Background:The main goal of the presented study was to assess the effect of blood flow restriction (BFR) on the maximum number of repetitions in the bench press exercise (BP) with different movement tempos.Material and methods: Four female athletes volunteered for the study. The experiment was performed following a randomized crossover design, with four different testing protocols: 2/0/X/0 fast tempo with BFR (FAST BFR ); 2/0/X/0 fast tempo without BFR (FAST NO-BFR ); 6/0/X/0 slow tempo with BFR (SLOW BFR ) or 6/0/X/0 slow tempo without BFR (SLOW NO-BFR ). During the experimental session, participants performed 5 sets of the BP at 80%1RM. The following variables were recorded: the maximal number of repetitions in every set (REP Set1-5 ) and the total number of repetitions performed in 5 sets (TREP). Two-way ANOVA was used to show differences between variables.Results: There were significant differences between FAST NO-BFR and SLOW NO-BFR , between FAST BFR and SLOW BFR variables in REP Set1-5 (p < 0.05) and TREP (p < 0.01). Similarly, there were significant differences between FAST NO-BFR and FAST BFR variables in REP Set1,2,5 (p < 0.05) and TREP. Significant differences between SLOW NO-BFR and SLOW BFR variables were also found in REP Set1,5 (p < 0.05), as well as in TREP (p < 0.01). Conclusions:The use of BFR in resistance training improves the maximal number of REP during the BP.

Background:The bench press (BP) is a complex upper body exercise. Despite numerous scientific studies, it remains unknown which grip width is optimal for the development of strength and power in the bench press. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of different grip widths on exercise volume, evaluate the time under tension (TUT) and the number of repetitions (REP) completed during 5 consecutive sets of the BP. Material and methods:The study involved 16 women with a minimum of one year of resistance training experience. Two independent experimental sessions were randomly selected. Participants performed 5 sets of the bench press during each session, with the maximal number of repetitions, using either the WGBP or the CGBP with a constant movement tempo of 2/0/2/0 at 70%1RM. Results:A one-way ANOVA for repeated measures was used, with significance set at p<0.05. The study did not show significant differences in the REP, TUT nor the total number of repetitions (TREP) or the total time under tension (TTUT) between the WGBP and the CGBP. Conclusions: Grip width of the barbell in the bench press does not affect exercise volume during strength training in women.

Background: The aim of the study was to assess the perception of pain (threshold and tolerance to pain of the combat athletes in comparison to those not practicing any sport and checking whether there is a correlation between the pain perception and strategies for coping with stress in both studied groups.Material/Methods: The study was conducted on 273 healthy men. The test group consisted of 203 athletes; the control group consisted of 70 students from the Faculty of Physical Culture, University of Szczecin. The test of the threshold and pain tolerance was performed using an algometer manufactured by Quirumed Company. To assess strategies of coping with stress, the Inventory Measuring Coping Skills -Mini-Cope was used.Results: Thetestresultsoffeelingpainatrestshowedthattheathletesachievedsignificantlyhigher threshold and pain tolerance compared to non-athletes. Combat athletes often deal with the problem in a proactive manner.Conclusions: Compared to the control group, athletes have less sensitivity to pain. Compared with nonathletes, athletes are more likely to cope with stress in an active way and reveal stronger tendency to see positive sides of a problem.

Introduction: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are among the most common ligament injuries of the knee and often require reconstruction. The etiology of the molecular mechanisms of rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is poorly understood, and many external and internal factors have been associated with it, including genetics. This study aimed to investigate the association of sequence variants in the ELN and FMOD candidate genes with ACL ruptures based on the essential biological functions of these two proteoglycan-encoding genes in maintaining the structural integrity of tissues and regulating fibrillogenesis. Material and Methods: The partici-pants consisted of 229 (164 male and 65 female) individuals with a surgically diagnosed ACL rup-ture (ACLR) who qualified for ligament reconstruction and 192 (107 male and 85 female) healthy participants with no history of ACL injury (CON group). All 229 participants in the ACLR group sustained injuries through non-contact mechanisms. The chi-square tests were used for association analysis of ELN rs2071307 and FMOD rs7543148 between the anterior cruciate ligament rupture (ACLR) group and the control (CON) group. Results: It follows from the study that the tested group of athletes shows a statistically significantly more frequent AA genotype in the ELN rs2071307 gene polymorphism than the control group. However, looking at gender, one can observe that these are significantly more frequent. In the polymorphism of the FMOD rs7543148 gene, a significantly rarer TT genotype was observed in the study group compared to the control group and, similarly to the previous polymorphism, the TT genotype was significantly less frequent in the group of males com-pared to the control group. Conclusions: Genetic research in sports, especially concerning injuries connected to characteristic polymorphic variants of selected genes, is justified, particularly as regards gender-homogenous groups.

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