According to Barbosa et al. (2009), the use of aquatic cycling has been reported in literature for three decades, though its findings are still contradictory. Alberton et al. (2010) suggest that HR in the water could be similar or higher as compared with dry land measurements. Barbosa et al. (2010) analyzed the relationships p53/MDM2 interaction between musical cadence and the physiological adaptations to basic head-out aquatic exercises. The study included an intermittent and progressive protocol and the main conclusion was that increasing musical cadence imposed an increase in the physiological response. In this context, several physiologic indicators have been used in order to quantify the intensity of exertion in those environments, such as: the HR (Sheldahl et al., 1984; Reilly et al., 2003); double product (Veloso et al.

, 2003), and blood lactate concentration (Di Masi et al., 2007). In water, resting or exercising induces different physiological responses when compared with those achieved in dry-land conditions (Shono et al., 2000; Reilly et al., 2003) and are affected by a number of factors, such as buoyancy, thermal conductivity of the water (Choukroun and Varene, 2000), hydrostatic pressure (Goodall and Howatson, 2008), among others. Those responses depend also on the body positioning in the water (Millet et al., 2002; Ega?a et al., 2006) and on the type of exercise (Barbosa et al., 2009). Kang et al. (2005) compared the responses of HR between intermittent (130 �� 2 bpm) and continuous cycling (127 �� 2 bpm) on land and did not found significant differences between both methods.

The lactate concentration was significantly higher at the end of the intermittent exercise with a mean value above 7 mmol in the final stage of the IP. Contrarily, Sabapathy et al. (2004), have examined the physiological responses in 10 subjects who performed a continuous and intermittent land cycling protocol and observed that the intermittent protocol was associated to significantly lower values of HR. Unfortunately, no previous study examined the type of physiological response induce by continue or intermittent exercise in water environment. Therefore, the present study tested the hypothesis that the type of exercise (continuous vs. intermittent) would affect the physiological response and the perception of effort during aquatic cycling. Methods Participants Ten women (values are mean �� SD: age=32.

8 �� 4.8 years; height=1.62 �� 0.05 cm; body mass=61.60 �� 5.19 kg; estimated body fat=27.13 �� 4.92%) of low risk, practicing regular classes of cycling in water for at least six months, participated in the study. All of them signed a written informed consent to participate in Anacetrapib the study and in accordance with the norms for accomplishment of research with humans established in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975. The experimental procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institution.

50 > BMI license with Pfizer > 24.99) according to WHO classification (WHO, 2004). Likewise, in case of weight/height indices, mean body fat percentage recorded in climbers was comparable to this observed in untrained students and amounted to 15.4%. However, when classified by Heath-Carter somatotype components, endomorphy component that reflects adiposity had the lowest contribution in climbers�� somatotype; the mean value being significantly (p<0.001) lower than that observed in untrained students (2.4 �� 0.79 vs. 3.6 �� 1.48, respectively). Regardless of comparable body height, climbers had significantly greater arm span and arm length (by about 6 and 2.5 cm, respectively) what was reflected in ape index and arm length index, the respective values being by about 1.5 (p<0.001) and 0.6 SD (p<0.

01) greater than observed in untrained students, respectively. Additionally, climbers exhibited significantly greater values in arm (32.7 �� 2.09 vs. 30.9 �� 2.52 cm) and forearm circumferences (28.3 �� 1.28 vs. 26.02 �� 1.80 cm) and in upper extremity girth index, while no differences were found for elbow width. On the other hand, climbers had by 1 SD (p<0.001) lesser knee width while no between-group differences were found for calf circumference. Moreover, climbers exhibited by about 1 SD less in pelvis-to-shoulder ratio comparing to untrained students. Likewise, for upper extremities climbers had significantly (p<0.05) longer lower limbs as expressed by the Manouvrier��s index. In order to reveal possible relationships between somatic indices and subjects�� climbing ability, Pearson��s correlation coefficients and partial correlations were calculated.

Apart from the obvious relations between the body fat and weight-to-height indices or between indices pertaining to the length of upper limb, significant negative correlations were found only for %FAT and ape index (?0.594; p<0,01) and for arm circumference index and BMI (r = ?0.497; p<0.05) or RI (r = ?0.587; p<0.01). Self-reported climbing ability significantly correlated with %FAT (r = ?0.614; p<0.01); besides that, no significant correlations with somatic indices were noted and none of the partial correlations proved significant. Only the ape index tended to correlate with the self-reported climbing ability (r = 0.397; p = 0.083). Discussion Despite the growing number of reports on rock climbing, those concerning anthropometric characteristics of climbers are rather scarce and inconsistent.

The results of this study do not support the view of Watts et al. (2003) that climbers are small in stature with low body mass as no differences between the climbers and untrained controls were found for basic Entinostat somatic features and body size-related indices. Body height and body mass of climbers were rather average and amounted to 180.0 cm and 70.7 kg, respectively, what was in line with the observations of Billat et al. (1995) and Grant et al.

2a) Vertical momentum of trunk (Fig. 2b) Horizontal selleck screening library momentum of upper limbs (Fig. 2c) Vertical momentum of upper limbs (Fig. 2d) Horizontal momentum of lower limbs Figure 3. Take-off and segmental angles during impulse in the back somersault (Fig. 3a) Round-off, flic-flac, salto backward stretched (RFS) (Fig. 3b) Round-off, salto-tempo, salto backward stretched (RTS) Acknowledgments We thank Mr. Mourad Hambli, Mr. Mokhtar Chtara and Mr. Habib Bouall��gue for their help in the experiment. This research was performed in collaboration with the National Centre of Medicine and Science in Sport, Tunisia..
Physical fitness is nowadays considered as one of the most important health markers in childhood ( Ortega et al., 2008 ).

Consequently, in the last decades several countries have been promoting physical fitness improvement among young people in different ways ( Department of Health and Human Services, 1990 ). In many circumstances, schools have been considered the best setting in which children with low fitness levels can be identified and a healthy lifestyle can be promoted ( Ortega et al., 2008 ). Therefore, one of the main Spanish government strategies was focused on modifying school legislations in order to give health a more important role in the Educational System ( Ministerio de Educaci��n y Ciencia, 2006 ). Schools are mainly attempting to increase the pupils�� health level by using measures such as the improvement of their physical fitness through physical education (PE) ( Ministerio de Educaci��n y Ciencia, 2006 ).

It has been concluded that the health promotion policies and physical activity programs should be designed to improve physical fitness, where strength and cardiovascular endurance are the most important health-related physical fitness components ( Ortega et al., 2008 ). It is known that planning long-term fitness programs is the best way to improve these components ( Donnelly et al., 2009 ). Nonetheless, in the PE setting these programs cannot last the whole course or a large part of it since many curricular contents must be developed in a school year ( Ministerio de Educaci��n y Ciencia, 2006 ). Consequently, in the PE setting we need to find short-term programs that could be also effective for the increment of fitness. One of the methodologies that meet these criteria could be the circuit training ( Dorgo et al.

, 2009 ; Granacher et al., 2011a ; Granacher et al., 2011b ). The circuit training effectively reduces the time devoted Brefeldin_A to training while allowing an adequate training volume to be achieved ( Alcaraz Ram��n et al., 2008 ). Moreover, it permits a greater motor engagement time ( Lozano et al., 2009 ), which is a very important requirement for the success of a PE program. In addition, this methodology has multilevel effects on fitness, especially in beginners ( Alcaraz Ram��n et al., 2008 ; Dorgo et al., 2009 ; Wong et al., 2008 ).

Achievement goal theory typically differentiates between two types of goal orientations: task and ego. Task orientation is related to developing competence by improving upon one��s skills, personal competence Ceritinib IC50 and task mastery. It is assumed that task orientation will lead to positive and adaptive achievement behaviors (Duda et al., 1995). Athletes with a task goal orientation tend to select and persist at challenging tasks because they value effort as a way to attain new skills. In contrast, ego orientation is based on one��s subjective evaluation of performance compared with that of others (Nicholls, 1989). Generally, ego orientation is associated with maladaptive motivational patterns that are dependent on an individual��s perceived ability (Xiang et al., 2004).

Athletes who endorse an ego orientation tend to select tasks that are easier and tasks at which they perceive their chances of success will be high (Tyson et al., 2009). Research has shown a link between these two theories that are concerned with the underlying motivations for an individual��s behavior though focusing on different dimensions of motivation. An ego orientation represents an internally controlling state that can undermine intrinsic motivation, whereas a task goal orientation represents a state in which individuals derives pleasure from participation that facilitates intrinsic motivation (Cox, 2002; Deci and Ryan, 1985). Task orientation predicted intrinsic motivation, but did not predict amotivation (Ntoumanis, 2001). Conversely, ego orientation was associated with extrinsic motivation.

These studies show that task goal orientation fostered intrinsic motivation, whereas ego orientation promoted extrinsic motivation. Among the factors that influence athletes�� perceptions of self-determination and goal orientations are socio-demographic characteristics like gender, age and locality. Gender differences Adolescents�� self-determination of activities tends to differ mainly in sex stereotypic ways where females have higher self-determined motivational profiles than males in a diversity of sporting activities (Medic et al., 2007; Recours et al., 2004). Researchers have found that females tend to be more intrinsically motivated, whereas males tend to be more extrinsically-motivated in the sports context (Beaudoin, 2006). Intrinsically-motivated athletes participate more for pleasure, fun and satisfaction.

In contrast, extrinsically-motivated athletes participate more for competition Anacetrapib and the satisfaction of winning (Hellandsig, 1998). Other studies have shown that extrinsically-motivated male athletes tend to focus on rewards and recognition whereas intrinsically-motivated female athletes focus more on fun and task mastery (Tuffey, 2000). Researchers have also found that females tend to be more task-oriented, whereas males tend to be more ego-oriented in the sports context (Li et al., 1996).