Chronic kidney disease (CKD) alters the morphology and function of skeletal muscles, thereby decreasing patient physical capacity (PC) and quality of life (QoL). Intradialytic resistance training (IRT) is a pragmatic tool used to attenuate these complications. However, IRT has not been strongly adopted in nephrology care centers. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of a low-cost, easy-to-use IRT protocol. Methods: The study enrolled 43 patients (52.8 ± 13.85 years) on HD for five to 300 months followed from April 2014 to July 2017. The efficacy of IRT was assessed based on PC - derived from muscle strength (MS) and preferred walking speed (PWS) - and QoL. The occurrence of adverse events was used as a measure of safety. The IRT protocol consisted of exercises of moderate to high intensity for the main muscle groups performed three times a week. Results: The mean follow-up time was 9.3 ± 3.24 months, for a total of 4,374 sessions of IRT. Compliance to the protocol was 96.5 ± 2.90%, and patients presented significant improvements in MS (from 27.3 ± 11.58 Kgf to 34.8 ± 10.77 Kgf) and PWS (from 0.99 ± 0.29 m/s to 1.26 ± 0.22 m/s). Physical and emotional components of QoL also increased significantly. Conclusion: IRT led to significant increases in PC and higher scores in all domains of QoL. Important adverse events were not observed during intradialytic resistance training.

Introduction: Recent studies on body image have proposed sets of silhouettes with the characteristics of specific groups. Sets of silhouettes specifically developed to depict in detail the body structures of bodybuilders have not been developed yet. Details are essential to this sport. Objective: to propose a specific set of silhouettes to bodybuilders, composed of photos (photo silhouettes). Method: The study was structured in three phases: 1) photos of bodybuilders, selection and organization of the photos by the researchers; 2) organization of the photos by professors and bodybuilding coaches; 3) application of the proposed set of photo silhouettes. Results: Phase 1 -the BMI values were distributed in increasing order (BMI from 24.1 to 35.6 kg/m2); Phase 2 -six physical education teachers and six bodybuilding coaches participated and all of them organized the photo silhouettes in the same increasing order proposed by the researchers. Phase 3 -20 bodybuilders participated; only one of them did not point the set of photo silhouettes proposed as the preferred for the perceptive assessment of body image. Considering the three silhouettes attributed by the researchers, intraclass correlation of 0.92 was observed. Comparing the silhouette mean attributed by the researchers (3.8 +/-1.0) and the mean attributed by athletes (3.9 +/-1.0) significant difference and a correlation of 0.75 (p<0.05) have not been found. Conclusion: It was concluded that the set of photo silhouettes is valid for the study of perceptive dimension of the body image of bodybuilders concerning the identification of the current silhouette.

Background: Sprint interventions can be an excellent alternative for promoting positive adaptations to health and performance. Objectives: To verify the responses of different intervals between sprints in blood pressure, heart rate variability, lactate, and performance responses in physically active men. Methods: Ten male runners participated in the present study, trained in street running with at least one year of experience and a maximum of 3 years, with training frequency of at least two times and at the most four times weekly sessions, all participants without any kind of restrictions that could hinder the interventions—performing three sprint sessions (10 x 30m all out). Participants visited the laboratory on four occasions for ten consecutive days, with an interval of 48 hours between each visit. The first visit was intended to familiarize the participants with all experimental procedures. The remaining three visits were used to carry out the experimental protocols. At each visit, resting values ​​of blood pressure (BP), heart rate variability (HRV), and lactate variables were collected. After rest collections, each participant completed the following experimental conditions: a) 10 sprint series (all-out) of 30 meters with 20 seconds of recovery (S 20), b) 10 sprint series (all-out) of 30 meters with 30 seconds of recovery (S 30) and c) 10 sprint series (all-out) of 30 meters with 40 seconds of recovery (S 40). After each protocol, the lactate values ​​were collected 2 minutes and 30 seconds after the end of the sprints; BP was collected 60 minutes after the intervention (Post-10, Post-20, Post-30, Post-40, and Post- 50). After the blood pressure (BP) data was determined, the mean arterial pressure (MBP) was calculated using the formula MBP = SBP + (DBP X 2) / 3. The HRV was collected between 50 and 60 minutes after the end of the sprint session. Results: The study observed significant differences in the lactate variable for the comparison in the post and pre moments for all experimental conditions (S 20, S 30, and S 40) (p<0.001). Besides, significant differences were observed in effort perception for S 20 and S 30 from the sixth sprint (p<0.05). At S 40, significant discrepancies in effort perception started from the fifth sprint (p <0.05). No other significant differences were observed for BP (systolic, diastolic and mean) for all post-pre periods. Still in BP, in a post (intra) analysis, the conditions S 20 and S 40 demonstrated greater capacity for recovery of BP, suggesting a possible greater parasympathetic capacity. For HRV and sprint performance, no difference was found (p <0.05). Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that different recovery intervals did not reflect significant differences in hemodynamic, autonomic, lactate responses, and active individuals' performance submitted to sprint sessions. This study applied a protocol (10 x 30 m all out) with different recovery times (20, 30, and 40 seconds), and which, given this experiment, can serve as a training strategy (for health or performance) at different levels of physical conditioning.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of moderate- to high-intensity intradialytic progressive resistance training (IPRT) on muscle strength (MS), physical capacity (PC), and quality of life (QoL) in end-stage renal disease patients. Methods: Twenty-seven sedentary hemodialysis patients (55.5±10.6 years) were divided into a resistance training group (RTG, n=15) and a control group (CG, n=12). Patients of RTG were submitted to IPRT, three times per week for 12 weeks. The Borg’s scale was used for exercise prescription.  Muscle strength was measured using hand grip dynamometry (MS). The sit-to-stand (STS) test and usual walking speed (UWS) test were performed to measure the physical capacity, and the SF-36 questionnaire to evaluate the quality of life (QoL). All patients were evaluated at baseline and after 12 weeks. Results: Moderate- to high-intensity IPRT significantly increased the MS (p=0.001, effect size (ES)=0.98), the physical capacity evaluated by the STS (p=0.002, ES=0.85) and UWS (p=0.014, ES=1.11), and all domains of SF-36 questionnaire (p<0.05). On the other hand, in the CG these variables did not change significantly. The protocol was well tolerated and was not associated with significant clinical complications. Conclusion: Twelve weeks of moderate- to high-intensity IPRT in HD patients was safe and improved MS, PC, and QoL.