Anthropometric dimensions of male powerlifters of varying body mass

In this study, we examined the anthropometric dimensions of powerlifters across various body mass (competitive bodyweight) categories. Fifty-four male Oceania competitive powerlifters (9 lightweight, 30 middleweight, and 15 heavyweight) were recruited from one international and two national powerlifting competitions held in New Zealand. Powerlifters were assessed for 37 anthropometric dimensions by ISAK (International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry) level II and III accredited anthropometrists. The powerlifters were highly mesomorphic and had large girths and bony breadths, both in absolute units and when expressed as Z(p)-scores compared through the Phantom (Ross & Wilson, 1974). These anthropometric characteristics were more pronounced in heavyweights, who were significantly heavier, had greater muscle and fat mass, were more endo-mesomorphic, and had larger girths and bony breadths than the lighter lifters. Although middleweight and heavyweight lifters typically had longer segment lengths than the lightweights, all three groups had similar Zp-scores for the segment lengths, indicating similar segment length proportions. While population comparisons would be required to identify any connection between specific anthropometric dimensions that confer a competitive advantage to the expression of maximal strength, anthropometric profiling may prove useful for talent identification and for the assessment of training progression in powerlifting.     

Biomechanics of aggressive inline skating: landing and balancing on a grind rail

Currently, only epidemiological injury data have been reported for the new extreme sport of aggressive inline skating, or trick skating. No studies have examined the biomechanics of this sport, which involves repetitive jumping and landing from railings, ramps, and ledges, often over 1 m in height. We present results of a pilot study that examined the effect of skater experience and lower extremity biomechanics on energy absorption ability, and observed balance strategies used during two basic tricks. In these tricks, the skater jumps onto an elevated rail and maintains balance while standing in a single position (stall) or sliding along the rail (grind). Lower extremity joint kinematics, impact force characteristics, and general movement behaviours were examined during landing and balance phases. Ten male skaters performed ten stalls and ten frontside grinds on an instrumented grind rail, capable of measuring vertical force. Vertical impact force was found to decrease with increasing skater experience in stalls (r = -0.84, P = 0.002) and grinds (r = -0.84, P = 0.009). This might imply that less-experienced skaters are (subconsciously) more concerned about maintaining balance than refining technique to minimize impact force. Similar to drop landing experiments, peak impact force decreased with increasing knee flexion during stalls (r = -0.65, P = 0.04). During stalls, skaters demonstrated classic balance maintenance strategies (ankle, hip, or multi-joint) depending on trick length. During grinds, skater centre of mass never passed over the rail base of support, suggesting the use of momentum produced from obliquely approaching the rail.     

Validation of self-report measures of physical activity: a case study using the New Zealand Physical Activity Questionnaire

Accurate measurement of physical activity is fundamentally important in epidemiological research of physical activity behavior A widely used telephone-based physical activity questionnaire was compared with other methods of administration and objective measures (pedometers and accelerometers) among 80 adults (43 women). The telephone questionnaire was comparable to both the self-administered form and international telephone-administered equivalent. Although moderate correlation coefficients with objective measures supported the use of the questionnaire, wide prediction intervals generated using Bland Altman methods highlighted large discrepancies between the measures, particularly in the moderate intensity category. These findings illustrate the limitations of correlation coefficients in validation studies and the inaccuracy of self-report questionnaires in measuring physical activity.     

Habituation of 10-year-old hockey players to treadmill skating

This study assessed changes in selected physiological and kinematic variables over 6 weeks of treadmill skating in an effort to understand the process of habituation to this novel training modality. Seven male, Atom-A hockey players who were injury-free and had no previous treadmill skating experience participated in the study. Players performed four 1-min skating bouts at progressively increasing speeds, each week, for 6 weeks. One speed (10.5 km/h) was repeated weekly to allow for assessment of the habituation process. Our criteria for habituation were: a decrease in stride rate, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion, and an increase in stride length, trunk angle and vertical movement of the centre of mass, leading to a plateau, over the course of the 6-week study. Significant decreases were seen in stride rate, heart rate and ratings of perceived exertion, and significant increases were found in stride length. Some of these changes were evident after only one week of training and all were present by week 4. After 6 weeks (24 min) of exposure to treadmill skating, all participants displayed a visibly more efficient skating style.     

体力活动与癌症生存研究的10大问题

摘要：今天的美国有1 400万的癌症存活者,其中的很多存活者中都接受了多种治疗,包括手术、放疗、化疗、靶向治疗等。这些治疗能够延长生存时间,但同时也会带来很多急慢性的副作用,危害健康,影响生活质量。体力活动（PA）与癌症生存这一领域发展迅速,主要研究PA对癌症患者的影响。基于该领域的研究进展,提出了以下10大研究问题：1）PA能够降低癌症复发风险、和/或提高存活吗？2）PA能够影响癌症治疗决策、完成率、和/或患者对治疗的反应吗？3）癌症存活者的最佳运动处方是什么？4）静坐少动行为对癌症存活者有何影响？5）癌症存活者最有效的体力活动干预方案是什么？6）哪些癌症会影响病人对PA的反应？7）癌症存活者进行体力活动时需要注意的安全问题有哪些？8）哪些具体的癌症症状可以由PA解决？9）对于癌症晚期患者,体力活动还有何作用？10）如何将体力活动研究结果转化到临床和社区肿瘤实践中来？上述问题的回答至关重要,这不仅关系到体力活动和癌症存活这一研究领域的发展,更重要的是,能够为每年数百万新诊断为癌症的病人、正在接受癌症治疗的病人、治疗结束处于恢复中的病人或是那些正在与晚期癌症抗争的病人带来福音。     

East Asian pop culture and the trajectory of Asian consumption

This article focuses on Chua Beng Huat’s work on the East Asian pop culture that became more prominent in East and Southeast Asia from the 1990s, when the circulation of multilingual and multi-format pop culture started to exceed linguistic, ethnic and national boundaries. It argues that Chua’s work indicates that the pop-cultural production and innovation that support the globalisation and regionalisation processes in East Asia need not be national in origin but can hail from different national origins – and this despite the existing political realities of the region and its history of political fractures. Chua Beng Huat cautions, though, that the national popular can also be marshalled to defeat the border-crossing potential of an inter-Asian pop culture. What is the “Asia” imagined or being represented in such cultural production? Chua’s work is also distinctive in that it deals with the political and economic conditions that underpin mainstream pop consumption as a socio-cultural phenomenon, instead of examining consumption as identity politics. The article concludes by noting the significance that Chua as an institutional builder has played in enabling the study of East Asian pop culture in the region.