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The aim of this article is to explore the concept of resistance training skill literacy and discuss related strategies to enhance learning, improve adherence and help youth realize the holistic benefits of resistance exercise.

Apply It!: • A vast majority of adults do not engage in sufficient resistance exercise to achieve health, fitness, and functional benefits. • The Fear of Resistance Exercise, or FoRE, is a unique term that describes a phenomenon observed in individuals who develop an avoidance behavior to resistance exercise due to persistent feelings of worry, apprehension, or misunderstanding. • Leadership from health and fitness professionals can help adults set clear objectives, challenge irrational thoughts, deal with barriers, and adhere to resistance exercises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To determine the prevalence of adolescents who meet muscle‐strengthening activities (MSA) recommendation and their associations with anthropometric variables, physical fitness, and lifestyle behaviours in a sample of Spanish adolescents aged 12–17 years. Methods: This was a cross‐sectional study using data from The Eating Healthy and Daily Life Activities (EHDLA) Study. Participants reported the days on which they engaged in MSA (≥3 days per week were considered to meet World Health Organization recommendation). Physical fitness was assessed with the ALPHA fitness battery. Additionally, body mass index, waist circumference, skinfolds and body fat percentage were assessed. Lifestyle variables were recreational screen time, sleep time and adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The associations between MSA and outcome variables were tested with linear and logistic regressions. Results: Of the 852 participants, 48% met MSA recommendation. Meeting MSA recommendation was associated with lower adiposity and higher performance in the shuttle run test, maximal oxygen consumption, standing long jump, speed‐agility, flexibility, lower screen time (in weekdays) and higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Conclusion: Engaging in MSA once or twice a week was linked with more desirable health outcomes than not engaging in such activities. However, meet with MSA recommendation (i.e., at least 3 days per week) reinforced these benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing need for physical education teachers to integrate different types of fitness activities into their lessons in order to provide opportunities for all students to learn and practice a variety of movement skills that will enhance their physical fitness and support free-time physical activity. An increased focus on age-appropriate interventions that enhance muscle strength and motor skills is particularly important for overweight youth who may not have developed competence and confidence in their physical abilities to engage in aerobic games and sport activities. FUNdamental Integrative Training, or FIT, incorporates a variety of strength and conditioning exercises into a well-designed lesson that enhances the health- and skill-related components of physical fitness. Youth who participate in FIT will be more likely to participate in games, activities, and sports as an ongoing lifestyle choice. This article provides a fresh approach for incorporating FIT into elementary-school physical education curricula.

Exercise deficit disorder (EDD) is a pediatric medical condition characterized by reduced levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) that are below current recommendations and inconsistent with positive health outcomes. At present, a majority of children and adolescents meet the diagnostic criteria for EDD because they are not accumulating minimum thresholds of daily MVPA. The purpose of this article is to highlight 10 important research questions related to EDD in youth. The critical research needs to better define the clinical spectrum of EDD to include an assessment of physical activity behaviors to determine the age or stage of maturation at which EDD first emerges; an examination of the kinesiogenesis of movement skills and physical abilities; and an evaluation of lifestyle factors that can influence the MVPA trajectory in youth. Research questions about interventions and policies to treat EDD include evaluating the education and training of health care providers on the importance of exercise medicine; determining the effectiveness of strategies to identify and treat youth with EDD in clinical practice; developing sensitive, specific, and cost-effective methods to diagnose youth with EDD; and assessing methods to promote health care reimbursement for the treatment of this condition. Without future research to optimize identification, treatment, and management strategies for youth with EDD, new health care concerns with significant biomedical, psychosocial, economic, and political ramifications will continue to emerge.

The time-of-day effect of exercise on human function remains largely equivocal. Hence, this study aimed to further analyze the existing evidence concerning diurnal variations in cardiorespiratory responses and endurance performance using a meta-analytic approach. Literature search was conducted through databases, including PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar. Article selection was made based on inclusion criteria concerning subjects' characteristics, exercise protocols, times of testing, and targeted dependent variables. Results on oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR), respiratory exchange ratio, and endurance performance in the morning (AM) and late afternoon or evening (PM) were extracted from the chosen studies. Metaanalysis was conducted with the random-effects model. Thirty-one original research studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected. Meta-analysis revealed higher resting VO2 (Hedges' g = -0.574; p = 0.040) and resting HR (Hedges' g= -1.058; p = 0.002) in PM than in AM. During exercise, although VO2 remained indifferent between AM and PM, HR was higher in PM at submaximal (Hedges' g = -0.199; p = 0.046) and maximal (Hedges' g = -0.298; p = 0.001) levels. Endurance performance as measured by time-to-exhaustion or the total work accomplished was higher in PM than in AM (Hedges' g = -0.654; p = 0.001). Diurnal variations in VO2 appear less detectable during aerobic exercise. The finding that exercising HR and endurance performance were greater inPMthan in AMemphasizes the need to consider the effect of circadian rhythm when evaluating athletic performance or using HR as a criterion to assess fitness or monitor training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the benefits of regular physical activity are widely acknowledged, recent findings indicate that a growing number of youth are not as active as they should be. The impact of a sedentary lifestyle during childhood on lifelong pathological processes and associated health care costs have created a need for immediate action to manage, if not prevent, unhealthy behaviors during this vulnerable period of life. The concept of identifying children with exercise deficit disorder early in life and prescribing effective interventions to prevent the cascade of adverse health outcomes later in life is needed to raise public awareness, focus on primary prevention, and impact the collective behaviors of health care providers and public health agencies. School nurses are in a unique position to take advantage of well-child visits as an ideal opportunity to assess physical activity habits and encourage daily participation in play, recess, sports, planned exercise, and physical education.