Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Human Performance

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Promoting health-related cardiorespiratory fitness in physical education : the role of class intensity and habitual physical activity

Publication . Peralta, Miguel; Santos, Diana A.; Henriques-Neto, Duarte; Ferrari, Gerson; Sarmento, Hugo; Marques, Adilson

Physical education (PE) has the potential to promote health-related fitness, however, its contribution is still not clear. The aim of this study was to assess whether students' health-related cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) improved from the beginning to the end of the school year, and to examine the role of PE class intensity and habitual physical activity (PA) in promoting students' CRF. This observational study employed a longitudinal design. Participants were 212 7th and 8th grade students (105 boys), mean age 12.9 years old, followed during one school year, from September 2017 to June 2018. The Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) was used to assess CRF at baseline and follow-up. PA was measured using accelerometers. PE class intensity was assessed using the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time. Findings indicated that from the beginning to the end of the school year, a greater percentage of participants were in the CRF healthy fitness zone (73.1% to 79.7%, p = 0.022). Among boys, participating in organized sports (B = 4.61, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.33, 8.88) and the percentage of PE time being very active (B = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.44, 1.35) were positively associated with the change in PACER laps. Among girls, daily vigorous PA (B = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.15, 0.60) and participating in organized sports (B = 4.10, 95% CI: 0.93, 7.27) were also positively associated with PACER change, while being overweight or obese (B = -5.11, 95% CI: -8.28, -1.93) was negatively associated. In conclusion, PE was demonstrated to have a positive role in the promotion of CRF, especially among boys, while for girls, habitual PA seems to have a greater contribution. Nevertheless, results and conclusions should be considered carefully, taking into account study limitations, such as the non-direct measures of PE class intensity, CRF, and school setting.

2020-09-19Journal article

Open access

Test-retest reliability of physical fitness tests among young athletes : the FITescola® battery

Publication . Henriques-Neto, Duarte; Minderico, Cláudia; Peralta, Miguel; Marques, Adilson; Sardinha, Luís B.

Monitoring physical fitness in young athletes is essential to improve physical performance, identify talents and develop injury prevention programs. The aim of this investigation was to analyse the reliability of the physical fitness tests from the FITescola® battery in young athletes with different sports backgrounds and competition levels. Participants comprised of 138 young athletes (boys n = 92) aged 9 and 18 years old. Eight physical fitness tests assessing six components of physical fitness were performed: cardiorespiratory fitness (PACER); upper body muscular fitness (push‐up); flexibility (sit and reach); lower‐body muscular fitness (horizontal and vertical jump); agility (4 × 10 shuttle run); and speed (sprint at 20 m and 40 m). Each test was performed twice, with a one‐week interval (7 days) between duplicate tests. No differences between duplicate tests were found (p > .05), except for the speed at 20 m in boys (p < .001) and speed at 40 m in girls (p = .006). The battery of tests had good or excellent reliability and concordance of the ICC between the two trials (ICC ≥ 0.75) with exception for the 20 m speed run in girls that presented moderate reliability (ICC = 0.57). The Bland–Altman plots showed high reliability for all the fitness tests for both sexes. Hence, The FITescola® battery may be a novel tool to assess the physical fitness of large groups of young athletes from different sports backgrounds.

2020-02-13Journal article

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Fitness, physical activity, or sedentary patterns? Integrated analysis with obesity surrogates in a large youth sample

Publication . Henriques-Neto, Duarte; Júdice, Pedro B.; Peralta, Miguel; Sardinha, Luís B.

Objective: Physical fitness (PF) and physical activity (PA) are inversely associated with body mass index and waist circumference (WC), whereas sedentary time (ST) seems to boost obesity in youth. The aim was to examine the associations of each selected PF test, PA-related exposures, and specific ST patterns with obesity and determine the most relevant ones, in a large sample of a school-aged adolescent. Methods: The sample consisted of 2696 Portuguese youth aged 10 to 18 years. Height, weight, and WC were measured. PA and ST components were measured using accelerometry. PF was evaluated using a battery of tests. Results: The Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) and push-up tests seemed to be the exposures that presented the strongest and more consistent associations with obesity, independent of PA/ST profiles (P < .05). The second exposure of relevance for adolescent obesity level was the breaks in ST with a negative relationship regardless of PA/PF profiles (P < .05). Finally, ST accumulated in periods of <30 minutes, and moderateto-vigorous PA were favorably associated with obesity, independent of ST/PF. Conclusions: Independent of PA and ST, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), measured by PACER, was associated with obesity markers. This may be in part due to the dependence of PACER performance on adiposity. Also, limiting prolonged ST and promoting interruptions in this behavior were associated with obesity. These associations suggest that future research should examine other strategies beyond PA promotion for tackling obesity that consider CRF and breaking ST.

2020Journal article

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Effects of combined training with different intensities on vascular health in patients with type 2 diabetes : a 1-year randomized controlled trial

Publication . Magalhães, João P.; Melo, Xavier; Correia, Inês; Ribeiro, Rogério T.; Raposo, João; Dores, Hélder; Bicho, Manuel; Sardinha, Luís B.

Background: Exercise, when performed on a regular basis, is a well-accepted strategy to improve vascular function in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, the exercise intensity that yields maximal adaptations on structural and functional indices in patients with type 2 diabetes remains uncertain. Our objective was to analyze the impact of a 1-year randomized controlled trial of combined high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with resistance training (RT) vs. a combined moderate continuous training (MCT) with RT on structural and functional arterial indices in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Patients with type 2 diabetes (n=80) were randomized into an exercise intervention with three groups: control, combined HIIT with RT and combined MCT with RT. The 1-year intervention had 3 weekly exercise sessions. High-resolution ultrasonography of the common carotid artery and central and peripheral applanation tonometry were used to assess the changes in structural and functional arterial indices. Generalized estimating equations were used to model the corresponding outcomes. Results: After adjusting the models for sex, baseline moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and mean arterial pressure changes, while using the intention-to-treat analysis, a signifcant interaction was observed on the carotid intimamedia thickness (cIMT) for both the MCT (β=−4.25, p<0.01) and HIIT group (β=−3.61, p<0.01). However, only the HIIT observed favorable changes from baseline to 1-year on peripheral arterial stifness indices such as carotid radial arterial pulse wave velocity (β=−0.10, p=0.044), carotid to distal posterior tibial artery pulse wave velocity (β=−0.14, p<0.01), and on the distensibility coefcient (β=−0.00, p<0.01). No efect was found for hemodynamic variables after the intervention. Conclusions: Following a 1-year intervention in patients with type 2 diabetes, both the MCT and HIIT group reduced their cIMT, whereas only the HIIT group improved their peripheral arterial stifness indices and distensibility coefcient. Taken together, HIIT may be a meaningful tool to improve long-term vascular complications in type 2 diabetes.

2019Journal article

Open access

Mediating role of physical fitness and fat mass on the associations between physical activity and bone health in youth

Publication . Henriques-Neto, Duarte; Magalhães, João P.; Júdice, Pedro B.; Hetherington-Rauth, Megan; Peralta, Miguel; Marques, Adilson; Sardinha, Luís B.

We aimed to assess if the relationship between VPA and bone health is simultaneously mediated by PF and fat mass in adolescents. Bone health was assessed by quantitative ultrasound (QUS) in 412 participants (221 girls) aged 10–18 years. VPA was assessed by accelerometry and PF was measured using specific protocols from FITescola®. Fat mass (%) was assessed using two skinfolds (triceps and calf). Parallel mediation analysis was performed by Hayes’ PROCESS (V.3.3-model 4) for SPSS. We observed that in boys, handgrip mediated the associations of VPA with speed of sound on the third distal radius (R-SoS). While, speed at 20 m and handgrip mediated the relationship of VPA with speed of sound on the tibial midshaft (T-SoS). Body fat (%) only acted as a mediator when handgrip integrates the mediation model. For girls, the only mediating variable for the relationship between VPA and R-SoS or T-SoS was the PACER test. Handgrip, speed and fat mass (%) in boys, and cardiorespiratory fitness in girls mediates the relationships between VPA and bone health assessed by QUS. Promoting muscular fitness and cardiorespiratory fitness and decrease of fat mass through VPA in adolescents may be an important strategy to improve bone health.

2020Journal article

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