@article{PrieskeChaabenePutaetal.2019, author = {Prieske, Olaf and Chaabene, Helmi and Puta, Christian and Behm, David George and B{\"u}sch, Dirk and Granacher, Urs}, title = {Effects of Drop Height on Jump Performance in Male and Female Elite Adolescent Handball Players}, series = {International journal of sports physiology and performance}, volume = {14}, journal = {International journal of sports physiology and performance}, number = {5}, publisher = {Human Kinetics Publ.}, address = {Champaign}, issn = {1555-0265}, doi = {10.1123/ijspp.2018-0482}, pages = {674 -- 680}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Purpose: To examine the effects of drop height on drop-jump (DJ) performance and on associations between DJ and horizontal-jump/sprint performances in adolescent athletes. Methods: Male (n = 119, 2.5 [0.6] y post-peak-height velocity) and female (n = 120, 2.5 [0.5] y post-peak-height velocity) adolescent handball players (national level) performed DJs in randomized order using 3 drop heights (20, 35, and 50 cm). DJ performance (jump height, reactive strength index [RSI]) was analyzed using the Optojump Next system. In addition, correlations were computed between DJ height and RSI with standing-long-jump and 20-m linear-sprint performances. Results: Statistical analyses revealed medium-size main effects of drop height for DJ height and RSI (P <.001, 0.63 <= d <= 0.71). Post hoc tests indicated larger DJ heights from 20 to 35 and 35 to 50 cm (P <=.031, 0.33 <= d <= 0.71) and better RSI from 20- to 35-cm drop height (P <.001, d = 0.77). No significant difference was found for RSI between 35- and 50-cm drop height. Irrespective of drop height, associations of DJ height and RSI were small with 5-m-split time (-.27 <= r <=.05), medium with 10-m-split time (-.44 <= r <=.14), and medium to large with 20-m sprint time and standing-long-jump distance (-.57 <= r <=.22). Conclusions: The present findings indicate that, irrespective of sex, 35-cm drop heights are best suited to induce rapid and powerful DJ performance (ie, RSI) during reactive strength training in elite adolescent handball players. Moreover, training-related gains in DJ performance may at least partly translate to gains in horizontal jump and longer sprint distances (ie, >= 20-m) and/or vice versa in male and female elite adolescent athletes, irrespective of drop height.}, language = {en} } @misc{AlbertOwolabiGebeletal.2020, author = {Albert, Justin Amadeus and Owolabi, Victor and Gebel, Arnd and Brahms, Clemens Markus and Granacher, Urs and Arnrich, Bert}, title = {Evaluation of the Pose Tracking Performance of the Azure Kinect and Kinect v2 for Gait Analysis in Comparison with a Gold Standard}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Reihe der Digital Engineering Fakult{\"a}t}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Reihe der Digital Engineering Fakult{\"a}t}, number = {3}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-48413}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-484130}, pages = {24}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Gait analysis is an important tool for the early detection of neurological diseases and for the assessment of risk of falling in elderly people. The availability of low-cost camera hardware on the market today and recent advances in Machine Learning enable a wide range of clinical and health-related applications, such as patient monitoring or exercise recognition at home. In this study, we evaluated the motion tracking performance of the latest generation of the Microsoft Kinect camera, Azure Kinect, compared to its predecessor Kinect v2 in terms of treadmill walking using a gold standard Vicon multi-camera motion capturing system and the 39 marker Plug-in Gait model. Five young and healthy subjects walked on a treadmill at three different velocities while data were recorded simultaneously with all three camera systems. An easy-to-administer camera calibration method developed here was used to spatially align the 3D skeleton data from both Kinect cameras and the Vicon system. With this calibration, the spatial agreement of joint positions between the two Kinect cameras and the reference system was evaluated. In addition, we compared the accuracy of certain spatio-temporal gait parameters, i.e., step length, step time, step width, and stride time calculated from the Kinect data, with the gold standard system. Our results showed that the improved hardware and the motion tracking algorithm of the Azure Kinect camera led to a significantly higher accuracy of the spatial gait parameters than the predecessor Kinect v2, while no significant differences were found between the temporal parameters. Furthermore, we explain in detail how this experimental setup could be used to continuously monitor the progress during gait rehabilitation in older people.}, language = {en} } @article{TrautmannZhouBrahmsetal.2021, author = {Trautmann, Justin and Zhou, Lin and Brahms, Clemens Markus and Tunca, Can and Ersoy, Cem and Granacher, Urs and Arnrich, Bert}, title = {TRIPOD}, series = {Data : open access ʻData in scienceʼ journal}, volume = {6}, journal = {Data : open access ʻData in scienceʼ journal}, number = {9}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2306-5729}, doi = {10.3390/data6090095}, pages = {19}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Inertial measurement units (IMUs) enable easy to operate and low-cost data recording for gait analysis. When combined with treadmill walking, a large number of steps can be collected in a controlled environment without the need of a dedicated gait analysis laboratory. In order to evaluate existing and novel IMU-based gait analysis algorithms for treadmill walking, a reference dataset that includes IMU data as well as reliable ground truth measurements for multiple participants and walking speeds is needed. This article provides a reference dataset consisting of 15 healthy young adults who walked on a treadmill at three different speeds. Data were acquired using seven IMUs placed on the lower body, two different reference systems (Zebris FDMT-HQ and OptoGait), and two RGB cameras. Additionally, in order to validate an existing IMU-based gait analysis algorithm using the dataset, an adaptable modular data analysis pipeline was built. Our results show agreement between the pressure-sensitive Zebris and the photoelectric OptoGait system (r = 0.99), demonstrating the quality of our reference data. As a use case, the performance of an algorithm originally designed for overground walking was tested on treadmill data using the data pipeline. The accuracy of stride length and stride time estimations was comparable to that reported in other studies with overground data, indicating that the algorithm is equally applicable to treadmill data. The Python source code of the data pipeline is publicly available, and the dataset will be provided by the authors upon request, enabling future evaluations of IMU gait analysis algorithms without the need of recording new data.}, language = {en} } @article{TeichFuehnerBaehretal.2023, author = {Teich, Paula and F{\"u}hner, Thea Heidi and Baehr, Florian and Puta, Christian and Granacher, Urs and Kliegl, Reinhold}, title = {Covid pandemic effects on the physical fitness of primary school children}, series = {Sports Medicine - Open}, volume = {9}, journal = {Sports Medicine - Open}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {2198-9761}, doi = {10.1186/s40798-023-00624-1}, pages = {19}, year = {2023}, abstract = {BackgroundIn spring of 2020, the Sars-CoV-2 incidence rate increased rapidly in Germany and around the world. Throughout the next 2 years, schools were temporarily closed and social distancing measures were put in place to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Did these social restrictions and temporary school lockdowns affect children's physical fitness? The EMOTIKON project annually tests the physical fitness of all third-graders in the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany. The tests assess cardiorespiratory endurance (6-min-run test), coordination (star-run test), speed (20-m sprint test), lower (powerLOW, standing long jump test), and upper (powerUP, ball-push test) limbs muscle power, and static balance (one-legged stance test with eyes closed). A total of 125,893 children were tested in the falls from 2016 to 2022. Primary analyses focused on 98,510 keyage third-graders (i.e., school enrollment according to the legal key date, aged 8 to 9 years) from 515 schools. Secondary analyses included 27,383 older-than-keyage third-graders (i.e., OTK, delayed school enrollment or repetition of a grade, aged 9 to 10 years), who have been shown to exhibit lower physical fitness than expected for their age. Linear mixed models fitted pre-pandemic quadratic secular trends, and took into account differences between children and schools.ResultsThird-graders exhibited lower cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed and powerUP in the Covid pandemic cohorts (2020-2022) compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts (2016-2019). Children's powerLOW and static balance were higher in the pandemic cohorts compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts. From 2020 to 2021, coordination, powerLOW and powerUP further declined. Evidence for some post-pandemic physical fitness catch-up was restricted to powerUP. Cohen's |ds| for comparisons of the pandemic cohorts 2020-2022 with pre-pandemic cohorts 2016-2019 ranged from 0.02 for powerLOW to 0.15 for coordination. Within the pandemic cohorts, keyage children exhibited developmental losses ranging from approximately 1 month for speed to 5 months for cardiorespiratory endurance. For powerLOW and static balance, the positive pandemic effects translate to developmental gains of 1 and 7 months, respectively. Pre-pandemic secular trends may account for some of the observed differences between pandemic and pre-pandemic cohorts, especially in powerLOW, powerUP and static balance. The pandemic further increased developmental delays of OTK children in cardiorespiratory endurance, powerUP and balance.ConclusionsThe Covid-19 pandemic was associated with declines in several physical fitness components in German third-graders. Pandemic effects are still visible in 2022. Health-related interventions should specifically target those physical fitness components that were negatively affected by the pandemic (cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed).}, language = {en} } @misc{BouamraZouhalRateletal.2022, author = {Bouamra, Marwa and Zouhal, Hassane and Ratel, S{\´e}bastien and Makhlouf, Issam and Bezrati, Ikram and Chtara, Moktar and Behm, David George and Granacher, Urs and Chaouachi, Anis}, title = {Concurrent Training Promotes Greater Gains on Body Composition and Components of Physical Fitness Than Single-Mode Training (Endurance or Resistance) in Youth With Obesity}, series = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-56397}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-563974}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The prevalence of obesity in the pediatric population has become a major public health issue. Indeed, the dramatic increase of this epidemic causes multiple and harmful consequences, Physical activity, particularly physical exercise, remains to be the cornerstone of interventions against childhood obesity. Given the conflicting findings with reference to the relevant literature addressing the effects of exercise on adiposity and physical fitness outcomes in obese children and adolescents, the effect of duration-matched concurrent training (CT) [50\% resistance (RT) and 50\% high-intensity-interval-training (HIIT)] on body composition and physical fitness in obese youth remains to be elucidated. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 9-weeks of CT compared to RT or HIIT alone, on body composition and selected physical fitness components in healthy sedentary obese youth. Out of 73 participants, only 37; [14 males and 23 females; age 13.4 ± 0.9 years; body-mass-index (BMI): 31.2 ± 4.8 kg·m-2] were eligible and randomized into three groups: HIIT (n = 12): 3-4 sets×12 runs at 80-110\% peak velocity, with 10-s passive recovery between bouts; RT (n = 12): 6 exercises; 3-4 sets × 10 repetition maximum (RM) and CT (n = 13): 50\% serial completion of RT and HIIT. CT promoted significant greater gains compared to HIIT and RT on body composition (p < 0.01, d = large), 6-min-walking test distance (6 MWT-distance) and on 6 MWT-VO2max (p < 0.03, d = large). In addition, CT showed substantially greater improvements than HIIT in the medicine ball throw test (20.2 vs. 13.6\%, p < 0.04, d = large). On the other hand, RT exhibited significantly greater gains in relative hand grip strength (p < 0.03, d = large) and CMJ (p < 0.01, d = large) than HIIT and CT. CT promoted greater benefits for fat, body mass loss and cardiorespiratory fitness than HIIT or RT modalities. This study provides important information for practitioners and therapists on the application of effective exercise regimes with obese youth to induce significant and beneficial body composition changes. The applied CT program and the respective programming parameters in terms of exercise intensity and volume can be used by practitioners as an effective exercise treatment to fight the pandemic overweight and obesity in youth.}, language = {en} } @article{BouamraZouhalRateletal.2022, author = {Bouamra, Marwa and Zouhal, Hassane and Ratel, S{\´e}bastien and Makhlouf, Issam and Bezrati, Ikram and Chtara, Moktar and Behm, David George and Granacher, Urs and Chaouachi, Anis}, title = {Concurrent Training Promotes Greater Gains on Body Composition and Components of Physical Fitness Than Single-Mode Training (Endurance or Resistance) in Youth With Obesity}, series = {Frontiers in Physiology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in Physiology}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2022.869063}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The prevalence of obesity in the pediatric population has become a major public health issue. Indeed, the dramatic increase of this epidemic causes multiple and harmful consequences, Physical activity, particularly physical exercise, remains to be the cornerstone of interventions against childhood obesity. Given the conflicting findings with reference to the relevant literature addressing the effects of exercise on adiposity and physical fitness outcomes in obese children and adolescents, the effect of duration-matched concurrent training (CT) [50\% resistance (RT) and 50\% high-intensity-interval-training (HIIT)] on body composition and physical fitness in obese youth remains to be elucidated. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 9-weeks of CT compared to RT or HIIT alone, on body composition and selected physical fitness components in healthy sedentary obese youth. Out of 73 participants, only 37; [14 males and 23 females; age 13.4 ± 0.9 years; body-mass-index (BMI): 31.2 ± 4.8 kg·m-2] were eligible and randomized into three groups: HIIT (n = 12): 3-4 sets×12 runs at 80-110\% peak velocity, with 10-s passive recovery between bouts; RT (n = 12): 6 exercises; 3-4 sets × 10 repetition maximum (RM) and CT (n = 13): 50\% serial completion of RT and HIIT. CT promoted significant greater gains compared to HIIT and RT on body composition (p < 0.01, d = large), 6-min-walking test distance (6 MWT-distance) and on 6 MWT-VO2max (p < 0.03, d = large). In addition, CT showed substantially greater improvements than HIIT in the medicine ball throw test (20.2 vs. 13.6\%, p < 0.04, d = large). On the other hand, RT exhibited significantly greater gains in relative hand grip strength (p < 0.03, d = large) and CMJ (p < 0.01, d = large) than HIIT and CT. CT promoted greater benefits for fat, body mass loss and cardiorespiratory fitness than HIIT or RT modalities. This study provides important information for practitioners and therapists on the application of effective exercise regimes with obese youth to induce significant and beneficial body composition changes. The applied CT program and the respective programming parameters in terms of exercise intensity and volume can be used by practitioners as an effective exercise treatment to fight the pandemic overweight and obesity in youth.}, language = {en} } @article{JebabliZouhalBoullosaetal.2022, author = {Jebabli, Nidhal and Zouhal, Hassane and Boullosa, Daniel and Govindasamy, Karuppasamy and Tourny, Claire and Hackney, Anthony C. and Granacher, Urs and Ben Abderrahman, Abderraouf}, title = {The effects of preferred music and its timing on performance, pacing, and psychophysiological responses during the 6-min test}, series = {Journal of human kinetics}, volume = {82}, journal = {Journal of human kinetics}, number = {1}, publisher = {Academy of Physical Education}, address = {Katowice}, issn = {1640-5544}, doi = {10.2478/hukin-2022-0038}, pages = {123 -- 133}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of listening to preferred music during a warm up or exercise, on performance during a 6-min all-out exercise test (6-MT) in young adult males. Twenty-five healthy males volunteered to participate in this study. Following a within subject design, participants performed three test conditions (MDT: music during the test; MDW: music during the warm-up; WM: without music) in random order. Outcomes included mean running speed over the 6-min test (MRS6), total distance covered (TDC), heart rate responses (HRpeak, HRmean), blood lactate (3-min after the test), and the rating of perceived exertion (RPE); additionally, feeling scale scores were recorded. Listening to preferred music during running resulted in significant TDC (Delta up arrow 10\%, p=0.006, ES=0.80) and MRS6 (Delta up arrow 14\%, p=0.012, ES=1.02) improvement during the 6-MT, improvement was also noted for the warm-up with music condition (TDC:Delta up arrow 8\%, p=0.028, ES=0.63; MRS6:Delta up arrow 8\%, p=0.032, ES=0.61). A similar reverse "J-shaped" pacing profile was detected during the three conditions. Blood lactate was lower in the MDT condition by 8\% (p=0.01, ES=1.10), but not the MDW condition, compared to MW. In addition, no statistically significant differences were found between the test sessions for the HR, RPE, and feeling scale scores. In conclusion, listening to music during exercise testing would be more beneficial for optimal TDC and MRS6 performances compared to MDW and WM.}, language = {en} } @article{SaidiZouhalBoullosaetal.2022, author = {Saidi, Karim and Zouhal, Hassane and Boullosa, Daniel and Dupont, Gregory and Hackney, Anthony C. and Bideau, Benoit and Granacher, Urs and Ben Abderrahman, Abderraouf}, title = {Biochemical markers and wellness status during a congested match play period in elite soccer players}, series = {International journal of sports physiology and performance : IJSSP}, volume = {17}, journal = {International journal of sports physiology and performance : IJSSP}, number = {4}, publisher = {Human Kinetics Publ.}, address = {Champaign}, issn = {1555-0265}, doi = {10.1123/ijspp.2020-0914}, pages = {605 -- 620}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Objectives: To analyze biochemical markers, wellness status, and physical fitness in elite soccer players in relation to changes in training and match exposure during a congested period of match play. Methods: Fourteen elite soccer players were evaluated 3 times (T1, T2, and T3) over 12 weeks (T1-T2: 6-wk regular period of match play and T2-T3: 6-wk congested period of match play). Players performed vertical jump tests, repeated shuttle sprint ability test, and the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test at T1, T2, and T3. Plasma C-reactive protein, creatinine, and creatine kinase were analyzed at T1, T2, and T3. Wellness status was measured daily using the Hopper questionnaire (delayed onset of muscle soreness, stress, fatigue, and sleep quality). Training session rating of perceived exertion was also recorded on a daily basis. Results: A significant increase was found in stress, fatigue, delayed onset of muscle soreness scores, and Hopper index during the congested period (between T2 and T3) compared with the regular period (between T1 and T2) (.001 < P < .008, 0.8 < ES < 2.3). Between T2 and T3, significant relationships were found between the percentage variations (Delta\%) of C-reactive protein, and Delta\% of creatine kinase with the Hopper Index, and the Delta\% of fatigue score. In addition, the Delta\% of fatigue score and Delta\% of delayed onset of muscle soreness score correlated with Delta\% Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test and Delta\% best of repeated shuttle sprint ability test (.49 < r < P < .01). Conclusions: An intensive period of congested match play significantly compromised elite soccer players' physical fitness and wellness status. Elite soccer players' wellness status reflects declines in physical fitness during this period while biochemical changes do not.}, language = {en} }