PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a high-load (80%, 1-repetition maximum (RM), 8 reps) and a high-repetition (40%, 1-RM, 16 reps) resistance training protocol on muscular strength and bone mineral density (BMD) in early postmenopausal, estrogen-deficient women. The 6-month programs were matched initially for training volume (3 sets, 3 d x wk(-1)) for 12 exercises s...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effectiveness of a body mass reduction programme entailing diet caloric restriction and moderate physical activity with or without supplementary treatment with recombinant (r) GH or steroids to improve body composition and muscle performance in severely obese women aged 61-75 years. METHODS Twenty women were randomly assigned to one of three groups: body mass redu...

This randomized cross-over study was designed to investigate the effects of a 4-min vibration bout on muscle performance and body balance in young, healthy subjects. Sixteen volunteers (eight men, eight women, age 24-33 years) underwent both the 4-min vibration- and sham-interventions in a randomized order on different days. Six performance tests (stability platform, grip strength, isometric ex...

AIMS Much is known about body composition and type 2 diabetes risk but less about body function such as strength. We assessed whether hand-grip strength predicted incident diabetes. METHODS We followed 394 nondiabetic Japanese-American subjects (mean age 51.9) for the development of diabetes. We fit a logistic regression model to examine the association between hand-grip strength at baseline ...

We evaluated the linkage between oxygen uptake at the ventilatory threshold (VT) and muscle strength in subjects with and without metabolic syndrome. We used data of 226 Japanese men with metabolic syndrome and 265 Japanese men without the syndrome. Metabolic syndrome has recently been defined by a new criterion in Japan. Oxygen uptake at VT and muscle strength, i.e. grip strength and leg stren...

BACKGROUND Tai Chi (TC) has proven to be effective at improving musculoskeletal fitness by increasing upper and lower body strength, low back flexibility and overall physical health. The objectives of this study were to examine changes in musculoskeletal health-related fitness and self-reported physical health after a 16 week TC program in a low income multiple ethnicity mid to older adult popu...

Alonso-Fernández D, Gutiérrez-Sánchez Á, Pino-Juste, M. Health-related physical condition variables in university students. J. Hum. Sport Exerc. Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 331-340. The aim of this study was to assess the health of individuals over a sample of university students, by measuring variables related to fitness as a basis for reorienting physical activity programmes offered by the university ...

BACKGROUND Consumption of pre-workout dietary supplements by both recreational and competitive athletes has increased dramatically in recent years. The purpose of this study was to determine the acute effects of a caffeine-containing pre-workout dietary supplement on various measures of performance including anaerobic power, upper and lower body power, and upper body strength in recreationally ...

BACKGROUND Children with SLE are known to have higher fat mass compared to their peers but there are no published data regarding exercise capacity as measured by cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength. In our pilot study of ten children with SLE, we sought to examine body composition, cardiovascular endurance, and isometric muscle strength. FINDINGS Ten pediatric SLE patients were studi...