Aerobic fitness and percent body fat were measured in a sample of 438 male Army recruits between the ages of 17 and 30 prior to the commencement of training. The sample came from all areas of England and Wales. Aerobic fitness, as represented by maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max), was predicted from the Astrand submaximal bicycle heart rate test. Body fat was predicted from four skinfold measurements. Total group means +/- SD were: age, 19.5 +/- 2.5 years; VO2 max 41.7 +/- 8.3 ml/kg . min; and body fat, 14.5 +/- 4.8% of body weight. VO2 max varied with age, athletic participation and aptitude score. No relationship was found with occupation of parent, prior civilian occupation or smoking severity. When adjusted for methodological differences, VO2 max was slightly below similar Army entrants in Norway and the United States.
Physiological and biochemical profiles of six elite Canadian 800 meter runners are presented. Anthropometric data was recorded. Aerobic capacity was assessed on a treadmill run to fatigue; the initial treadmill velocity was 2.22 m X s-1 increasing by 0.22 m X s-1 each minute. VO2max was determined by the mean of the four highest consecutive 15 second values. The Anaerobic Speed Test (AST) (20 degrees incline, 3.52 m X s-1 to fatigue) was used to assess anaerobic performance characteristics. Two minute post-AST blood samples were analyzed for lactate. Needle biopsies were obtained at rest from the vastus lateralis muscle. The muscle fibers were classified and a homogenate of the muscle was used in the determination of buffering capacity. These are young athletes with a low percentage body fat. The mean VO2max was 63.6 +/- 2.9 ml X kg-1 X min-1. The anaerobic capacity is striking with the mean AST time of 114.3 +/- 16.3 seconds and post-AST lactate values of 22.0 +/- 1.4 mmol X l-1. The skeletal muscle buffering capacity was elevated above normal by 50% indicating an enhanced capability of resisting changes in intracellular pH which may affect performance.
Forty-eight sportswomen of various qualification and 19 women not engaged in the sports were under observation. The total losses of copper and manganese excreted with feces, urine and sweat in the sportswomen under conditions of muscular training proved higher than in the untrained women. During summer the copper and manganese content in a day diet of the sportswomen corresponded to the recommended standards while during winter the copper content was below the normal. Starting the active training in the beginner sportswomen is attended by the copper and manganese accumulation in the blood cells. Meat and weat food stuffs in the Yaroslavi region are rich in copper, with vegetable products showing the highest content of manganese, and dairy products having a low content of copper and manganese.
Fourteen Finnish and ten Russian elite male volleyball players were studied for their anthropometric dimensions, maximal isometric trunk extension and flexion, leg extension strength and vertical jumping height. In addition, the height of rise of the body centre of gravity h (C.G.), and the height of the hand and ball were analyzed from a video tape in spike and block jumps taken during actual competition. The two teams were found to differ significantly in the h (C.G.) during a vertical jumping test where a preliminary counter movement was allowed and in the lengths of lower limbs and legs; the Russian volleyball players jumped higher and had longer lower extremities. In actual competition, the hands of the Russian players while performing a spike were on the average ten centimeters higher (p less than .01) than the hand of the Finnish players. No significant differences were found, however, between the teams in the h (C.G.) during spiking. This finding seems to suggest that the Russians have better spike technique.
Assessing competence of orthopaedic residents: the reliability and validity of an objective structured clinical examination after a sports medicine rotation.
Women's College Hospital, Toronto Western and Sunnybrook Hospital, University of Toronto Orthopaedics Sports Medicine, 76 Grenville Street, Toronto, ON M5S 1B1, Canada. E-mail address for T. Dwyer: dwyer.orthopedics@gmail.com.
