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Highlights • Boys develop more pronounced isometric muscular strength starting at 10 years of age and it peaks at 14 and 15 years. • The Handheld dynamometer has excellent inter-rater reliability and an intra-rater agreement for all muscle groups tested. • The development of muscle strength for the Brazilian population is similar to that observed in the northern hemisphere. Abstract Objective Isometric muscle strength measured by Handheld dynamometer indicates physical ability. There is no normative data for the Brazilian population. This study aims (a) to describe the development of isometric muscle strength in healthy children and adolescents 5–15 years of age; (b) to evaluate Handheld dynamometer inter and intra-rater reliability. Methods Isometric muscle strength was obtained for shoulder abduction, elbow and knee flexion and extension, dorsiflexion and plantar flexion in 55 boys and 55 girls, aged between 5 and 15 years. Inter-rater reliability was determined based on the evaluation of 2 raters, with a 20-min interval between them. Intra-rater reliability was based on 2 evaluations from the same rater, one week apart. Interclass correlation coefficient (ICC 2,1; 3,1), Bland Altman plots and linear regression models with mixed effects were used to quantify inter and intra-rater reliability, agreement and associations with physical activity level and maturational factors. Results A linear development of isometric muscular strength was observed for ages between 5 and 10. After age 10, boys showed a larger isometric muscular strength, when compared to girls. Both inter and intra-rater measurements of the Handheld dynamometer are reliable (ICC > 0.63). Conclusions This study shows increase in isometric muscle strength starting at 10 years of age for boys, when compared to girls and inter and intra-rater reliability for the assessment of isometric strength, using the Handheld dynamometer for the muscle groups tested on the dominant and non-dominant side, for children between 5 and 15 years of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to generate equations for the indirect determination of lactate minimum (LM) intensity from short-distance maximal performances in 10- to 17-year-old swimmers. Seventy-one male (n = 41) and female (n = 30) competitive swimmers were divided into subgroups: one to generate predictive equations for LM (~70% of the sample), and the second to cross-validate the proposed equations (~30% of the sample). All participants swam maximally short-distance using front crawl stroke, and mean speed of the 100 (S100), 200 (S200), and 400 m (S400) performances were calculated in m·s-1. The LM protocol was measured after an 8 min of passive recovery from the S200, consisting of five progressive 200 m performances (~80%, 84%, 88%, 92%, and 96% of S200). Multiple linear regressions generated predictive equations for LM from single performances (S100, S200, and S400), also considering as independent variables age, pubic hair index, body mass, height, and body fat. The relationships between variables were examined using standard error of estimate (SEE). Nevertheless, age, biological maturation and anthropometric variables did not contribute to explain LM. Further, for both genders, S200 was the best predictor for LM, contributing to 95% of LM variation in males and 81% in females. The generated equations were: "LM = 0.24 + 0.67 × S200" (adjusted R2 = 0.95; SEE = 0.03 m·s-1) for boys and "LM = 0.13 + 0.79 × S200" (adjusted R2 = 0.81; SEE = 0.03 m·s-1) for girls. The predicted LM did not differ from the measured LM during cross-validation analysis. A single performance was found to be a valid LM predictor in 10- to 17-year-old swimmers regardless of gender, age and biological maturation. Thus, this is a practical, non-invasive, and economical alternative to estimate the aerobic capacity in young swimmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]