Development of Physical Performance Tasks during Rapid Growth in Brazilian Children: The Cariri Healthy Growth Study

Abstract

Growth and physical performance scores were studied around three years of attainment of peak height velocity (PHV). We aimed to estimate the age at peak velocity, or at peak rate, in physical performance tasks, and sex-differences when aligned by biological age. A total of 131 boys and 123 girls, 8 to 14 years of age were recruited from the Cariri region of Brazil. A mixed longitudinal design was used with four overlapping age cohorts: 8, 10, 12, and 14 years, followed for three years, with measurements performed at 6 month intervals. Height, 12 min run (12mR), handgrip strength (HG), standing long jump (SLJ), and shuttle run (SR) velocities were estimated using a non-smooth mathematical procedure. Age at PHV was 13.4 ± 1.6 years in boys compared with 12.2 ± 2.3 years in girls. Maximal velocity in SLJ was attained 6 and 3 months prior to PHV in boys and girls, respectively. For HG, peaks were attained 9 months after PHV in boys and 15 months after PHV in girls. Maximal velocity in 12mR was attained 6 months before PHV in boys and at PHV in girls, whereas a peak in SR occurred 12 months after PHV in both sexes. In conclusion, dynamic changes in physical performance relative to PHV appear similar in both sexes, although sex differences were evident in some motor tests.

Muscular Strength Spurts in Adolescent Male Basketball Players: The INEX Study

“…The number of players used to estimate peak spurts was never higher than 17 participants. Similar difficulties have been reported in other studies with non-athletic adolescents [ 2 , 11 , 13 ]. Second, this study used a mixed-longitudinal design with only three data waves per cohort, which may have limited the estimation of height and muscular strength spurts in some players.…”

“…Comparable results were only available for non-athletic boys from Portugal and Brazil. Guimarães et al [ 10 ] identified peaks in handgrip strength coincident and 12 months after-PHV (intensity = 6.1 and 6.1 kgf·year −1 , respectively), whereas Silva et al [ 11 ] found it 9 to 12 months also after-PHV (intensity = 8.4 and 8.2 kgf·year −1 , respectively). Similar timings, after-PHV, were reported in other populations of adolescent males, although using different static strength markers [ 2 , 14 ].…”

“…This method was initially proposed by Van’t Hof et al [ 23 ] and subsequently used by Beunen et al [ 2 ], Yagüe and De La Fuente [ 13 ], and Philippaerts et al [ 15 ]. A mathematical generalization of this methodology was developed and used by our research group [ 10 , 11 ]. We developed mean velocity curves and defined these in terms of time (i.e., months before and after-PHV).…”

“…Published reports on developmental spurts in muscular strength mostly focus on non-athletic populations and vary in timing and intensity when aligned to years-from-PHV. For example, in standing long jump (a marker of explosive leg strength) the peak spurt occurred 12 months before-PHV (intensity = 22.3 cm·year −1 ) in a group of boys from Portugal [ 10 ], 6 months before-PHV (intensity = 28.5 cm·year −1 ) in boys from Brazil [ 11 ], was concurrent with PHV (intensity = 15.0 cm·year −1 ) in boys from Canada [ 12 ], but in boys from Spain, a plateau was reported between PHV and 12 months post-PHV (intensity = 21.0–22.0 cm·year −1 ) [ 13 ]. A similar level of variation in timing and intensity is reported in other measures of muscular strength such as sit-ups, handgrip and arm pull [ 2 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”

Patterns of physical performance spurts during adolescence: a cross-cultural study of Canadian, Brazilian and Portuguese boys

“…For example, in Belgian twins, VO 2peak coincided with APHV (Geithner et al 2004), whereas in Canadian boys VO 2max occurred $6 months after APHV (Mirwald et al 1981). The peak spurt in standing long jump occurred 6 months before APHV in Brazilian boys (Silva et al 2019), was coincident with APHV in Canadian boys (Ellis et al 1975), but was found to plateau from APHV to 12 months post-PHV in both Spanish boys (Yag€ ue and De La Fuente 1998) and in Belgian boys (Philippaerts et al 2006).…”