A variety of strategies exist to modulate acute physiological responses following resistance exercise aimed at enhancing recovery and/or adaptation processes. To assess the true impact of these strategies, it is important to know the ability of measures to detect meaningful change. We investigated the sensitivity of measures used to quantify acute physiological responses to resistance exercise and constructed a physiological profile to characterise the magnitude of change and time course of this response. Eight males, accustomed to regular resistance exercise, performed experimental sessions during a 'control week', void of an exercise stimulus. Participants repeated this sequence of experimental sessions the following week, termed the 'exercise week', except they performed a bout of lower-limb resistance exercise following baseline assessments. Assessments were conducted at baseline, 2, 6, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h post-intervention. Based on the signal-to-noise ratio, the most sensitive measures were maximal voluntary isometric contraction, 20m sprint, countermovement jump peak force, rate of force development (100-200ms), muscle soreness, daily analysis of life demands for athletes Part B, limb girth, matrix metalloproteinase-9, interleukin-6, creatine kinase and high sensitivity C-reactive protein with ratios of >1.5. There were clear changes in these measures following resistance exercise, determined via magnitude-based inferences. These findings highlight measures that can detect real changes in acute physiological responses following resistance exercise in trained individuals. Researchers investigating strategies to manipulate acute physiological responses for recovery and/or adaptation can use these measures, as well as recommended sampling points, to be confident that their interventions are making a worthwhile impact.

The current study determined whether manipulations to walking path configuration influenced six-minute walk test (6MWT) outcomes and assessed how gait variability changes over the duration of the 6MWT in different walking path configurations. Healthy older (ODR) and younger (YNG) (n=24) adults completed familiarisation trials and five randomly ordered experimental trials of the 6MWT with walking configurations of; 5M, 10M and 15M straight lines, a 6m by 3m rectangle (RECT), and a figure of eight (FIG8). Six-minute walk distance (6MWD) and walking speed (m.s -1 ) were recorded for all trials and the stride count recorded for experimental trials. Reflective markers were attached to the sacrum and feet with kinematic data recorded at 100Hz by a nine-camera motion capture system for 5M, 15M and FIG8 trials, in order to calculate variability in stride and step length, stride width, stride and step time and double limb support time. Walking speeds and 6MWD were greatest in the 15M and FIG8 experimental trials in both groups (p<0.01).Step length and stride width variability were consistent over the 6MWT duration but greater in the 5M trial vs. the 15M and FIG8 trials (p<0.05). Stride and step time and double limb support time variability all reduced between 10 and 30 strides (p<0.01). Stride and step time variability were greater in the 5M vs. 15M and FIG8 trials (p<0.01). Increasing uninterrupted gait and walking path length results in improved 6MWT outcomes and decreased gait variability in older and younger adults.

No abstract

Purpose: Hot water immersion (HWI) is a strategy theorised to enhance exercise recovery. However, the acute physiological responses to HWI following resistance exercise are yet to be determined.Methods: The effect of HWI on intramuscular temperature (IMT), muscle function, muscle soreness and blood markers of muscle cell disruption and inflammatory processes after resistance exercise was assessed. Sixteen resistance trained males performed resistance exercise, followed by either 10 min HWI at 40°C or 10 min passive recovery (PAS).Results: Post-intervention, the increase in IMT at all depths was greater for HWI compared to PAS, however this difference had disappeared by 1 h post at depths of 1 and 2 cm, and by 2 h post at a depth of 3 cm. There were no differences between groups for muscle function, muscle soreness or any blood markers.Conclusion: These results suggest that HWI is a viable means of heat therapy to support a greater IMT following resistance exercise. Recovery of muscle function and muscle soreness is independent of acute changes in IMT associated with HWI.