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Background: The bicycle is a popular means of transportation, exercise, recreation and also socializing for children worldwide, allowing them several physical and psychological benefits. Several methodologies and types of bicycles have been used for learning how to cycle, however, the best approach is still unclear. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to review and summarize the existent studies of programmes that aim to teach children how to ride a bicycle independently, in order to identify which possibilities lead to a more efficient intervention. Methods: A comprehensive search was performed in seven electronic databases (TRID, CENTRAL, Web of Science, SCOPUS, EBSCO, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses and Google Scholar), including grey literature and the citations of relevant articles, from their inception to April 2020. Studies were included according to the eligibility criteria: children and youths aged 18 or less, with and without disabilities; intervention programmes that aimed to teach how to ride a bicycle with a pre- and post-intervention assessment regarding the ability to ride. The Downs and Black checklist was used for quality assessment. Results: Nine intervention studies, including a randomized controlled trial, were included. The mean quality score was 11.8 ± 3.6 points. Just one of the included studies was targeted at children without disabilities. Different facilitating constraints and barriers were identified, which resulted in a list of tips for future intervention programmes to teach children how to ride a bicycle. The facilitating constrains were using a progressive learning strategy; using an individualized approach; making bicycle adjustments; having motivated children and having family support throughout the learning process. The barriers were: the fear of falling; lack of parents' support; and lower leg strength. Learning to cycle was also associated with a decrease in sedentary time, increase in physical activity, improvement in leg strength, and a positive influence on body composition, indicating that it can be a solution to disrupt the cycle of consistent weight gain over time in children with disabilities. Conclusions: There is a gap concerning intervention studies to teach children without disabilities how to cycle. The best strategy is probably a progressive learning strategy by using simpler training bicycles that enable the child to explore balance from the beginning, and simpler exercises first. Teaching programmes should adopt an individualized intervention, feedback and motivation, considering each child's specific characteristics.

Copyright of Retos: Nuevas Perspectivas de Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación is the property of Federacion Espanola de Asociaciones de Docentes de Educacion Fisica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Retos: Nuevas Perspectivas de Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación is the property of Federacion Espanola de Asociaciones de Docentes de Educacion Fisica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Health and exercise technology may promote a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to understand and involve the perspective of pregnant women as users in the design of a framework for future e-health and exercise interventions during pregnancy. Pregnant women replied to a questionnaire aimed at understanding their physical activity patterns, needs, and preferences regarding the use of mobile applications (apps). The main results showed that one-third of the women did not practice any type of exercise during pregnancy. Women preferred to exercise in a gym, outdoors, or at home. The majority already had or were currently using a fitness app, but never used any pregnancy-specific app. Most women agreed that it was important to have a specific app for pregnancy to improve knowledge about recommendations on lifestyle, have direct contact with health and exercise professionals, have social interaction with other mothers, and have guidance on preparation for childbirth and postpartum recovery. Understanding and involving the perspective of pregnant women as users will allow researchers to improve the design of a pregnancy-specific app and future e-health and exercise interventions during pregnancy. These preliminary results will lead to the development of the "active pregnancy app" focused on the promotion of an active and healthy lifestyle during pregnancy and postpartum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working in construction is physically demanding. The tasks inherent to this professional occupation physically wear workers down, leaving them at a high risk of injury, mainly in the shoulder and knee joints and the lumbar region (Chung et al., 2019; Umer et al., 2018). Those tasks require a great balance capacity and strength of the postural muscles, with the Construction Workers (CW) supporting heavy equipment on unstable surfaces (Manttari et al., 2021). The aim of this study was to analyse the muscular activity in trained civil construction workers (CWPE) and untrained civil construction workers (CWnPE) during a realisation of the deadlift (DL). Eleven male CW (38.00 ± 9.60 years; 172 ± 1 cm; 87.01 ± 9.8 kg), of which 7 were untrained (N =7) and 4 were trained (N=4). Firstly, each subject filled out a questionnaire, and the maximum repetition for the DL was evaluated. Secondly, the muscular activity was evaluated while performing the deadlift in four different situations: at 50%RM at rest, 80%RM at rest, 80%RM at fatigue, and 50%RM at fatigue. Surface Electromyography (EMG) measured the muscular activity of the Biceps Femoris (BF), Trapezius Transversalis (TT), and Erector Spinae longissimus (ES). The data were collected through the MonitorPlux, using a frequency of 1000Hz, and exported into MATLAB software for data processing. The relative values of Root Mean Square (RMS) were obtained, reflecting the muscular activation during the realisation of the exercise, and Mean Frequency (MFREQ), which is an indicator of fatigue (Puce et al., 2021). Means, minimums, maximums, and standard deviations were calculated as significant differences (p ≤ .05) using the Mann-Whitney U Test. CWPE had higher muscle activity values and did not present significant differences in muscular activation. The muscle with higher activation was the TT in both groups and was highly perceived at the set at 80%RM at fatigue, being observed the greater activation on the CWPE (TT left: 42.93 ± 31.40%; TT right: 64.75 ± 68.43%) when compared to the CWnPE (TT left: 32.31 ± 25.87%; TT right: 36.69 ± 29.61%). CWnPE showed significant differences between sets of different intensities and conditions on the TT (p ≤ 0.05). As the results suggest, sets performed in the presence of fatigue and series at higher intensities provide greater muscle activations. There seems to be a strong influence of physical exercise on muscle activity and fatigue in civil construction workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The bicycle is a popular means of transportation, exercise, recreation and also socializing for children worldwide, allowing them several physical and psychological benefits. Several methodologies and types of bicycles have been used for learning how to cycle, however, the best approach is still unclear. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to review and summarize the existent studies of programmes that aim to teach children how to ride a bicycle independently, in order to identify which possibilities lead to a more efficient intervention. Methods: A comprehensive search was performed in seven electronic databases (TRID, CENTRAL, Web of Science, SCOPUS, EBSCO, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses and Google Scholar), including grey literature and the citations of relevant articles, from their inception to April 2020. Studies were included according to the eligibility criteria: children and youths aged 18 or less, with and without disabilities; intervention programmes that aimed to teach how to ride a bicycle with a pre- and post-intervention assessment regarding the ability to ride. The Downs and Black checklist was used for quality assessment. Results: Nine intervention studies, including a randomized controlled trial, were included. The mean quality score was 11.8 ± 3.6 points. Just one of the included studies was targeted at children without disabilities. Different facilitating constraints and barriers were identified, which resulted in a list of tips for future intervention programmes to teach children how to ride a bicycle. The facilitating constrains were using a progressive learning strategy; using an individualized approach; making bicycle adjustments; having motivated children and having family support throughout the learning process. The barriers were: the fear of falling; lack of parents' support; and lower leg strength. Learning to cycle was also associated with a decrease in sedentary time, increase in physical activity, improvement in leg strength, and a positive influence on body composition, indicating that it can be a solution to disrupt the cycle of consistent weight gain over time in children with disabilities. Conclusions: There is a gap concerning intervention studies to teach children without disabilities how to cycle. The best strategy is probably a progressive learning strategy by using simpler training bicycles that enable the child to explore balance from the beginning, and simpler exercises first. Teaching programmes should adopt an individualized intervention, feedback and motivation, considering each child's specific characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni is the property of Editrice Morcelliana S.p.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Retos: Nuevas Perspectivas de Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación is the property of Federacion Espanola de Asociaciones de Docentes de Educacion Fisica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Retos: Nuevas Perspectivas de Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación is the property of Federacion Espanola de Asociaciones de Docentes de Educacion Fisica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose. Exercise performed improperly, in disagreement with age and development, may trigger negative bioactive effects. Adolescent taekwondo athletes, being able to practise on tatami or without tatami and barefoot, may be submitted to musculoskeletal structure disorders. The purpose of this study was to describe the frequency and amplitude of the reactive forces during taekwondo practice with and without tatami. Methods. Overall, 27 adolescent taekwondo athletes aged 10-15 years were submitted to a standard 90-minute training session with and without tatami. During each session, the frequency of ground contacts and the vertical ground reaction forces were measured. Femur and wrist bone age and the respective stages of the epiphyseal plate were computed from radiograph images. A total of 6346.6 ± 425.5 ground contacts (an average of 106 contacts per minute) were registered during the training session. The Wilcoxon test was applied to analyse the relationship between taekwondo and epiphyseal plate stage (p 0.005). Results. Student's t-test revealed a significant difference between ground reaction forces with and without tatami; tasks performed without tatami featured smaller magnitudes for comparisons of absolute and normalized values (t = -3.359; p < 0.002 and t = -3.652; p < 0.001, respectively). The time of practice showed no early closure of the femur epiphyseal plates caused by the practice of taekwondo. Conclusions. Practising taekwondo seems to have a bio-positive effect on the maturation of adolescent athletes, regardless of the use of tatami. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]