aids have been used throughout the years to promote health, improve exercise performance, and push human ability. Even though some aids, including caffeine and creatine1, have shown incredible promise in improving exercise performance, the vast majority of supplements have not been tested in a reliable setting, nor do they show consistent scientific evidence backing their claim.

In the past year, there have been dozens of scientific publications on the intake of oral nitrates to improve exercise performance and human health. From a physiological perspective it would make sense that increasing nitrate bioavailability might improve the ability of our muscles to produce work. However, even when something proves promising in the laboratory it can have failed effects in practice.

Performance analysis in sport is still a relatively new discipline within sports science, but an area that has picked up momentum rapidly. Sport is surrounded with mass data collection covering anything and everything. You will have all seen a heat map displaying the possessions of Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Real Madrid, how many unforced errors Nick Kyrgios has made during a set, how many offloads Corey Parker has made for the season and without a doubt you will have all seen the time Usain Bolt runs the 100m. These are all great for the average consumer but they are all pointless without adding additional detail and expert information from the coaching staff. This blog will aim to give readers an insight to how basic data collection of an athlete’s performance can be used to monitor performances throughout a season in rugby league.

The concept of scoring player performances is not new. Soccer has its traditional out of 10 performance scale, which fans of the EA Sports game FIFA will no doubt check through their man of the match and take note of their player ratings. How does an athlete’s performance determine their overall match score? Around 4 or 5 years ago now I was lucky enough to be recruited as a performance analyst working on the international stage. One key problem that was outlined by the coaching staff was that they needed to keep track of all qualified players across multiple competitions. There was plenty of quantitative and qualitative information available for analysis, the idea was to filter through what information was relevant and how it could be used. Most sports now have a holistic analysis provider that covers all aspects of individual and team performances. The system that was used in rugby league was Opta. This provided in-depth analysis that covered all players. The ideal process would be to analyse each player’s performance using a bespoke system, but due to time constraints and the lack of manpower, it was hard to implement.

Abstract: It is often said that winning in tennis is as much a mental game as a physical one, yet there has been little quantitative study into the mental side of tennis. We present an approach to identify mentalities in tennis with dynamic response patterns that quantify how a player’s probability of winning a point varies in response to the changing situations of a match. Using 3 million points played by professional male and female tennis players between 2011 and 2015, we found that, on average, players were affected by the state of the score and a variety of pressure situations: exhibiting hot hand effects when ahead, defeatist effects when down, and performing less effectively in clutch situations. Player-specific performance patterns suggested a diversity of player mentalities at the elite level, with subgroups of players responding more or less effectively to pressure, score history, and other match situations. One of the patterns found on the men’s tour included four of the most decorated players in the current game, the `Big Four’, suggesting a champion’s mentality that was characterized by cool-headedness on serve and adaptability on return. Accounting for player mentalities improved predicted outcomes of matches, substantiating the importance of the mental game for success in tennis.

The brain gets rid of some 1.5 kilograms of waste products a year, equivalent to its own weight. One puzzle: Where does its built-in garbage disposal reside? New findings that reveal detritus-carrying passages—what is called the glymphatic system—traffics the brain’s discarded leavings.

Much of this activity, moreover, occurs during sleep. Manipulating the glymphatic system may be a new way to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases by removing buildups of toxic proteins. Watch a talk on the glymphatic system by Maiken Nedergaard, author of “Brain Drain” in the March Scientific American. [video, 1:12:50]

This autumn, a handful of California school districts will start testing kids on “non-cognitive” skills like grit, mindset, and self-control, the New York Times reported today (Mar. 1).

Changes to a federal education law require states to assess schools on at least one non-academic measure. Research has shown that social-emotional traits like self-control and perseverance can be better predictors of success than standardized test scores, or other purely academic measures.

But Angela Duckworth, perhaps the world’s foremost authority on grit and the author of much of the research on the topic, says this is a big mistake.

Cooperation in social dilemmas is essential for the functioning of systems at multiple levels of complexity, from the simplest biological organisms to the most sophisticated human societies. Cooperation, although widespread, is fundamentally challenging to explain evolutionarily, since natural selection typically favors selfish behavior which is not socially optimal. Here we study the evolution of cooperation in three exemplars of key social dilemmas, representing the prisoner’s dilemma, hawk-dove and coordination classes of games, in structured populations defined by complex networks. Using individual-based simulations of the games on model and empirical networks, we give a detailed comparative study of the effects of the structural properties of a network, such as its average degree, variance in degree distribution, clustering coefficient, and assortativity coefficient, on the promotion of cooperative behavior in all three classes of games.

Nice study about an indirect way to monitor ground reaction forces, as the author’s state … However, I would suggest that this is only a start to the rehab process, there’s much more involved, including a next step after learning how to land with decreased ground reaction forces. By landing more quietly, the risk of injury does decrease, however, increased knee and ankle excursion (but not hip) increase an athlete’s time on the ground. While this increased time on the ground works for other species, it slows humans down. Therefore, I would suggest that teaching athletes to land softly and quietly should not be the end goal.