The benefits of power in sports Power offers several benefits in a sports setting. Muscle fiber activation. Lower injury risk. Improved force production. Quality of life. Final thoughts Power is an integral component in sports and athletic ability.

Did you learn anything new about power in sports? Let us know in the comments below. Adams, K. Journal of Applied Sport Science Research. Issue 6 , pp. Baechle, T. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Bangsbo, J.

American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism. Volume , Issue 6. Behm, D. Sports Medicine. Volume 15, Issue 6 , pp. Bell, M. Journal of Applied Physiology. Volume , Issue 3. Bompa, T. Clutch, D. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. Volume 54 , pp. Cormie, P. Volume 41, Issue 1.

Volume 41, Issue 2. Creer, A. Volume 25, Issue 2 , pp. Ferguson, R. Journal of Experimental Biology. Volume , Issue 7. Fleck, S. Garhammer, J. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

Volume 7, Issue 2 , pp. Gary, A. Volume 4, issue 2 , pp. Hickson, R. European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology.

Volume 45, issue , pp. Hoff, J. Volume 31, No. Häkkinen, K. Acta Physiologica, Volume , Issue 4 , pp. Scandinavian Journal of Sports Science. Iaia, F. Speed endurance training is a powerful stimulus for physiological adaptations and performance improvements of athletes. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.

Issue 2 , pp. Keskinen, K. Tammer-Paino Oy. ISBN Knowles, O. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. Volume 21, Issue 9. Knuttgen, H. Volume 1 , pp. Komi, P. McArdle, W. Mero, A. Gummerus Kirjapaino Oy. ISBN Newton, R. Strength and Conditioning.

Volume 16, Issue 5 , pp. Newton, R. Volume 75, Issue 4 , pp. Journal of Applied Biomechanics. Volume 12, pp. Okamoto, M. Mild exercise increases dihydrotestosterone in hippocampus providing evidence for androgenic mediation of neurogenesis.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Volume , Issue 32 , Paavolainen L, Häkkinen K, Hämäläinen I, Nummela A. Volume 85, Issue 5 , pp. Paton, C. Volume 19, Issue 4 , pp. Healthy and Fit. Body composition vs Body mass index While body composition is often used interchangeably with the body mass index BMI , they have some key differences.

Share this post. How is body composition measured? The most common body composition measuring methods include; Hydrostatic weighing : Also known as underwater weighing or hydrodensitometry, is the most accurate method to measure body composition. Air displacement plethysmography : Requires a specially made plethysmograph enclosed chamber that calculates how much airflow is displaced when sitting in the chamber.

Bioelectrical impedance analysis BIA : Utilizes a weak electric current that flows through the body. The voltage is measured to calculate the impedance resistance in the body which estimates fat and lean muscle mass. A non-invasive and low-cost alternative to measuring body composition.

Ultrasound : Can be used to measure muscle thickness and subcutaneous under the skin fat thickness Skinfold measurements : Uses calipers to measure fat thickness under the skin in several places on the body.

Inexpensive but can also be inaccurate. Circumference measurements : Skeletal protein can be calculated via a mid-arm muscle circumference measurement MAMC.

Genetic factors of body composition Genetic factors have a significant impact on your body composition. Sex differences in body composition Your sex also has a significant impact on body composition, especially when it comes to body fat.

Age and body composition As your metabolism slows down as you grow older, your body composition will naturally go through some physiological changes. Training background and body composition Aside from genetic factors and diet, it is well known that body composition changes due to physical activity, making it one of the major components of fitness and overall health.

Diet and body composition While your age, sex, and training background have some clear effects on your body composition, none of them affects it more than your diet.

Benefits of having an optimal body composition for your sport Contrary to popular belief, there is no perfect body type for athletic performance. How to train for the ideal body type Research shows that strength training and high-intensity exercises are essential for adapting your body composition.

How to train. Final thoughts The ideal body composition is not just about weight or body fat. Did you learn anything new about body composition? Let us know in the comments. Ackland, T. Medical Commission.

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Mitchell, D. Volume 7, Issue 3 , pp. Mukesh, K. Nelson, K. Volume 56, Issue 5 , pp. Nielsen, S. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders. Volume 24, Issue 9 , pp. Prior, B. Volume 90, Issue , pp. Schorr, M.

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Volume 36, Issue 3 , pp. Sundgot-Borgen, J. British Journal of Sports Medicine. Volume 47, Issue 16 , pp. In individual sports, such as wrestling or boxing, muscle mass is also an important aspect of how the competitor develops the tactics to combat the opponent.

The amount of mass behind a blow delivered will be a significant factor in the ultimate force applied to the opponent. Muscles cannot become either larger or stronger through any device other than the proper application of diet and training principles.

Anabolic steroids —much publicized as a means for athletes to become bigger and stronger—are only a training aid, not a magic elixir. Steroids assist in muscular development only when the athlete is carrying out the physical training necessary to develop the muscles. The essential components to a program that will enhance the muscle mass of an athlete will include:.

Muscle mass and strength are not mutually exclusive training goals, notwithstanding the different methods by which one may seek size and strength. Muscle strength may be attained through the simplest of means—gradual increase in workload imposed on the muscles that are desired as strength increase targets.

Muscles tend to get larger as they become stronger; when a strength program is accompanied by endurance training or other significant energy production and corresponding caloric output, the athlete will often possess highly defined muscles, with reduced mass but increased muscular strength.

see also Anabolic steroids ; Creatine supplementation ; Growth ; Skeletal muscle. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

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Muscle Mass and Strength gale. MLA Chicago APA " Muscle Mass and Strength. Learn more about citation styles Citation styles Encyclopedia. More From encyclopedia. com Endurance , Not all forms of athletic endeavor involve the development of physical endurance qualities, but every successful athlete will be required to withstan… Wrestling , Wrestling is one of the world's oldest forms of athletic competition.

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And a little soreness the day after a workout means the muscle is growing, Schroeder notes. You want to work out hard enough during resistance training that muscles are fatigued by the time you finish. Start with six reps and add reps until you get to 12, Gagliardi says.

Once that set becomes less challenging, add weight and drop the number of reps back down to 6. It takes our bodies time to change. But it can take weeks or months to see changes that are visible in the mirror in your bedroom or locker room, he adds.

When resistance training for the major muscle groups like your leg muscles, your core muscles, and your arm and upper body muscles rest 48 to 72 hours before training the same muscle group again, Gagliardi says and as recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine.

You could also do cardio on opposite days that you strength train. Or you could fit in your cardio before or after a strength training session. Some common signs include : increased resting heart rate, impaired physical performance, reduced enthusiasm for training, increased injuries and illness, altered appetite, disturbed sleep and irritability.

To help grow muscles and cut excess weight, a lot of people have success with higher protein, higher fiber diets, he adds. One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to trying to build muscle is focusing too narrowly on one part of the body like doing a whole lot of arm exercises to try to lose fat there.

You need to make changes throughout the entire body. And remember the patience part, Schroeder says. It can take months to see the changes you might want to gain from a program. So pick a diet and training plan you can maintain, he says.

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Better Logo. Share this —. NBC News Logo. Follow better. More from NBC News Think. Furthermore, these previous studies have used medical imaging methods, such as computed tomography CT and magnetic resonance imaging MRI 9 , Although CT or MRI can provide valuable information, their cost is high, and the results are slow to process.

In contrast, ultrasonography US is faster, easier, and more economical; it also has high stability, thus reducing the burden on patients. In this respect, US has been suggested as the most appropriate method for describing muscle architecture in vivo 19 , However, it has not been widely applied in many cases.

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of muscle development and to determine whether such characteristics are significantly correlated with anaerobic performance.

Furthermore, the aim was to compare and propose patterns observed in accordance with each sport category and, thus, build a physical-development database of athletes based on the morphological characteristics of the muscles and anaerobic power.

The results of this study can be applied to coaches developing training programs that include resistance training based on the characteristics of each sport category and these programs can promote prediction and improvement of performance.

Fifty-eight male volunteers [mean age, Among them were 10 boxers, 8 were Judo athletes, 10 were Taekwondo athletes, 10 were soccer players, 10 were wrestlers, and 10 were traditional Korean wrestlers.

All of them were college athletes who had more than five years of training experience and constantly carried out high-intensity training; they also participated in several national competitions.

None of the participants had any relevant medical history or injuries in the anterior thigh and lower leg region and had no factors that could affect or interfere with any of the procedures or examinations. Before conducting this study, all participants were given a detailed description of the purpose, methods, and risks of the study and were informed that if they so desired, they could withdraw from the experiment at any time.

Following this, they signed an informed consent document. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Yongin University IRB No. All US examinations to measure the MT and FA were performed using a real-time two-dimensional scanner Minisono, ALPINION Medical Systems, Seoul, Korea with a B-mode high-frequency linear array transducer 8.

The participants were placed in a standing position throughout the procedure. US examination was performed in the anterior and lower leg regions. The most prominent points were identified using a tape measure. US images in the transverse and longitudinal planes were obtained at each point, and the FA values of the RF, VL, Gm, and Gl were measured based on the bony landmarks.

Image analysis software ImageJ; National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA was used to determine the MT and FA in the acquired US images Fig.

Representation of muscle architecture measurement of rectus femoris RF at the sonographic image A muscle thickness; B fascicle angle.

The device used in the present study was an electromagnetic ergometer Computer-aided electrically braked cycle ergometer; Lode B. Excalibur Sports, Netherlands with a given torque of 0. All procedures were measured and recorded using Lode Wingate version 1.

Excalibur Sports, Netherlands. In this study, the ergometer was set to 60 s for the warm-up stage slow pedaling , 30 s for the sprint stage quick and powerful pedaling , and 60 s for the cool-down stage slow pedaling.

Participants then engaged with the ergometer, and measurements were taken during each consecutive stage of the procedure. The purpose of the cool-down stage was to promote the safety of the participants. To inspire competition, more than two sports-category athletes were examined at a time, and continuous moral support was promoted to encourage participants to demonstrate their maximum power.

All statistical analyses were conducted using standard statistical software SPSS version One-way ANOVA for f, the MT and FA data for each muscle were compared to the anaerobic force for each sport category to determine their significance. Subsequently, Pearson's correlation to understand the correlation between muscle structure and anaerobic force.

The correlation coefficient and significance probability were confirmed, and the significant value was confirmed at the 0. In addition, verification through stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was performed. Through this, a significant structure for each event was calculated and determined as the core muscle of the corresponding event.

The MT of the VM was In the lower leg region, the MT of the TA was In addition, the MT of gastrocnemius was In both cases, Gm showed a higher value than Gl Table 1. The peak power was The calculation of maximum power based on body mass was The mean power was Among the five muscles analyzed by one-way ANOVA analysis, there was a statistically significant difference in each sport category, except for the MT and FA of Gm and MT of Gl.

The range of VM thickness was In the lower leg region, the range of MT of the TA was For Gm, the MT and FA ranges were In the early stages of the Wingate test, the highest value was observed in traditional Korean wrestlers, but a decreasing trend was observed over time.

Judo athletes showed the strongest peak power; however, the soccer players showed the shortest time to reach peak power, as well as the highest peak power against weight value. In the case of mean power, traditional Korean wrestlers were the strongest, but wrestlers demonstrated exceptional strength in terms of mean weight Table 2.

A significant difference from post-hoc comparison analysis between sport categories was observed in all values except in MT of Gm; Gl; and in FA of Gl; and in arrival time to peak power. FA of RF values were not significantly correlated with the exertion of anaerobic power.

The peak power was also related to the RF thickness. No significant differences were observed in the body weight values. The peak power and mean power also showed a relationship between the Gm thickness and FA. The R-value between the mean power and Gm thickness was 0.

Likewise, the peak power kg showed a highly significant relationship with TA thickness Table 3. This result showed a similar pattern to the results of the statistical analysis before classification into sports categories.

This suggested that in all athletes, there was a correlation between muscle architecture and anaerobic power, regardless of the sports category Table 3. The stepwise multiple linear regression analysis results are as follows: Multiple regression analyses revealed that the MT of VM and Gm is a significant factor in predicting peak power, the variance analysis of statistical significance showed a p-value of 0.

In athletes, the muscles responsible for the movement of specific joints that are repeatedly exercised become thicker.

Such muscles can be used as indicators to predict athletes' performance and to obtain information about their functional ability. Various studies have reported that anatomical cross-sectional area and muscle-volume data can be used to predict strength 2 , 3 , 6 , 7 , 9 , In addition, it has been reported that a combination of MT and morphological limb length is useful for estimating muscle volume Through these prior studies, it can be inferred that the developmental form or structure of the muscle directly affects exercise power.

In previous studies, CT and MRI were used to measure muscle volume and anatomical cross-sectional area, and most studies used EMG measurement using electromyography to measure the muscle strength 9 , Most previous studies performed and reported only morphological comparisons using results of simple observation of muscles 2 , In addition, there are few reports on the association between muscle and specific sports ability.

Thus, it was not possible to determine whether this result could explain the general relationship for various sports. A previous study compared the differences in muscle structure between swimmers and soccer players.

The VL thickness was thicker in swimmers than in soccer players, and there was no significant difference in Gm thickness between the two samples. VL thickness and fascicle length were significantly correlated in both these sports categories Based on this, the authors confirmed the need for further investigation into the characteristics of each sports category.

Therefore, in this study, we attempted to determine the relationship between muscle architecture and anaerobic power in six categories of athletes. According to the results, there was a statistically significant difference between the muscle structure and various measurement parameters.

Moreover, a similar tendency was observed in most sports categories. The muscle development architecture of the anterior thigh region showed a significant correlation with most of the anaerobic power metrics, and the MT contribution to the exertion of anaerobic power was especially high.

The average VM and VL values were 33 and 28 mm, respectively. The TA had a mean thickness of 31 mm, and the gastrocnemius was 21 mm and 14 mm in the medial and lateral head, respectively. In addition, MT and FA were higher in Gm than in Gl. Upon comparing the anaerobic power items, a statistically significant difference was observed among all values except for the arrival time to peak power.

In the early stages of the Wingate test, traditional Korean wrestlers showed the highest values, but a decreasing trend was observed over time. In addition, Judo athletes showed the highest peak power; however, soccer players showed the shortest time to reach peak power and the strongest peak power per weight.

Wrestlers showed the highest mean power value but were mean power per weight, showing a slight drop in the value.

In recent studies, VL has been reported to be the muscle, from among the thigh muscles, that contributes most to the exertion of propulsion 13 , However, according to the results of the present study, it is apparent that the main muscle responsible for reaching maximum power can differ according to the category of the athlete.

This study demonstrated a clear correlation between muscle characteristics and anaerobic power in athletes. This finding was corroborated by a previous report that found that the physiological cross-sectional area and the maximum power generation capacity increased with an increase in the MT and FA 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , According to the results of the present study, the factors that influence the exertion of maximum power in athletes are the MT of the RF, VL, and gastrocnemius, and the FA of RF and Gm.

The results analyzed according to the six sports categories showed similar tendencies to those obtained without classifying them into categories. Based on these results, coaches can develop training programs that include resistance training based on the characteristics of each sports category.

Programs designed to intensively develop the maximum power exerting muscles for sports that require explosive power, and to intensively develop the mean power exerting muscles for sports that require endurance, can be expected to improve athletes' performance.

In addition, such programs can facilitate prediction and improvement of performance. The correlation between muscle architecture and the anaerobic power of athletes according to sports category was analyzed in this study. The main findings of this study are as follows.

In the case of boxers, the factor that contributes to the maximum power is the thickness of Gm. The thicknesses of the Gm and RF work together to exert the mean power. In the case of Judo athletes, the MT of Gl contributes to the maximum power and the MT of Gm contributes to the mean power.

In the case of Taekwondo athletes, the MT of RF and Gm acts together to exert maximum power and mean power. In the case of soccer players, the MT of VL and the FA of Gm are common factors contributing to both maximum and mean power.

In the case of wrestlers, a statistically significant relationship was found between the MT of VM and mean power exertion. No statistical significance was observed between maximum power and muscle structure.

In the case of traditional Korean wrestlers, the FA of the RF and MT of VL and Gl were found to be factors that contribute to reaching maximum power exertion. No statistical significance was observed between mean power and muscle structure.

Therefore, on this basis, it can be concluded that the muscles that contribute to reaching the maximum power and mean power in each sport can be predicted accordingly. Main muscles involved in reaching for maximum power and mean power in Athletes from different sports categories.

Peak power related muscles are indicated in blue color; Mean power related muscles are indicated in green color. Van der Zward, S. et al. Muscle morphology of the vastus lateralis is strongly related to ergometer performance, sprint capacity and endurance capacity in Olympic rowers.

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