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The main purpose of this study was the identification of the current pedometer determined physical activity levels of a large sample of 9 -14 years old Greek schoolchildren and the determination of the association between daily step counts and body mass index through the comparison of step counts among overweight, obese and normal-weight children. A total of 532 children (263 boys and 269 girls) were measured for height and weight. Their activity levels were analyzed using pedometers to measure mean steps for 7 consecutive days. Overweight and obese status was determined using the international reference standard (Cole et al., 2000). According to data analysis mean step counts ranged from 15371 to10539 for boys and from 11536 to 7893 for girls. Steps per day were significantly more for boys compared to girls. Children with normal weight performed significantly more steps per day compared to their overweight and obese classmates. Daily step counts reported in this study for 9 -14 year old schoolchildren were relatively low when compared to step counts from other European countries. Only 33.9% of the participants satisfied the body mass index referenced standards for recommended steps per day. Finally, the results of this study provide baseline information on youth pedometer determined physical activity and on youth body mass index levels. High prevalence of low daily step counts and BMI determined obesity was revealed prompting for further exploration of the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and adiposity in particular for children and adolescents that experience both health risk factors. Key pointsThe mean steps/day taken by both boys and girls in Greece 9-14 years old were 13.446 and 10.656 respectively.Daily step counts tended to be leveled for ages 9-12 years and a significant drop in steps/day was apparent for children aged 13 -14 years.According to the IOTF criteria, 23% of the boys that participated in this study were overweight and 7.8% were obese, while in girls the respective rates were 24.8% and 4.7%.Children with normal weight performed significantly more steps/day than the overweight and the obese children.

The purpose of the research was to study the repeatability of electromyographic (EMG) waveforms of major lower limb muscles during the naeryo chagi (axe kick) in taekwondo. Six male and female athletes, aged between 20 and 24 years served as volunteers. All participants were black belt holders and performed the naeryo chagi with their right leg. The electromyographic activity of rectus femoris, biceps femoris, gastrocnemius lateralis and tibialis anterior was recorded during the kick through four preamplified surface electrodes. The participants preformed 10 successive kicks to a fixed target with 1 min inter-trial interval. The electromyograms were recorded during each kick at a sampling frequency of 1000Hz. After the processing of the raw EMG data, myoelectrical activity was normalized on the time and amplitude domain. The coefficient of variation (CV), intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of multiple correlation (CMC) were computed to test the repeatability of the electromyographic waveforms in each participant. The electromyographic activity during the naeryo chagi demonstrated poor repeatability. More specifically, all CVs were greater than 80%, all CMCs were lower than 0.75 and the majority of the average measure ICCs as well as all single measure ICCs were lower than 0.55. It seemed that only ensemble averages of EMG waveforms obtained from more than ten kicks may be considered as representatives of the muscle function in naeryo chagi and conclusions that have been drawn from a single trial should be reconsidered. Key pointsThe paper is the only known paper focused on the EMG repeatability of a taekwondo kick (naeryo chagi).The paper is among the few papers of repeatability dealing with the whole EMG waveforms and not with discrete EMG parameters.Repeatability was tested using all the available statistical indices.The results suggested that conclusions drawn from a single trial in EMG studies of taekwondo kicks and probably in other sports should be treated carefully.

The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of breathing on the three - dimensional underwater stroke kinematics of front crawl swimming. Ten female competitive freestyle swimmers participated in the study. Each subject swam a number of front crawl trials of 25 m at a constant speed under breathing and breath-holding conditions. The underwater motion of each subject's right arm was filmed using two S-VHS cameras, operating at 60 Hz, which were positioned behind two underwater viewing windows. The spatial coordinates of selected points were calculated using the DLT procedure with 30 control points and after the digital filtering of the raw data with a cut-off frequency of 6 Hz, the hand's linear displacements and velocities were calculated. The results revealed that breathing caused significantly increases in the stroke duration (t9 = 2.764; p < 0.05), the backward hand displacement relative to the water (t9 = 2.471; p<0.05) and the lateral displacement of the hand in the X - axis during the downsweep (t9 = 2.638; p < 0.05). On the contrary, the peak backward hand velocity during the insweep (t9 = 2.368; p < 0.05) and the displacement of the hand during the push phase (t9 = -2.297; p < 0.05) were greatly reduced when breathing was involved. From the above, it was concluded that breathing action in front crawl swimming caused significant modifications in both the basic stroke parameters and the overall motor pattern were, possibly due to body roll during breathing. Key pointsThe breathing action increases the duration of the total underwater pull.The breathing action increases the absolute backward displacement of the hand.The breathing action caused significant modifications in the overall motor pattern, possibly due to body roll during breathing.