Last February, Jake Riley surprised the running world by finishing second at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta — including himself. “I always thought that it was a possibility,” he says. “But I thought it was a long shot, and I hit the long shot. So, it was a life-changing moment.”
But the training that got him there wasn’t a mystery or a fluke. Under his coach, Australian Olympian and 2:09 marathoner, Lee Troop, Riley had come back from what seemed a career-ending chronic Achilles injury to run a breakthrough 2:10:36 PR at Chicago in October 2019, then followed a similar training pattern as they prepped for Atlanta. That training strategy centers on building physical and mental stamina to sustain efforts over time, and requires a long-term approach — like the marathon it prepares you for.
Prior to a game during the recent homestand, the Red Sox lefthander popped out of the dugout, opened his arms to the sky, and basked in his surroundings: blue sky, hot summer day, fans filling the park, anticipation and energy coalescing.
“How does it get better than this?” he said.
For the 32-year-old, there is an obvious answer: by returning to the mound.
… Press says after playing professionally for 10 years, she’s used to the high level of expectation and pressure. “I can’t imagine it any other way.”
The U.S. women’s soccer team continues to outperform the men, who failed to qualify for the Tokyo Games. Press explains why: “We’re playing a global game. And in the United States, soccer is not the number one sport for men. It is for women. The men are competing against countries [that] eat, sleep, drink, and breathe futbol.” [audio, 14:00]
A training plan, or an exercise prescription, is the point where we translate sport and exercise science into practice. As in medicine, good practice requires writing a training plan or prescribing an exercise programme based on the best current scientific evidence. A key issue, however, is that a training plan or exercise prescription is typically a mix of many interacting interventions (e.g. exercises and nutritional recommendations) that additionally change over time due to periodisation or tapering. Thus, it is virtually impossible to base a complex long-term training plan fully on scientific evidence. We, therefore, speak of evidence-informed training plans and exercise prescriptions to highlight that only some of the underlying decisions are made using an evidence-based decision approach. Another challenge is that the adaptation to a given, e.g. endurance or resistance training programme is often highly variable. Until biomarkers for trainability are identified, we must therefore continue to test athletes, clients, or patients, and monitor training variables via a training log to determine whether an individual sufficiently responds to a training intervention or else re-plan. Based on these ideas, we propose a subjective, pragmatic six-step approach that details how to write a training plan or exercise prescription that is partially based on scientific evidence. Finally, we advocate an athlete, client and patient-centered approach whereby an individual’s needs and abilities are the main consideration behind all decision-making. This implies that sometimes the most effective form of training is eschewed if the athlete, client or patient has other wishes. [full text]
Noninvasive and seamless interfacing between the sensors and human skin is highly desired for wearable healthcare. Thin-film-based soft and stretchable sensors can to some extent form conformal contact with skin even under dynamic movements for high-fidelity signals acquisition. However, sweat accumulation underneath these sensors for long-term monitoring would compromise the thermal-wet comfort, electrode adherence to the skin, and signal fidelity. Here, we report the fabrication of a highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrode, which can be used for on-skin electrophysiological measurement under sweaty conditions. It is realized through incorporating conducting polymers poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) into glycerol-plasticized silk fiber mats. Glycerol plays the role of tuning the mechanical properties of silk fiber mats and enhancing the conductivity of PEDOT:PSS. Our silk-based electrodes show high stretchability (>250%), low thermal insulation (∼0.13 °C·m2·W–1), low evaporative resistance (∼23 Pa·m2·W–1, 10 times lower than ∼1.3 mm thick commercial gel electrodes), and high water-vapor transmission rate (∼117 g·m–2·h–1 under sweaty conditions, 2 times higher than skin water loss). These features enable a better electrocardiography signal quality than that of commercial gel electrodes without disturbing the heat dissipation during sweat evaporation and provide possibilities for textile integration to monitor the muscle activities under large deformation. Our glycerol-plasticized silk-based electrodes possessing superior physiological comfortability may further engage progress in on-skin electronics with sweat tolerance.
bioRxiv; Reed D. Gurchiek, Nicole Donahue, Niccolo M. Fiorentino, Ryan S. McGinnis from
Complex sensor arrays prohibit practical deployment of existing wearables-based algorithms for free-living analysis of muscle and joint mechanics. Machine learning techniques have been proposed as a potential solution, however, they are less interpretable and generalizable when compared to physics-based techniques. Herein, we propose a hybrid method utilizing inertial sensor- and electromyography (EMG)-driven simulation of muscle contraction to characterize knee joint and muscle mechanics during walking gait. Machine learning is used only to map a subset of measured muscle excitations to a full set thereby reducing the number of required sensors. We demonstrate the utility of the approach for estimating net knee flexion moment (KFM) as well as individual muscle moment and work during the stance phase of gait across nine unimpaired subjects. Across all subjects, KFM was estimated with 0.91 %BW•H RMSE and strong correlations (r = 0.87) compared to ground truth inverse dynamics analysis. Estimates of individual muscle moments were strongly correlated (r = 0.81-0.99) with a reference EMG-driven technique using optical motion capture and a full set of electrodes as were estimates of muscle work (r = 0.88-0.99). Implementation of the proposed technique in the current work included instrumenting only three muscles with surface electrodes (lateral and medial gastrocnemius and vastus medialis) and both the thigh and shank segments with inertial sensors. These sensor locations permit instrumentation of a knee brace/sleeve facilitating a practically deployable mechanism for monitoring muscle and joint mechanics with performance comparable to the current state-of-the-art. [full text]
CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems from
Self-tracking can help personalize self-management interventions for chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes (T2D), but reflecting on personal data requires motivation and literacy. Machine learning (ML) methods can identify patterns, but a key challenge is making actionable suggestions based on personal health data. We introduce GlucoGoalie, which combines ML with an expert system to translate ML output into personalized nutrition goal suggestions for individuals with T2D. In a controlled experiment, participants with T2D found that goal suggestions were understandable and actionable. A 4-week in-the-wild deployment study showed that receiving goal suggestions augmented participants’ self-discovery, choosing goals highlighted the multifaceted nature of personal preferences, and the experience of following goals demonstrated the importance of feedback and context. However, we identified tensions between abstract goals and concrete eating experiences and found static text too ambiguous for complex concepts. We discuss implications for ML-based interventions and the need for systems that offer more interactivity, feedback, and negotiation.
Your health and fitness apps may have privacy issues that put your personal information at risk, researchers warn.
“This analysis found serious problems with privacy and inconsistent privacy practices in mHealth [mobile health] apps. Clinicians should be aware of these and articulate them to patients when determining the benefits and risks,” lead study author Muhammad Ikram and his co-authors concluded. He’s a computing lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
The researchers looked at more than 15,000 free health apps in the Google Play store and compared their privacy practices with a random sample of more than 8,000 non-health apps.
We often only see the good parts on social media because those are the moments that have made it through the filter and are chosen to be shared. But over the course of a 16-minute long video, Allie Ostrander showed us all what it means to truly be authentic and transparent by opening up about her ongoing battle with eating disorder recovery. What makes this raw video so especially powerful is that it’s not coming from the other side and told in the past-tense — she is in the midst of it. It’s unfortunately an all too common problem in the sport, but rarely discussed this candidly so hopefully Allie’s willingness to be public about her struggles will further the necessary and difficult conversations. Remember, we don’t know what athletes are going through outside of the 9 minutes we watch them compete and the glossed-up versions of their lives they post about. Some seemingly innocuous comments may be doing more damage than you intend. And at a time when many coaches and sponsors would turn a blind eye or do the exact opposite of the right thing, Brooks and USATF stepped up to support Ostrander in this fight by encouraging/forcing her to get help. Wishing Allie all the best and rooting for her as always!
Children who eat more ultra-processed food are more likely to be overweight or obese as adults, a new 17-year study of more than 9,000 British children born in the 1990s suggests.
The researchers also found that ultra-processed foods — including frozen pizzas, fizzy drinks, mass-produced bread and some ready-to-eat meals — accounted for a very high proportion of children’s diets — more than 60% of calories on average.
Youth sports would be the topic of a proposed task force advancing in the Legislature, with a wide focus ranging from abusive coaches and spectators to the financial oversight of organizations and sponsors.
The bill was endorsed by the Assembly Women and Children Committee on Wednesday though doesn’t necessarily appear to be on a fast track for approval this month. The idea is more than two years old but just got a first hearing and didn’t yet have a Senate sponsor for a companion bill.
The proposed task force would consist of 13 members – six with a background in the legal, policy, educational, social or psychological aspects of bullying and seven from the public including parents, coaches and a young athlete who was a victim of harassment, intimidation, or bullying.
