Creatine, a natural nutrient found in animal foods, is alleged to be an effective nutritional ergogenic aid to enhance sport or exercise performance. Research suggests that oral creatine monohydrate supplementation may increase total muscle creatine [TCr], including both free creatine [FCr] and phosphocreatine [PCr]. Some, but not all, studies suggest that creatine supplementation may enhance p...

Plyometric training (PT) is a technique used to increase strength and explosiveness. It consists of physical exercises in which muscles exert maximum force at short intervals to increase dynamic performances. In such a training, muscles undergo a rapid elongation followed by an immediate shortening (stretch-shortening contraction), utilizing the elastic energy stored during the stretching phase...

Physical exercise provides multiple benefits to an individual. However, the beneficial effect of exercise on psychomotor performance remains controversial. The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of aerobic exercise on auditory reaction time (ART) and visual reaction time (VRT). Fifty subjects were enrolled consisting of healthy subjects who were not exercising (n = 25; group I...

The purposes of this review are to identify the factors that contribute to the transference of strength and power training to sports performance and to provide resistance-training guidelines. Using sprinting performance as an example, exercises involving bilateral contractions of the leg muscles resulting in vertical movement, such as squats and jump squats, have minimal transfer to performance...

Bruce-Low S, Smith D. Explosive Exercises In Sports Training: A critical Review. JEPonline 2007;10(1):21-33. This paper reviews evidence relating to the effectiveness and safety of explosive exercises, such as Olympic style weight lifting, other weight training exercises performed at a fast cadence, and plyometric exercises, that are commonly used in the strength and conditioning training of at...

PURPOSE Fast swim times in morning rounds are essential to ensure qualification in evening finals. A significant time-of-day effect in swimming performance has consistently been observed, although physical activity early in the day has been postulated to reduce this effect. The aim of this study was to compare intradaily variation in race-pace performance of swimmers routinely undertaking morni...

Although there is much debate about the positive effects of active sporting pursuits for the young, in reality many young people are still excluded or deterred from taking part as much as they would like. There are still particular bodily performances which are considered more suitable for taking part in mainstream sport, and invariably one of the determining factors relates to gendered perform...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of voluntary maximal leg strength training on peak power output (Wpeak), vertical jump performance, and field performances in junior soccer players. Twenty-two male soccer players participated in this investigation and were divided into 2 groups: A resistance training group (RTG; age 17 +/- 0.3 years) and a control group (CG; age 17 +/...