Applied Sports Science newsletter – October 11, 2019

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for October 11, 2019

 

Look Closer at Kyler Murray and You Might See Charlie Ward

OZY, The Huddle, Mark W. Wright from

… Ward would lead FSU to its first national championship in 1993. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Tallahassee, Florida, native finished that epic season with 3,032 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, 339 rushing yards, four rushing touchdowns and just four interceptions. He also played basketball that season — joining the team a mere 15 days after winning the Heisman, starting 16 games.

Ward’s college roommate Warrick Dunn, who played 12 seasons in the NFL, says, “I truly believe it’s because of the 6-foot thing. Just a few years after Charlie, you had guys like [6-foot-3, 240-pound Syracuse QB] Donovan McNabb get drafted in the first round [in 1999]. Sometimes you’re just a prisoner of that particular moment.”

 

Sabathia’s shoulder healing, could be on Yanks’ ALCS roster

Associated Press, Jake Seiner from

CC Sabathia could be on the New York Yankees’ roster for the AL Championship Series after missing the previous round with an achy left shoulder.

The left-handed Sabathia sat out New York’s three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Division Series, but manager Aaron Boone said the 39-year-old is feeling “considerably better” after throwing a bullpen session Wednesday.

“Frankly, looked really good,” Boone said. “I was really excited about how he looked.”

 

The Benefits of Group Fitness Workouts for Your Body and Mind

Men's Health, Dr. Rachel Tavel from

… “Group workouts promote ‘adherence;’ when there is a commitment to somebody else, we are more likely to show up,” [Bob] Corb tells Men’s Health. Showing up is the first, and sometimes the hardest, part of a workout. By committing to a buddy or a team, you are less likely to back out of a workout because you don’t feel up to it.

Several theories help to back up these claims. According to Corb, most people exercise to improve some aspect of their life. Meanwhile, people are generally looking for some social comparison to gauge how we are doing. Corb explains that desire comes from the Social Comparison Theory, which states that people conduct self-assessments based on how they perceive they are doing compared to others. “By measuring oneself against similar people, this can help foster self-improvement because it shows that being better is possible,” he says. “Group workouts help provide that reference point for comparison in a way that working out alone does not.”

 

US national teamers seek “collective effort” to address lack of MLS playoffs action

MLSsoccer.com, Ian Quillen from

… After their current international commitments end, how will MLS players who didn’t reach the 2019 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs make sure they’re still match-fit when the November international window arrives?

“That’s something that I’m looking at right now, and speaking to my agent and the club in Montreal,” Lovitz told MLSsoccer.com. “Making sure that the staff here are aware of the situation and trying to find a solution that fits best for everybody.

 

Monitoring Player Workload at the World Cup 2019; Japan

Sports Wearable from

… The load passport stems from a study commissioned by World Rugby Union. Led by its chief medical officer, Dr. Martin Raftery. The research was published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2017. Which states that elite Rugby player’s workload stem from training rather than competing.

The new bylaw was passed was passed by the World Rugby Commission in Nov 2018. A month later during a survey of elite Rugby players, it was discovered that their chief concerns are 45% players reported that they had “felt pursued by team coaches or staff to train or play when not fully fit.”

 

Too Much Training Can Tax Athletes’ Brains

NPR, Morning Edition, Jon Hamilton from

Too much physical exertion appears to make the brain tired.

That’s the conclusion of a study of triathletes published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

Researchers found that after several weeks of overtraining, athletes became more likely to choose immediate gratification over long-term rewards. At the same time, brain scans showed the athletes had decreased activity in an area of the brain involved in decision-making.

The finding could explain why some elite athletes see their performance decline when they work out too much — a phenomenon known as overtraining syndrome.

 

Being Young, Active and Physically Fit May Be Very Good for Your Brain

The New York Times, Gretchen Reynolds from

Physically fit young adults have healthier white matter in their brains and better thinking skills than young people who are out of shape, according to a large-scale new study of the links between aerobic fitness and brain health. The findings suggest that even when people are youthful and presumably at the peak of their mental prowess, fitness — or the lack of it — may influence how well their brains and minds work.

 

Why Gold’s Gym is betting on wearable technology

Dallas Business Journal, Rebecca Ayers from

Gold’s Gym has launched a version of its coaching app, Gold’s Amp, designed for Fitbit Inc. smartwatches as the company looks to add digital experiences for customers.

Gold’s Gym President and Chief Executive Officer Adam Zeitsiff said in an interview that the partnership comes at a time where digital wearable technology is becoming a significant part of people’s fitness routines and experiences.

“Having a digital presence is important, and I think if you’re going to be a brick and mortar provider of fitness services, like Gold’s Gym is, you can’t ignore digital technology,” he said.

 

Eta’s Ultra Low-Power Machine Learning Platform

EE Times, Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio from

Eta Compute has developed a high-efficiency ASIC and new artificial intelligence (AI) software based on neural networks to solve the problems of edge and mobile devices without the use of cloud resources.

Future mobile devices, which are constantly active in the IoT ecosystem, require a disruptive solution that offers processing power to enable machine intelligence with low power consumption for applications such as speech recognition and imaging.

 

WHO and FIFA team up for health

FIFA.com from

The World Health Organization (WHO) and football’s world governing body, FIFA, today agreed a four-year collaboration to promote healthy lifestyles through football globally.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and FIFA President Gianni Infantino signed the memorandum of understanding at WHO’s Geneva-based headquarters.

“WHO is excited to be working with FIFA. Half the world watched the 2018 World Cup. This means there’s huge potential for us to team up to reach billions of people with information to help them live longer healthier lives,” said Dr Tedros.

 

Dinner in America: Who Has the Time to Cook?

The Atlantic, Amanda Mull from

People want to cook and eat together. Modern life has other plans.

 

There Are Fewer Easy Wins For The Power Five. Just Ask The Pac-12.

FiveThirtyEight, Jake Lourim from

They come from every corner of the country. They have been ranked and unranked, bluebloods and doormats. They are the major-conference teams — from the Power Five conferences1 plus Notre Dame — that have fallen prey to an upset by an upstart from the lower tier of Football Bowl Subdivision schools (now called the Group of Five).2 In the past 15 years, among schools that have been Power Five members for all of that time, only Ohio State, Southern California, Florida and Texas have been spared.

But this year, the damage has been particularly consistent. Power Five schools are just 69-18 (.793) against Group of Five opponents, their lowest collective winning percentage since 2008, when they went 60-17 (.779). And this is after a wave of conference realignment earlier this decade, when the major conferences snatched up some of the lower ranks’ most consistent winners, such as Utah, Louisville and Texas Christian. If two more Power Five teams lose to Group of Five foes this season, the 20 losses will mark the most since at least 2004. Nonconference games are mostly over, but some chances remain. Arkansas-Western Kentucky, Tennessee-UAB and South Carolina-Appalachian State are three to watch down the stretch.

 

New NHL replay rules already impacting the Penguins’ decision-making

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mike DeFabo from

… by adding punitive measures for failed challenges, the possible two-goal swing associated with losing a challenge has made the consequences for a failed challenge exponentially greater.

It’s already altering the decision-making process.

“The hardest one for me is goaltender interference, because there’s so much ambiguity,” Sullivan said. “What is actually goaltender interference? If something is close, it makes it real difficult for a coaching staff to challenge now. Because it’s one thing to lose a timeout. It’s another to get a two-minute penalty.”

 

Why Are Endings So Hard?

The Atlantic, Ben Healy from

Despite our commitment to 24/7 news, unlimited-data plans, and bottomless mimosas, nothing lasts forever. So how should we handle life’s endings and last hurrahs? Should we rage against the dying of the light, or be content to let things go?

Approaching an end can have a focusing effect, leading people to summon strength for a final push. A study of more than 3,000 professional soccer games found that 56 percent of goals were tallied in the second half, and almost 23 percent came in the final 15 minutes of a 90-minute match. (Of course, the goal scorers can’t take all the credit, as defenders’ tired legs also play a part. Endings and exhaustion go hand in hand.) [1] Deadlines have a similar effect on dealmaking. A 1988 analysis of several bargaining experiments found that 41 percent of deals were struck in the final 30 seconds of the allotted time, and most of those were resolved with five seconds or less to spare.

 

Coach K demands action from NCAA on payment issue: ‘We must adapt’

Yahoo Sports, Pete Thamel from

… As the world changes in realtime, Krzyzewski issued a significant challenge to the NCAA at ACC media days on Tuesday. He doubled down on his March comments by essentially asking the NCAA to do what it’s been incapable of doing for decades – becoming proactive in the Name, Image and Likeness debate instead of reactive, leading with vision instead of from the fetal position.

“We have not always responded to the needs and rights of our players swiftly, and frankly, we’re playing catch-up after years of stagnant rules,” Krzyzewski said in a statement released after his comments on media day. He went on to request “a firm plan for implementation at the national level” and “we must adapt.”

 

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