Rannama, I., Port, K., Bazanov, B., & Pedak, K. (2015). Sprint cycling performance and asymmetry. J. Hum. Sport Exerc., 9(Proc1), pp.S247-S258. The purpose of this study was to examine the asymmetries in cyclist's lower limbs strength and in the pedalling kinematics during a seated sprinting test and to identify the relationships between asymmetries and maximal cycling power. 16 competitive road cyclists (20.6±3.7 yrs., 181.5±5.0 cm, 74.8±7.0 kg) performed 10 Sec isokinetic maximum power test with cadence 120 RPM. The asymmetry of kinematic patterns of cyclist's upper and lower body during pedalling was registered. Separately isokinetic peak torque (PT) of main lover limbs joint were measured at angular speeds 60, 180 and 240 /s. The differences in kinematic patterns and isokinetic PT values between two limbs were analysed for descriptive and inferential statistics (relative share in %, correlations and regression between asymmetry values and cycling power). Conclusion: The highest asymmetries were found in cyclist's upper body kinematics and at the same time the most symmetrical were knee extensors strength values, but both parameters were negatively and significantly correlated with the performance of sprint cycling. By combining the leg extensors muscular strength with asymmetry of knee extensors strength and trunk kinematics the explanatory power of multiple regressions increased markedly from 0.68 to 0.92.

The purpose of this study was to characterise the changes in the power of the normalised ground reaction forces and COP swaying, as measures of the cycling stability and effectiveness of full body motion during an incremental cycling exercise; and to examine the relationships between cycling specific postural stability and cyclists ability to perform functional movements, measured by the FMS test.38 competitive road cyclists (19.2±2.3 yrs., 181.7±6.6 cm, 74.3±7.3 kg) performed Functional Movement Screen (FMS) test to evaluate their musculoskeletal state. Experimental cycling exercise was performed using the cyclist's personal racing bikes mounted on the cycling ergometer Cyclus 2, which were fixed on two Kistler 9286B force plate. The 6 ground reaction force (GRF) components (3 linear and 3 angular), COP movement deviation and sway velocity were measured during incremental cycling exercise (step 2 min, increment 25W). Postural stability measures were calculated as power corrected standard deviations of center of pressure (COP) and GRF components signals during 30 sec cycling in every incremental step. The paired t-test was used to control differences in postural stability measures between intensity levels and correlation analyses was used to evaluate relationships between postural stability and FMS scores. Results of the study indicate that most integrative cycling specific posture stability measure is COP sway velocity that is also most sensitive predictor of cyclist's musculoskeletal state, measured by the FMS test. During an incremental cycling exercise the power normalised postural swaying decreased up to the intensity at the level of anaerobic threshold and during the level of the maximal aerobic power the postural stability decreased significantly.

The aim of the present study was to compare and analyse the relationships between pulmonary oxygen uptake and vastus lateralis (VL) muscle oxygen desaturation kinetics measured bilaterally with Moxy NIRS sensors in trained endurance athletes. To this end, 18 trained athletes (age: 42.4 ± 7.2 years, height: 1.837 ± 0.053 m, body mass: 82.4 ± 5.7 kg) visited the laboratory on two consecutive days. On the first day, an incremental test was performed to determine the power values for the gas exchange threshold, the ventilatory threshold (VT), and V̇O2max levels from pulmonary ventilation. On the second day, the athletes performed a constant work rate (CWR) test at the power corresponding to the VT. During the CWR test, the pulmonary ventilation characteristics, left and right VL muscle O2 desaturation (DeSmO2), and pedalling power were continuously recorded, and the average signal of both legs’ DeSmO2 was computed. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. The relative response amplitudes of the primary and slow components of VL desaturation and pulmonary oxygen uptake kinetics did not differ, and the primary amplitude of muscle desaturation kinetics was strongly associated with the initial response rate of oxygen uptake. Compared with pulmonary O2 kinetics, the primary response time of the muscle desaturation kinetics was shorter, and the slow component started earlier. There was good agreement between the time delays of the slow components describing global and local metabolic processes. Nevertheless, there was a low level of agreement between contralateral desaturation kinetic variables. The averaged DeSmO2 signal of the two sides of the body represented the oxygen kinetics more precisely than the right- or left-leg signals separately.

Bazanov, B., & Rannama, I. (2015). Analysis of the offensive teamwork intensity in elite female basketball. J. Hum. Sport Exerc., 10(1), pp.47-51. The aim of this study was to determine the offensive teamwork intensity at a high level of women's basketball performance. Under observation for this research were quarter finalists of the European Women´s Basketball Championship held in 2011. The data were gathered from 951 ball possessions of 7 recorded games. Our earlier research (Bazanov, B et al. 2005) has helped to work out the basics of the analytical system of the teamwork aspect. The analysing system of the competitive activity of the game, which we have worked out, enables to determine the structure and intensity of the teamwork, and to find interesting models of game activity from the data. The results of this research showed that the average teamwork intensity index among quarter finalists of the European Women´s Basketball Championship in 2011 was 0,72 (SD+/-0,24). Based on the results of working through the statistical data (T-test, F-test), it was found that the teamwork intensity index of successful offenses (0,76) was statistically significantly different (p<0,01) from non successful (0,68).

Purpose of the present study was to examine the changes in the pedalling kinetics and in the ground reaction forces as a measure of the cycling stability during an incremental cycling exercise. Furthermore, we compared the effectiveness of the pedalling technique and postural stability between the high and low Functional Movement Screen score (FMSTM) cyclists and analysed the relationships between the cycling specific postural stability, pedalling kinetics and cyclists FMSTM test scores. 31 competitive cyclists (18.5±2.1y; 1.81±0.06m; 73.7±7.5kg) were categorized based on the (FMSTM) test results in a low (LS, n=19; FMS≤14) and a high (HS, n=12; FMS>14) score group. The pedalling effectiveness and absolute symmetry indexes, as well the ground reaction force (GRF) were measured during incremental cycling exercise. Cycling specific postural stability was expressed as the body mass corrected standard deviation of 3 linear and 3 angular GRF components during a 30sec cycling at four power levels. We found that during incremental cycling exercise the pedalling effectiveness, smoothness and cyclist’s swaying in all three planes increased according to the combined effect of the workload and fatigue. Cyclists with high FMSTM score showed a lower bilateral pedalling asymmetry and a greater cycling specific postural stability, but showed no differences in the pedalling effectiveness and smoothness compared with the LS cyclists. Cyclist’s FMSTM score were moderately related with the stability components acting along the horizontal plane. The pedalling effectiveness, smoothness and bilateral asymmetry were inversely related to the components acting perpendicularly to the horizontal plane.