A physically active lifestyle is now recognised as an essential component of healthy living. As well as longer term health gains, physical activity during childhood promotes optimal growth and development, helps prevent overweight and obesity, protects against risk factors for cardiovascular disease and enhances psychological wellbeing. However, evidence suggests that many young people are not sufficiently active to benefit their health. In order to inform the development of effective interventions, there is a need to understand the factors which influence physical activity participation among young people in Scotland. The aim of this study was to investigate modifiable determinants of physical activity among early adolescents during the period of transition from primary to secondary school. Drawing on a multidisciplinary perspective, within a socio-ecological framework, the relative influence of psychological, social and environmental factors was examined. Data were collected longitudinally as part of the Physical Activity in Scottish Schoolchildren (PASS) study. In total, 1099 children who completed a questionnaire in both Primary 7 (age 11 years) and Secondary 2 (age 13 years) were included. The results show that boys were significantly more active, reported more favourable psychological profiles and had greater support from fathers and peers for being active, than girls. A range of psychological, social and environmental variables were significantly associated with physical activity, of which psychological factors accounted for the greatest proportion of variance in behaviour. Intention to be active was the most consistent predictor of physical activity across age and gender groups. Combined psycho-social-environmental models explained around two-fifths of the variance in physical activity among boys and around a third of the variance among girls. Physical activity participation in P7 was predictive of participation in S2, indicating that early involvement increases the likelihood that young people will continue to be active as they get older. The results support the need for integrated, multifaceted approaches to physical activity promotion among the early adolescent population in Scotland, addressing influences at the individual and supra-individual level. Age and gender were moderators of physical activity behaviour, demonstrating the importance of understanding gender-specific determinants within a developmental context.

Background: It was proposed over 60 years ago that “the differences between the intakes of food must originate in differences in the expenditure of energy” (Edholm et al., 1955). It was also proposed that a ‘U’ shaped function described the relationship between physical activity (PA) energy expenditure (EE) and dietary intake (Mayer et al., 1956); this relationship also involved body mass. These relationships served as the basis for the studies conducted for this thesis. The main objective was to examine the associations among free-living sedentary and active behaviours, adiposity and appetite control. The investigation was conducted within an energy balance framework. The main focus of the thesis was to extend understanding of the interaction between PA, sedentary behaviour (SB), adiposity and appetite. Methods: The methodology was based on measurements of body composition together with anthropometric, physiological, behavioural and psychological variables and involved a combination of cross-sectional and medium-term (12-weeks) intervention studies. The thesis used state-of-the-art methodology for measuring free-living activity and aimed to detect a measure of SB based on both posture and activity intensity. Results: Study 1 - SB was positively associated with adiposity and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was negatively associated with adiposity. Study 2 - A procedure was developed to integrate data on two dimensions of free-living SB (posture and activity intensity) using two validated activity monitors. Study 3 - Posture alone (as a marker of SB) is not a good indicator of the tendency to accumulate fat mass (FM). Study 4 - Total EE and the metabolic contributors to total EE (fat-free mass (FFM) and resting metabolic rate (RMR)) were associated with subjective appetite sensations and EI, and provisionally can be regarded as drivers of appetite. Study 5 - The 12-week exercise intervention resulted in a significant (compensatory) increase in EI, however, there was no change in non-exercise physical activity (NEPA). Study 6 - Diet induced weight loss (mainly FM loss) did not lead to a compensatory reduction in PA or increase in SB. Conclusions: These studies have extended the understanding of the associations among PA, SB, adiposity and appetite control. The outcomes of the studies have contributed to a theoretical framework for understanding the interactions between physiological and behavioural variables that contribute to energy balance and body mass (adiposity) regulation under realistic conditions. It could be deduced that a combination of increased EE (through exercise) and reduced EI are likely to produce greater weight loss and more favourable changes in body composition than either exercise or diet alone.

Introduction: Mental disorders are a crucial contributor to the global disease burden. Exposure to conflict and conflict related stressors are risk factors for poor mental health in children and young adolescents. There is a growing body of evidence for the positive impact of sport and physical activity on the mental well-being of young people in developed, peaceful settings, but it is not clear whether these results can be replicated in post-conflict contexts. Despite this, sport and physical activity are increasingly incorporated into assistance for conflict-affected populations. This thesis assessed the impact of a Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) intervention on the mental and physical health of young adolescents in post-conflict Sri Lanka. Methods: I selected methods that balanced pragmatism and rigor and adapted them for use in a low- resource post-conflict setting. I assessed mental health using a locally devised measure, the Sri Lankan Index of Psychosocial Stress - Child Version (SLIPS-C), and physical health using the Multi Stage Fitness Test (MFT), BMI for age (BFA) and height for age (HFA). I tested the reliability and feasibility of the measurement protocols with two repeat measures studies (Kilinochchi study n = 38, Mullaitivu study n = 43). I conducted a cross sectional study (n = 367) in 8 schools which doubled up as the baseline for a pre post with control study (n = 214) in Mullaitivu. Results: Successive adaptations improved the intra-tester agreement for the SLIPS-C (Kilinochchi ICC = 0.701, Mullaitivu ICC = 0.878) and all variables showed a good level of reliability (ICC > 0.75). There were no significant differences in the main outcome variables between the intervention [V] and control [C] groups at baseline. The target group significantly underperformed when compared to global MFT, BFA and HFA norms. 214 students (47.4% female) were included in the final impact analysis; loss to follow up was 34.2%. Mean SLIPS-C score improved significantly in both groups ([V] = t (113) 2.46, p = 0.016); [C] = t (99) 5.04, p = < 0.001), but there was no significant difference between [V] and [C] groups at follow up. Adjusting for gender, age and ethnicity did not affect the significance of the results. Mean MFT score in the [V] cohort significantly deteriorated (t (99) = 3.39 p = 0.004), yet did not change significantly in the [C] group. Discussion: Successive rounds of field reliability tests improved the measurement protocols. I was able to draw limited conclusions about the impact of the intervention as it was implemented to a negligible degree, and the study was underpowered due to absenteeism. The results of the evaluation neither support nor disprove the supposition that SDP programmes can have an impact on mental health, as there was a community wide improvement in mental health. In evaluating the impact of sport in post-conflict countries, researchers face an array of theoretical, methodological and epistemological challenges. This thesis is a cautionary tale that highlights the complexity of evaluation in post-conflict zones and the relationships required to sustain it.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the role of pacing in the development of fatigue through four studies which examined the impact of environmental and protocol manipulations, and evaluated the role of an ability to fluctuate pace during exercise at sub-maximal and maximal intensities. The role of self-pacing in exercise protocols represents a distinct contrast to the use of enforced-pace exercise common in many conventional scientific protocols, and thus required the development of novel methodologies, relevant to current sporting practices, which were shown to demonstrate validity and reliability using a range of contemporary measures. Chapters 1-3 of this thesis provided a rationale for the studies, a review of relevant literature, and an overview of the scientific methodologies common to the studies. The study in Chapter 4 reported the findings of an investigation comparing 1) selfpaced and 2) enforced-pace exercise at matched intensities. This study demonstrated that self-paced exercise poses a reduced metabolic challenge when compared to matched-intensity enforced-pace exercise. The study findings suggest that the ability to voluntarily fluctuate power output in accordance with transient sensations of fatigue may represent an important physiological mechanism used during self-paced exercise to defend homeostasis. The study in Chapter 5 reported the test-retest reliability of a self-paced perceptually regulated time-trial by comparing power output responses within- and between-groups of aerobically-matched participants. Using a range of reliability measures this study showed that all participants were able to reliably reproduce the same power output over 5000m at a fixed rate of perceived exertion (RPE 15) providing evidence of the reliability of a sub-maximal time-trial protocol based on a fixed RPE score both withingroups and between independently sampled groups. Chapter 6 reported a study which investigated the effects of intervals of radiant warming and thermoneutral conditions on pacing during a sub-maximal perceptually regulated exercise test. Participants completed 5000m rowing trials in 1) warmed, 2) non-warmed, or 3) interval-warmed conditions. Dynamic analysis of results showed a significant reduction in power during the first warming bout in the interval warmed condition, which was unobserved in the second period of warming. The ability to complete each exercise bout with similar average power and performance time, despite significant changes to pacing within the trial demonstrated evidence of a multi-level pacing plan with the capacity to alter effort during a bout in response to thermal challenges, but without impact to overall performance within a trial. The final study in Chapter 7 reported the design of a novel perceptually regulated test of maximal aerobic power. The study compared physiological and performance responses to repeated 1) self-paced perceptually regulated maximal exercise tests and 2) conventional incremental maximal exercise tests. Similar peak power outputs and VO2peak were observed in the self-paced and conventional, enforced pace exercise tests (p>0.05). The findings of this study validated a reliable self-paced maximal exercise test (VO2peak CV<1%; icc 0.999) that presents a protocol which can be applied across multiple modalities, furthermore the dynamic analysis of the performance responses in this novel protocol provided evidence of energy-sparing pacing behaviours unobservable using conventional measures. This thesis has shown the importance of self-pacing in exercise through outcomes which cannot be demonstrated when the pace of an exercise bout is externally enforced. The imposition of an enforced pace results in an increased physiological demand in response to a mode of performance that is unrelated to current sporting practices. The positive impact of self-pacing on performance and physiological variables demonstrated in this thesis suggests that the ability to vary pace, under the influence of a model of complex metabolic control, is fundamental to optimal performance, and the incorporation of self-paced protocols in exercise testing is vital to the continued development of models of fatigue.

The aim of this thesis was to assess the ability of a self-paced (SPV) cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) in assessing patient fitness prior to elective surgery, and its ability to predict postoperative outcomes. The SPV is a 10 minute test which is comprised of 5 × 2 minute stages. Each stage is fixed to a level on the ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) scale, in an incremental format (RPE: 11, 13, 15, 17 and 20). This test eliminates the need of practitioners having to choose the most appropriate work rate increments to ensure a patient reaches volitional exhaustion within the recommended time period (8-12 min). Study 1 aimed to assess the reliability of the maximal exercise test parameters obtained from the SPV. Twenty-five (12 females, 13 males) healthy participants completed three SPV tests on three separate occasions. Results demonstrated a coefficient of variation (CV) for V̇O2peak (ml·kg-1·min-1) of 4.2% (95% CI: 3.4-5.6%) for trials 2-1, and 5.1% (95% CI: 4.2-6.8%) for trials 3-2. Repeated measures ANOVA analysis demonstrated no significant difference in V̇O2peak across the repeated tests (p > 0.05). The limits of agreement (LOA) were ± 5.59 ml·kg-1·min-1 for trials 2-1, and ± 5.86 ml·kg-1·min-1 for trials 3-2. The mean intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.95, which represents good reproducibility. It was concluded that the SPV is a reliable indicator of the main CPET derived variables in a healthy population, with comparable values to previous work on standard CPET protocols. Study 2 investigated the physiological responses between the SPV and a standard CPET (sCPET) protocol between a young (18-30 years) and a middle aged to older adult (50-75 years) population. This was in the attempt to gain an understanding of the response to the protocol and whether these responses differ with age. Expired gases, Q, SV, muscular deoxyhaemoglobin (deoxyHb) and electromyography (EMG) at the vastus lateralis were recorded throughout both tests. Results demonstrated a significantly higher V̇O2max in the SPV (49.68 ± 10.26 ml·kg-1·min-1) vs. a sCPET (47.70 ± 9.98 ml·kg-1·min-1) in the young, but no differences in the middle aged to older adult group (> 0.05). Q and SV were significantly higher in the SPV vs. a sCPET in the young (< 0.05) but no differences in the middle aged to older adult group (> 0.05). No differences were seen in both age groups in the deoxyHb and EMG response (> 0.05). Findings from this study suggest that in the young group, the SPV produces higher V̇O2max values as a result of an increase in oxygen delivery (enhanced Q). However, likely due to age-related differences, particularly in the cardiovascular response to exercise, the middle aged to older adult group achieved similar V̇O2max values regardless of them reaching a higher physiological workload. Study 3 aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the SPV in post myocardial infarction (post-MI) patients, this was the first study to assess the use of the SPV in a clinical population. Twenty-eight post-MI patients completed one sCPET and two SPVs in a randomised, counterbalanced crossover design. Each patient completed one sCPET and two SPVs. Results demonstrated the SPV to have a coefficient of variation for V̇O2peak of 8.2%. The limits of agreement were ± 4.22 ml·kg-1·min-1, with intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.89. There was a significantly higher V̇O2peak achieved in the SPV (23.07 ± 4.90 ml·kg-1·min-1) against the sCPET (21.29 ± 4.93 ml·kg-1·min-1). It was concluded that the SPV is a safe and valid test of exercise capacity in post-MI patients, with acceptable levels of reliability when compared to previous work on sCPET protocols. Study 4 aimed to determine if the SPV can assess patient's preoperative risk similar to sCPET and if exercise variables obtained from the test can accurately predict post-operative outcome. Fifty patients with cardiovascular related co-morbidities completed one sCPET and one SPV, although only thirty of those patients when ahead with surgery. Post-surgery, patients were monitored for incidence of morbidity on postoperative days 3 and 5, length of hospital stay, and incidence of mortality in the 30 days after surgery. Patients achieved a significantly higher V̇O2peak, HR, V̇E, peak PO and TTE in the SPV compared to the sCPET (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that for the thirty patients who had surgery, none of the CPET variables were associated with postoperative morbidity at either day 3 or 5 (P > 0.05). Although when combining postoperative morbidity at days 3 and 5, logistic regression analysis showed that oxygen pulse at AT obtained from the SPV was significantly related to postoperative complications (P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis demonstrated oxygen pulse at AT to provide an AUC of 0.72 a.u. (95%CI 0.51 to 0.92), with an optimal cut-off point of 8.5 ml/beat-1 which provided 72.7% sensitivity and 71.4% specificity. It was concluded that the SPV was able to assess preoperative fitness comparable to the sCPET. Although none of the CPET variable from either test were associated with postoperative morbidity, which is likely a result of the small sample size. The conclusion for this thesis is that a self-paced CPET test is able to reliably assess cardiovascular patient's fitness comparable to traditional methods. This type of test may be seen as advantageous, this is because the SPV takes away the need of clinicians having to choose the most appropriate work rate increments, it allows patients to have full control over the test, and it ensures that regardless of fitness all patients will be exercise for the recommended test time. The fixed test duration of 10 minutes may also help to improve the efficiency of running busy CPET clinics. There are clear benefits to using the SPV, although further research is required first to assess its ability of predicting postoperative outcome in a much larger sample, and to determine if it can be used to the same advantages sCPET protocols have previously demonstrated.

Regular exercise is an important component of a healthy lifestyle; however, the majority of the UK population does not adhere to recommended weekly exercise. Exercise peaks in the 16-24 age group and declines with age. Life transitions have been found to negatively impact health behaviours such as exercise. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was employed to examine the effects of a life transition (graduating university) on exercise intentions and behaviour. The TPB states that the most proximal determinant of behaviour is intention. Intention, in turn, is determined by attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. Study 1a investigated graduating university students’ beliefs about exercise post-university. First, final year students (N = 11) completed an online belief elicitation questionnaire to identify modal salient beliefs about exercise after leaving university. Fifteen modal salient beliefs were identified (focusing on advantages, disadvantages, significant referents, facilitators, and inhibitors). The strength of these beliefs were then assessed in an online survey of final year students (N = 136) and related to exercise intentions and behaviour six and 18 months after leaving university. Study 1b used the same sample (N = 136) to apply an extended version of the TPB to explain exercise intentions and behaviour post-university. Attitude, intention, planning, and self-identity were all important predictors of exercise intention and behaviour. Study 2 comprised semi-structured telephone interviews with 10 participants, six months after they had left university. The interviews were thematically analysed to provide an in-depth exploration of how and why the transition impacted on exercise beliefs and behaviour post-university. Self-identity, social motivation, routine, and planning were identified as important factors for maintaining exercise behaviour. Study 3 (N = 125) evaluated a brief video-based online intervention, based on the results of Studies 1 and 2, to promote exercise post-university. Final year students were randomly allocated to either a control or intervention condition and followed-up six months later. The effect of the intervention on behaviour was non-significant; however, it had a positive effect on subjective norms at six-month follow-up. The present thesis provides some support for an extended version of the TPB for predicting exercise intentions and behaviour across the transition of graduating university; however, the thesis does not support its utility in the design of a brief online intervention. Further investigation into interventions targeting exercise beliefs, intention, and behaviour across significant life transitions is needed to prevent negative impacts on exercise behaviour.

Exercise-induced pain (EIP) is a natural consequence of exercising intensely, and results due to an accumulation of endogenous algesic substances, an increase in muscular pressure and muscular distortion or tissue damage. However, the presence of EIP may have negative consequences for exercise and endurance performance, brought about by the physiological and/or psychological effect of pain. EIP has not been widely addressed in sport and exercise science research, and much of the contemporary literature has ignored its potential role in endurance exercise performance, despite the wide acknowledgement it gains in interviews with athletes, coaches, exercise scientists and health and fitness practitioners. Therefore, more empirical research needs to be completed that explores the role of EIP in endurance performance, and the physiological and/or psychological contribution it may make to fatigue and work rate regulation. Therefore, the main purpose of this thesis was to examine the effect of EIP on endurance exercise performance, and identify strategies to mitigate its impact in various endurance exercise tasks. Consequently, this thesis consists of 5 experimental studies, as outlined below. The 1st experimental study (Chapter 3) assessed the relationship between traditional experimental measures of pain (the cold pressor test (CPT) and algometry), EIP tolerance and participants' performance of a 10 mile (16.1 km) cycling time trial. The primary finding was that no correlation was found between experimental pain measures and TT performance (mean pain in CPT; R = 0.222; time lasted in the CPT; R = -0.292; PPT; R = -0.016). However, there was a significant correlation between EIP tolerance and TT performance (R = -0.83, P < 0.01). Correlation analysis revealed significant (P < 0.01) relationships between TT completion time and VO2max (R = -0.816, P < 0.001), PPO (R = -0.864, P < 0.001), GET (R = -0.454, P = 0.009), and RPE tolerance (R = -0.736, P < 0.01). Hierarchical multiple regression for physiological parameters (VO2max, GET and PPO) revealed that a significant model emerged (F (1,30) = 88.586, P < 0.01) when only PPO was used to predict TT completion time. PPO explained 74.7% variance (R Square = 0.747, Adjusted R Square = 0.739, ΔR Square = 0.747, F (1,30) = 88.586, P < 0.01, Beta = - 0.864). Stepwise regression for pain and RPE predictor variables (mean pain in CPT, time lasted in the CPT, PPT, EIP tolerance, and RPE tolerance) revealed that all variables with the exception of time lasted in CPT and RPE tolerance contributed to a predictive model. EIP tolerance predicted TT completion time and explained 69.4% variance (R Square = 0.694, Adjusted R Square = 0.684, ΔR Square = 0.694, F (1, 30) = 68.075, P < 0.01, Beta = - 0.833), PPT explained additional 4% variance (R Square = 0.040, Adjusted R Square = 0.716, ΔR Square = 0.040, ΔF (1, 29) = 4.390, P = 0.045, Beta = - 0.886), and mean pain in CPT also explained additional 4.4% variance (Square = 0.044, Adjusted R Square = 0.754, ΔR Square = 0.044, ΔF(1, 28) = 5.543, P = 0.026, Beta = - 0.881). Therefore, EIP tolerance, PPT and mean pain in CPT explained 77.8% variance in TT completion time. Regression analysis for pain and physiological predictor variables (mean pain in CPT, PPT, EIP tolerance, VO2max, PPO, GET) revealed that a significant model (P < 0.01) emerged when only PPO (Adjusted R Square = 0.739) and EIP tolerance (ΔR Square = 0.075) were used to predict TT performance. Therefore, PPO and EIP tolerance explained an overall 82.2% variance in the model. This study demonstrated for the first time that tolerance of EIP provides a good predictor of endurance performance, whereas traditional measures of pain do not. It is suggested that participants who are able to tolerate a greater pain for longer time period, are able to maintain a higher work rate and therefore finish the endurance performance task faster. The results suggest that EIP plays a crucial role in endurance performance, and that a high tolerance for EIP provides an important role as a predictor of endurance athletic performance. Finally, this study demonstrates that psychological variables (in this case pain tolerance), should be considered alongside physiological (e.g. VO2max, lactate threshold, exercise economy) variables, in identifying the determinants of endurance performance. The 2nd experimental study (Chapter 4) examined the effect of mirror visual feedback on EIP during isometric performance. Specifically, mirror visual feedback was used to deceive participants about the difficulty of the exercise task they were engaging in. It was hypothesised that increasing perceived task difficulty would increase expectation of EIP and reduce time to exhaustion, whereas decreasing perceived would elicit the opposite effect. The results supported the study hypothesis, and showed that the deception of task difficulty in the Experimental group led participants to produce significantly longer times to exhaustion when they thought the task was easier than it was, and significantly shorter times to exhaustion when they thought it was harder than it was (F (1,40) = 4.293, P = 0.045). The ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of condition for EIP during the TTE test (F (1, 40) = 8.736, P = 0.005), and a significant interaction effect of EIP between groups for each time condition were observed (F (1,40) = 7.163, P = 0.011). The ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of condition for RPE during the TTE test (F (1, 40) = 33.403, P < 0.001), and a significant interaction effect of RPE between groups for each time condition (F (1,40) = 13.367, P < 0.001). This was accompanied by significantly higher EIP and RPE when they thought the task was harder than it was, and significantly lower EIP and RPE when they thought the task was easier than it was. This is the first experimental study using the mirror box technique as a strategy to moderate EIP during isometric contractions. The results suggest that perceptions about exercise have a consequence for the EIP arising from them, supporting the psychological and subjective dimensions of pain perception. Previous experiments investigating transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and interferential current (IFC) have been shown to elicit analgesic effects in a variety of conditions. Considering the emerging experiments and application of these techniques on exercise and the potential benefits of these strategies to mitigate of EIP impact, the 3rd experimental study (Chapter 5) investigated the effect of TENS and IFC on EIP during single limb, submaximal isometric contraction in healthy volunteers. The primary finding was that the ANOVA revealed a significant difference in the time to exhaustion between conditions (F (2, 34) = 6.763, P = 0.003). Pairwise comparisons revealed a significantly different TTE time between TENS (10 min 49 s ± 6 min 16 s) and SHAM conditions (7 min 52 s ± 2 min 51 s) (P = 0. 031) and between IFC (11 min 17 s ± 6 min 23 s) and SHAM conditions (P = 0.02). No significant difference between TENS and IFC conditions was observed (P > 0.05). The ANOVA also revealed a significant main effect of condition for exercise-induced pain during the TTE test (P = 0.035). No significant changes in rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were found between the three conditions (P > 0.05). A 3 x 8 (condition x iso-time) ANOVA revealed a significant interaction effect for exercise-induced pain over time between conditions during the TTE test with lower pain intensity in the TENS and IFC conditions (F (3.4, 58.4) = 3.671, P = 0.013). No interaction and main effects for RPE were found between the three conditions (P > 0.05). For the MVC, paired-sample t-tests demonstrated that MVC was significantly reduced following the TTE in the Sham (t (17) = 9.069, P < 0.001), TENS (t (17) = 7.037, P < 0.001) and IFC conditions (t (17) = 8.558, P < 0.001).

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the practice of yoga in Western actor training and theatre practice. The starting point of this PhD research is my observation that yoga is a popular discipline that has often attracted the interest of actors, directors, and actor trainers. The aim of this thesis is to explore through practical research additional possibilities for the use/application of the discipline in training and performance. More specifically, this thesis asks the following questions: " How yoga has been used by key theatre practitioners, such as Stanislavsky, Grotowski, Richard Schechner, and Dorinda Hulton, in their work with actors and how yoga has influenced their artistic vision? " How can I use the practice of yoga in order to facilitate the actor's training and rehearsal process in relation to specific dramaturgical and performative demands? " How do the social assumptions and historical contingencies that underlie the way yoga is practiced in the West today affect the actor's training, his/her relationship to one's body, and the way s/he embodies a role? The practical investigation employed the use of Iyengar Yoga in a series of three projects, which focused on performative and pre-performative aspects of the actor's craft. The practice of yoga postures was thus explored in relation to the actor's movement, imagination and performative relationship to other actors. It has also been used in order to facilitate the actor in working with different theatrical scripts and dramaturgies as well as generate original material for performance. In this manner, this thesis has developed a set of exercises and frameworks, which combine the practice of the discipline with its application in training and rehearsal contexts

Muscular fitness testing has been implemented in athletic settings and as part of youth fitness assessment in schools for many years, with the results compared to norms or used to monitor performance changes over time, Over recent decades however substantial ev idence has accumulated showing the value of muscular fitness testing for previously unrecognised purposes, In the area of health , muscular fitness and in particular muscular strength has emerged as an independent marker of metabolic risk iI?- youth, and as a risk factor for cardia-metabolic disease and mortality in adults. sitting alongside cardia-respiratory fitness (CRF) as a marker of current and future health. In the area of athletic performance, assessment of strength and strength imbalances has become part of injury risk screening needs analysis, underpinning the prescription of ("prehab',) exercises designe,d to reduce the risk of musculo-skeletal injuries during sports training or competition. The work I present here addresses these areas of strength related research focusing particularly on the use of two measures: the handgrip dynamometer in health related research and the isokinetic dynamometer in injury risk screening. Handgrip (HG) is a tool which we have shown can be employed in large-scale assessment of strength in school settings. I argue that HG has value not only as part of cross-sectional and longitudinal health surveillance but also as a means to engage children who do not excel in the widespread multi-stage fitness test that dominates "fitness" assessment. I highlight that in communities in developing countries, the associations between low strength and poor health may be compounded by low birth-weight. This warrants evaluation of interactions between strength, CRF, body composition and cardia-metabolic health and the potential benefit of interventions. With regard to isokinetic testing I show tbat the existing approach to hamstring injury risk screening emphasising peak strength may be enhanced by taking into consideration associations between fatigue and hamstring eccentric strength across the range motion. My work on strength assessment has already had media, educational and scientific "impact" and contributes to the existing knowledge in these two lines of research. I hope to have shown in this synthesis that it is also the basis for significant further developments.

This phenomenological study explores the life-worlds of eight Paralympic student-athletes by employing the conceptual framework of Zygmunt Bauman’s Liquid Modernity (2000), and utilising Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009) as a method of data gathering and analysis. The study aimed to answer the main research question: To what extent is Bauman’s Liquid Modernity an effective metaphor for describing the life of a Paralympic student-athlete. Accounts concerning the lived experience of each of the participants’ life-worlds were gathered via semi-structured interviews and analysed through a double hermeneutic process of interpretation producing a multitude of intricate, intimate and personal themes for each participant. Analysed and presented as individual case studies, the research demonstrates the uniqueness of experience despite the existence of common and shared life environments. Collectively, the themes from each account were then explored via the lens of Bauman’s sociology, identifying connections with Bauman’s considerations of Identity, Otherness, Culture and Belonging in times of liquid modernity. Six key areas were identified for discussion: i) Sport as a container for Liquid life; ii) The problem of Identity; iii) Moving beyond the Social Model of Disability; iv) Belonging to the Paralympic movement; v) The creation of Otherness; vi) The Liquid life of the Paralympic Student-Athlete. iv The research concludes that the metaphor of Bauman’s Liquid Modernity can be used to provide insight to the phases of liquidity being experienced at an individual / psychological level, providing a demonstration of how the concept might be explored within the realms of the sociology of sport, with a specific focus on the Paralympic student-athlete. However, the study also demonstrates a need for research to explore Bauman’s Liquid Modernity at the micro-level to elucidate why some of his global observations withstand for the individual life-words of the participants, and why some observations seemed very much at odds with the accounts provided for this study.