Short Analysis Blog

Sports and physical activities can have an impact on people’s lives in more ways than one. Not only can it help one live a healthy life style and be a hobby/pass time for some, but sports and physical activities can also influences the life styles and decisions one makes later on in life. The article “Adolescent participation in sports and adult physical activity” by Tuija Tammelin talks about the relationship between participating in sports as an adolescent and how that would influence and affect the likelihood that one would continue being involved with physical activities as an adult. The article is about a study that was done where 7794 people responded to a survey about physical activity status at the age of 14 and then again at the age of 31 (Tammelin). The study showed that those who participated in sports and physical activities in their adolescence were more likely to continue to participate in physical activities as an adult. In the article, examples of the different types of sports and physical activities participated in at the two different ages were given. Reasons as to why people might participate in some of the sports and physical activities and why they might want to pursue being involved with them as time went on were also given. People need to be a where that sports and physical activities can influence their lives and that certain aspects of their lives can also have an impact on their participation in those activities.

            The life style one has and the activities that one is involved with in their adolescence can have an impact on the life style and the activities that they will be a part of as an adult. In the study, it showed that “the percentages of those who participated in sports daily, every other day, twice a day, once a day, and less often than once a day were 23%, 25%, 22%, 12%, and 18% for males, and 13%, 15%, 23%, 20%, and 29% for females” (Tammelin). For the participants at age 31, the results showed that “of very active, active, moderately active, and inactive persons were 13%, 28%, 29%, and 30% for males, and 12%, 29%, 25%, and 24% for females” (Tammelin). From the data collected by the study, one can see that males that participated in sports twice a week and females that participated once a week would be likely to be active or very active with sports and physical activities as adults. This helps to show that the life styles and the activities people do in their youth can influence what they end up doing later on in life.

            Another topic the article talked about was how the type of sport or physical activity that one participated in had an influence on what they participated in later on in life. The study showed that individual sports as well as team sports “showed a strong carry-over value from adolescence into adulthood” (Tammelin). For example, the data collected from the study showed that 27% of the males questioned participated in ball games and even more participated in endurance sports like running as adults.  This shows that the activities that one chooses to participate in early on in their life may influences the activities later on in their life as well.

            Tammelin also writes about how other factors such as where people live and their skills for a sport may influence their involvement in the sport and might ultimately influence their participation in the sport later on in as an adult. The article explains how people’s participation in certain activities might be influenced by the area they grew up in or by the social status of their family. Tammelin writes that people who live in urban areas might participate in activities that would need certain facilities and organization, such as combat sports or dance; however, people who live in rural areas might be more involved with activities such as running (Tammelin). Another factor that might affect one’s participation in a sport is their skills for certain sports. For some sports, motor and coordination skills are needed. People who have those skills might be more drawn to play those sports and further develop those skills by participating in that sport throughout their life.

            Sports, physical activities, and the life styles people choose to lead all have an impact on their lives. Whether it is how much a person chooses to be active, the activity being involved with, or other factors that influences people’s decisions on what to participate in, it is all important and can affect one’s life in one way or another. The ways sports and physical activities can have an influence on people’s lives is another reason why it is important to participate in them and lead healthy life styles.    

Bibliography

Tammelin, Tuija. "Adolescent Participation in Sports and Adult Physical Activity." American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2003): 22-28.

Evaluative Summary Blog

There are many people who participate in strength and power training to help them improve in their sport. The article “Transfer of Strength and Power Training to Sports Performance” by Warren B. Young explains and gives examples of how strength and power training should be used to improve sports performance in things such as sprinting, how the training physically transfers to performance in sports, and how people could use the different types of exercises to train. This article was published in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, which is an actual scientific journal. Also, a lot of the research Young talks about in the article has been cited from other studies and research. The article “Transfer of Strength and Power Training to Sports Performance” is a well written scientific article that gives good examples of how strength and power training can transfer to one’s performance in sports, how it everything actually works physically, and how one can apply the training.

            The first topic discussed in the article was how strength and power training should be used to improve performance in sports. The article used sprinting as the example of a sport since many sports involve sprinting in some way or another. This section of the article gave good examples of strength and power training exercises and how they would affect your performance. One example that was used was “to achieve a 2.2% gain in sprint performance a 21% improvement in squat strength was required” (Young). This shows that one must work to increase their strength in order to improve their sprint performance. Some of the exercises stated in the article that were used in the training to increase strength were various squats and pulling exercises. The article also stated that some findings “reported that 8 weeks of plyometric training including some unilateral/horizontal exercises induced significant improvements in sprint time to 10 m” (Young). This shows that multiple training exercises can be used to help one improve their performance in sports.

            The second topic that the article talks about was how the training and the transfer to performance works physically. Young states in the article how the muscles and the nervous system have to work together to reach the end result of the desired performance. The article states that with resistance training, “negative transfer could occur if there is increased coactivation of antagonist muscles because this would produce force that opposes the intended movement direction”, or a “positive transfer can occur if resistance training reinforces the optimum muscle-activation patterns that are required in the execution of the sport skill” (Young). This is a good explanation because it allows the reader to recognize that one has to be careful when training because the exercise could either hurt or help one’s performance depending on whether the exercise is appropriate to be doing. The positive or negative transfer could be achieved by either “increased excitatory neural activation of muscles that contribute to skillful performance and/or by inhibition of muscles that can degrade performance” (Young). These examples from the article show that the author had a clear understanding of the physiological processes that go along with training and transferring it to the performance in a sport.

            The third topic discussed in the article was how people could use the different types of exercises to train. In this section of the article, examples of training exercises such as bench-press and pull-over exercises were given and examples of what they could improve, such as throwing velocity, were also given. Young also mentions how strength training can reduce the risk of injury from sports. The information in this section of the article showed that the author has a good amount of knowledge on strength training and what the benefits of the training and certain exercises can give.

            The article “Transfer of Strength and Power Training to Sports Performance” by Warren B. Young was written well. The examples and explanations that the author gave in the article gave the impression that the author had knowledge of the topics being discussed and would be a credible source for information. The tone and style of the article also helped to bring credibility to the author and the information given in the article.

           

Bibliography

Young, Warren B. "Transfer of Strength and Power Training to Sports Performance." International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance (2006): 74-83.

Objective Summary Blog

Throughout our lives, many people such as doctors, teachers, parents, and coaches have told us the importance of physical activity and living an active life style. It has always been our choice to decide to follow their advice or to completely disregard it and live by our own rules. There has been a lot of research done and many articles written about the importance of physical activity and how it can be beneficial to our lives. The article “Statement on Exercise: Benefits and Recommendations for Physical Activity Programs for All Americans” by the Committee on Exercise and Cardiac Rehabilitation of the Council on Clinical Cardiology, American Heart Association explains some of the health benefits of continuing to exercise throughout your life, gives some examples of physical activities to participate in and how they can be good for you, and explains how there needs to be even more research done on physical activities to fully understand all of the health benefits that exercise can give us. No matter who you are or where you come from, physical activity and exercise is extremely important for your health.

There are many health benefits that have already been discovered from the research done on physical activities and exercise. Physical activity and exercise can have an impact on your heart rate and your oxygen intake. Studies show that physical activity and exercise can improve the amount of blood that your heart can pump out in one beat, decrease the amount of oxygen your body needs, and can improve your body’s ability to use the blood and oxygen it receives more efficiently. Physical activity and exercise can help improve your metabolism and can help your body weight/proportion if you combine it with healthy eating habits. Some of the other biological benefits that physical activity and exercise can have are aerobic endurance, joint flexibility, maintenance of muscular strength and mass, and bone mineral density. Physical activity and exercise can also have a psychological effect on us as well. Some studies show that people who participate in physical activities and exercise can perform better on tests, have higher self-confidence, respond less to stress, and show fewer signs of anxiety and depression. Physical activity and exercise can be good for you regardless of your age and no matter what kind of activity or exercise you choose to participate in.

Many options of physical activities are available for everyone to partake in. Frequently participating in activities such as walking, running, swimming, basketball, soccer, and cycling can help you to maintain a good fitness level. Regardless of what the intensity level of the activity is, it will still be beneficial to take part in the activity. The most important part of participating in physical activities is remembering and having the motivation to continue exercising.

Being informed about the health benefits of physical activity and exercise is just as important as participating in them. Parents need to be informed so that they can become active and set an example for their children of how to live a healthy life style. Schools and communities should also be informed about physical activities and exercise, so that they can also teach children about the importance of exercise and give them a place where they can participate in physical activities and join sports teams.

Physical activity and exercise is beneficial to our lives and our health, and there are many studies that can prove this statement to be correct. However, there is a lot more research that can still be done. More research needs to be done on how physical activities and exercise affect us so that we can fully understand all of the benefits we can get from participating in these activities. The information gathered from these studies can be used to enhance our knowledge about how physical activities and exercise can affect our lives.