No description available.

The potential of music to facilitate superior performance during high to elite level gymnastics conditioning instigated this research. A team of seven gymnasts completed a fixed conditioning programme eight times, alternating the two variable conditions. Four sessions of each condition were conducted: without music (session 1), with music (session 2), without music (3), with music (4), without music (5), and so forth. Quantitative data were collected in both conditions through physiological monitoring of the gymnasts, and administration of the Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS). Statistical analysis of the physiological data made it possible to quantify the presence as well as the magnitude of the musical intervention’s impact on various aspects of the gymnasts’ physiological functioning during conditioning. The SIMS questionnaire results were used to evaluate if their motivation towards conditioning was altered by the intervention. Thematic analysis of qualitative data collected through semistructured interviews revealed themes reflecting the gymnasts’ sentiments towards the data collection process. Gymnast-specific descriptions and experiences of the team as a whole were integrated with the quantitative data to facilitate greater dimension in establishing the impact of the intervention. The results showed positive physiological, motivational and emotional effects. In the presence of music, superior sympathetic nervous activation and energy efficiency, with more economic breathing, dominated the physiological data. Fatigue and arousal levels (emotional and physiological) were also conducive to improved conditioning outcomes compared to conventional conditioning (without music). Greater levels of positive affect and motivation emerged in analysis of both the SIMS and interview datasets. Overall, the intervention was found to promote psychophysiological coherence during the physical activity. In conclusion, a strategically constructed musical intervention, designed to accompany a gymnastics conditioning session for high to elite level gymnasts, has ergogenic potential. / Dissertation (MMus (Musicology))--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Music / MMus (Musicology) / Unrestricted

While strength is indeed a skill, most discussions have primarily considered structural adaptations rather than ultrastructural augmentation to improve performance. Altering the structural component of the muscle is often the aim of hypertrophic training, yet not all hypertrophy is equal; such alterations are dependent upon how the muscle adapts to the training stimuli and overall training stress. When comparing bodybuilders to strength and power athletes such as powerlifters, weightlifters, and throwers, while muscle size may be similar, the ability to produce force and power is often inequivalent. Thus, performance differences go beyond structural changes and may be due to the muscle's ultrastructural constituents and training induced adaptations. Relative to potentiating strength and power performances, eliciting specific ultrastructural changes should be a variable of interest during hypertrophic training phases. By focusing on task-specific hypertrophy, it may be possible to achieve an optimal amount of hypertrophy while deemphasizing metabolic and aerobic components that are often associated with high-volume training. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to briefly address different types of hypertrophy and provide directions for practitioners who are aiming to achieve optimal rather than maximal hypertrophy, as it relates to altering ultrastructural muscular components, to potentiate strength and power performance.

Elite athletes of today use specialized, scientific training methods and the increasing role of science in sports is undeniable. Scientific methods and equipment has even found its way into the practice of everyday exercisers, a testament to the impact of sport science. From the experiential, personal training regimes of the first half of the 20th century to the scientific training theories of the 1970s, the ideas about training and the athletic body shifted. The rationalization process started in endurance sports in the 1940s. It was part of a struggle between two models of training; natural training and rational training. Physiologists wanted to rid training of individual and local variations and create a universal model of rational, scientific training. The rationalization of training and training landscapes is here understood as an aspect of sportification, a theory commonly used to describe similar developments in sports where increasing regimentation, specialization and rationalization are among the main criteria. This dissertation adds the concept of technologies of sportification to explain the role that micro-technologies and practices (such as training logs, training camps and scientific tests) have in the scientization of training. This thesis thus sets out to analyze the role that science has played in training during the 20th century. It is a history about the rationalization of training, but also about larger issues regarding the role of personal, experiential knowledge and scientific knowledge. The main conclusions are that the process of scientization never managed to rid training of components from natural, experiential training, and that the effort by Swedish physiologists to introduce rational training was part of the larger rationalization movement at the time. In the end, training knowledge was a co-production between practitioners and theoreticians, skiers and scientists. / <p>QC 20161114</p> / Rationell träning: vetenskapliggörandet äv träning för längdskidåkning