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Alba Camacho-Cardenosa, Marta Camacho-Cardenosa, Johannes Burtscher, Pedro R. Olivares, Guillermo Olcina, and Javier Brazo-Sayavera. Intermittent hypoxic training increases and prolongs exercise benefits in adult untrained women. High Alt Med Biol. 00:00-00, 2024. Background: Exercising in hypoxia may confer multiple health benefits, but the evidence for specific benefits is scarce. Methods: We investigated effects of intermittent hypoxic training (IHT) on the quality of life and functional fitness of healthy adult women, in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Subjects performed 36 sessions of IHT (experimental group, n = 41; fraction of inspired oxygen [FIO 2 ]: 0.17) or the same training in normoxia (control group, n = 41; FIO 2 : 0.21). Health-related quality of life, fitness tests, and hemoglobin levels were assessed before (T1), directly after (T2), and 4 weeks after (T3) cessation. Results: At T2, upper body strength (+14.96%), lower body strength (+26.20%), and agility (-4.94%) increased significantly in the experimental group compared to baseline but not in controls. The experimental group improved lower body strength more (by 9.85%) than controls at T2 and performed significantly better in walking (by 2.92%) and upper body strength testing (by 16.03%), and agility (by 4.54%) at T3. Perceived general health and vitality was significantly greater in the experimental group at T2 and T3 compared with T1. None of these improvements were observed in the control group. Conclusions: IHT is a promising strategy to induce long-lasting fitness benefits in healthy adult women.

Currently, near infrared spectroscopy has a clear potential to explain the mechanisms of fatigue by assessing muscle oxygenation. The objective of the study was to observe the changes in muscle oxygen consumption after an official women's soccer match. The sample was 14 players who competing in the second division of Spain of women's soccer. They were evaluated before, immediately after and 24 h after the official match. Biochemical parameters were measured in blood plasma (BUN, GOT, LDH, CPK). The jumping in countermovement, perceived exertion and perceived muscle pain were also assessed. The muscle oxygen consumption and muscle oxygen saturation were evaluated in the gastrocnemius muscle with an arterial occlusion test. ANOVA of repeated measures, Pearson's correlation and Hopkins' statistics were applied to measure the magnitudes of change and effect size. There was observed an increase in kinetics of SmO 2 at 24 h after the official match, using arterial occlusion. In addition, it was found that the increase in muscle oxygenation correlated with fatigue indicators, such as the increases in LDH, perceived muscle pain and the decrease in countermovement. It is confirmed that a women's soccer match produced an increase of resting muscle oxygenation in 24 h after the official match., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Objective: Childhood and adolescence are key to the development of chronic disease stages, the distribution of fat an important factor in this regard. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects on fat parameters of a high intensity program developed in adolescents during physical education classes., Methods: In 2013, 35 school-age children of Cáceres taken part in this study divided into two groups. The high-intensity group performed for 8 weeks, 4-6 sets of 20 seconds at maximal intensity with a ratio effort / recovery of 1: 3 to 1: 1. The other group, developed continuous aerobic exercise during the same time. It conducted an assessment of fat mass before and after the training program. Repeated measures ANOVA test was used to observe that there were no statistically significant differences., Results: Continuous aerobic training group showed statistically significant differences in intra-group analysis in the percentage of fat mass trunk (Pre: 15.66 ± 4.16 vs Post: 16.95 ± 4.03; +1, 29%; p = 0.04) and the percentage of total fat (Pre: 21.58 ± 3.93 / Post: 22.34 ± 3.70; p = 0.05). Statistically significant differences were not found in the analysis between-groups in any of the studied variables., Conclusions: The training program high intensity physical activity at school carried out during physical education classes did not improve fat mass parameters evaluated. However, maintaining these parameters could be a good result during the development of this stage, where an increase of these occurs.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated positive effects of acute vibration exercise on concentric strength and power, but few have observed the effects of vibration exposure on resistance training. The aim of this study was to verify the effects of whole body vibration applied to the chest via hands on bench press resistance training in trained and untrained individuals., Methods: Nineteen participants (10 recreationally trained bodybuilders and 9 untrained students) performed two randomized sessions of resistance training on separate days. Each strength session consisted of 3 bench press sets with a load of 75% 1RM to failure in each set, with 2 minutes' rest between sets. All subjects performed the same strength training with either, vibration exposure (12 Hz, 4 mm) of 30 seconds immediately before each bench press set or without vibration. Number of total repetitions, kinematic parameters, blood lactate and perceived exertion were analyzed., Results: In the untrained group, vibration exposure caused a significant increase in the mean velocity (from 0.36±0.02 to 0.39±0.03 m/s) and acceleration (from 0.75±0.10 to 0.86±0.09 m/s2), as well as a decrease in perceived effort (from 8±0.57 to 7.35±0.47) in the first bench press set, but no change was observed in the third bench press set. In the recreationally trained bodybuilders, vibration exposure did not cause any improvement on the performance of bench press resistance training., Conclusions: These results suggest that vibration exposure applied just before the bench press exercise could be a good practice to be implemented by untrained individuals in resistance training.

Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) is an habitual substance present in a wide variety of beverages and in chocolate-based foods and it is also used as adjuvant in some drugs. The antioxidant ability of caffeine has been reported in contrast with its pro- oxidant effects derived from its action mechanism such as the systemic release of catecholamines. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of caffeine on exercise oxidative stress, measuring plasma vitamins A, E, C and malonaldehyde (MDA) as markers of non enzymatic antioxidant status and lipid peroxidation respectively. Twenty young males participated in a double blind (caffeine 5mg·kg- 1 body weight or placebo) cycling test until exhaustion. In the exercise test, where caffeine was ingested prior to the test, exercise time to exhaustion, maximum heart rate, and oxygen uptake significantly increased, whereas respiratory exchange ratio (RER) decreased. Vitamins A and E decreased with exercise and vitamin C and MDA increased after both the caffeine and placebo tests but, regarding these particular variables, there were no significant differences between the two test conditions. The results obtained support the conclusion that this dose of caffeine enhances the ergospirometric response to cycling and has no effect on lipid peroxidation or on the antioxidant vitamins A, E and C. Key PointsCaffeine ingestion may improve maximal aerobic performance in non trained men.Cellular oxidative damage is not altered by caffeine ingestion in maximal aerobic exercises.Antioxidant response to exercise, vitamins A, E and C, is not modified by caffeine action in maximal aerobic efforts.