The cumulative evidence from high quality studies indicates that acute bouts of exercise can yield a small reduction in state anxiety. The research is still plagued by floor effects associated with recruiting persons with normal or lower levels of state anxiety, and this should be overcome in subsequent trials.

The cumulative evidence supports that exercise training is associated with a significant small reduction in fatigue among persons with MS.

This study examined the following: effects of simulated firefighting (FF) activities under heat stress on sustained attention; whether incident rehabilitation (IR) influences performance; and relationships between performance, affect and personality. Firefighters performed ~18 min of FF. Attention, physiological, perceptual and psychological assessments were made before and after FF, IR and recovery. IR had no effects. Self-rated Energy increased, Tiredness decreased and Anxiety increased immediately post-FF; all returned to baseline 120 min post. The immediate effect of FF was faster reaction time (RT) followed by slowing after recovery. Perceived Energy at baseline was associated (p-values < 0.05) with faster and Tiredness with slower post-FF RTs; Accuracy was unaffected. Conscientiousness was negatively associated with RT before and 120 min following FF. RTs were faster following FF, accuracy was unchanged. Higher baseline Energy/lower Tiredness were associated with faster, less variable RTs at baseline and post-FF. Those with higher Conscientiousness had faster RTs. Research should further investigate higher-level cognitive processing following, or ideally during, FF.

and Barbey, AK. Effectiveness of a 16-week high-intensity cardioresistance training program in adults. J Strength Cond Res 31(9): 2528-2541, 2017-The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a novel, 16-week high-intensity cardioresistance training (HICRT) program on measures of aerobic fitness, agility, aerobic power, muscular endurance, lower-body explosive power, and self-reported activity level. The intervention group (N = 129; 63 f, 24.65 6 5.55 years) had a baseline V _ O 2 max of 39.83 6 9.13. These individuals participated in 26, 70-minute exercise sessions, and 4 fitness testing sessions. Participants were matched with a nonexercise control group, paired by sex, age, and baseline V _ O 2 max. Matched controls (N = 129, 63 f, 24.26 6 5.59 years) had a baseline V _ O 2 max of 39.86 6 8.59 and completed preintervention and postintervention V _ O 2 max testing only. The results demonstrate that participants in the fitness intervention group significantly increased their V _ O 2 max (2.72 6 0.31, M diff 6 SE; p , 0.001) and reported being more physically active (0.42 6 0.11, M diff 6 SE; p , 0.001) after the intervention. The matched control group showed no significant pre-post intervention changes. Participants in the fitness intervention showed a significant improvement in 3 of 5 components of the fitness field tests. Specifically, significant improvements were observed for the 1-minute rower (5.32 6 0.505, M diff 6 SE; p , 0.001), 1-minute push-up (8.168 6 0.709, M diff 6 SE; p , 0.001), and 1.5-mile run tests (1.79 6 0.169, M diff 6 SE; p , 0.001). No significant improvements were observed for the shuttle run (p = 0.173) or standing long jump (p = 0.137). These findings demonstrate the efficacy of a novel, HICRT intervention across multiple dimensions of fitness for young-and middle-aged adults. High-intensity cardioresistance training affords flexibility for tailoring to meet desired health and fitness outcomes and makes perceivably daunting high-intensity functional training and multimodal sports training more accessible to general, traditionally nonathletic, populations.